sleeping-child

Sleep is a very important component of your health.  It is when your body does a great dealing of healing and repairing.  When you start lacking sleep many side effects occur such as; daily fatigue and tiredness, decreased immune system function, difficulty coping with stress, irritability, increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases to name a few.

You may wonder how much sleep you and your family need on a nightly basis.  Follow this link to a great website that features a chart of average sleep needs by those of different ages.  The site also has other great information on sleep and how important it is to your well-being.

Another important factor of sleep other than quantity is quality.  If you are tossing and turning all night or waking up frequently obviously you are going to need more sleep than someone who is sleeping soundly.  As a chiropractor, what we tend to find is that when people start seeing us regularly they comment on how much better they are sleeping.  This makes sense on a couple levels as sometimes they are in pain, so when the pain is gone they sleep better.  But beyond pain, when the body is in a more proper alignment and functioning at its best they tend to sleep more comfortably and toss and turn less.