You might have been suffering from back and body pain for years, but maybe it's not your back or your body that's causing the issues. Maybe it's an old mattress and old pillows that need to be replaced that are causing your pain and suffering.

Hey everybody, it's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. Today we are going to talk about pillows and mattresses. I often see patients in my office who are not paying attention to their mattresses as they get old, and it creates a lot of back issues for them. Why is a mattress so important to your health? A quarter to a third of our life is spent laying on a mattress and sleeping. Think about it. If you're sleeping on a mattress 6 to 8 hours a day, that adds up to a quarter to a third of your life, so you want to make sure that you have a great mattress that takes care of your spine and allows you to get a good night's rest. Sleep is the only time our body repairs itself from all the work it's done during the day, so if you're not getting a good night's sleep, your body begins to break down and wear out quicker than it normally would. There are so many reasons why you should put emphasis on a good mattress. I hear it all the time from my patients who go to bed and they feel fine, but when they wake up their back is killing them. That is a very telling sign that your mattress needs to go. 

Where do you start when picking out the best mattress? Over the last twenty years, there have been a lot of changes in the industry. There are so many more products and competitors than there used to be. This is a great thing because when you get more competition, the cost of the product comes down. So you can get a high-quality product at a lower price. You can buy a nice mattress today for not a ton of money. There are three basic types of mattresses that you need to know about to understand what you should be considering when buying your next mattress. 

• Option One, The Traditional Coil Mattress

This is your old school mattress, made out of metal coil and spring. I am not a huge fan of these mattresses because you need to flip them to get even wear on them, and their life span is only about 7 or 8 years. You might spend a pretty penny on this type of mattress and not get the bang for your buck out of it. 

• Option Two, The Sleepnumber Bed/Select Comfort Bed

These mattresses are made up of pockets of air that you can inflate or deflate with a programmable device. The advantage of these mattresses is that you can set it up exactly to your preferred comfort level - either very hard or very soft or anywhere in between. You can set it on either side of the bed so you and your partner will be very comfortable together. It's a very versatile bed, and I know a lot of people who own and love them, The downside to this mattress is that they have a lot of moving parts. There are more chances of it breaking or something going wrong with it. The whole mattress is also split into two mattresses, with space in between. Some people don't like this because it's not one uniform bed, which makes sharing it somewhat awkward. 

• Option Three, The Memory Foam Mattress

This is what I sleep on. What you want to get when buying this type of mattress is something that has a cooling gel that has been infused into the mattress so it stays cool while you're sleeping at night. The original Tempur-Pedic mattresses were very different from what they are making now. They tended to get hot at night when you were sleeping. Also, they tended to contour to your body, so when you laid in bed your whole body would sink in, which I'm not a huge fan of. In my opinion, you want a fairly firm mattress, so when you lay in it you have an even distribution of your body weight on the mattress. This way you're not putting any extra stress or pressure on any parts of your body, like your hips. When you lay in bed the heaviest part of your body is your hips, so if your mattress sinks in, your hips are going to bear the largest brunt of the stress and weight of your body and that's not good. 

Let's take a moment to recap memory foam mattresses and all of these options in general. Remember, you want a mattress that is fairly firm and one that comes with a good warranty. Most mattresses come with a 20-year warranty now, and that's just fantastic! You don't have to turn or flip a memory foam mattress to get the full use out of it, which is another great advantage. Bedbugs, mites, and other bugs don't like memory foam mattresses, whereas they love those traditional coil mattresses. You can buy the perfect mattress for you online from companies like Casper or Purple. You can find them at Costco and Sams Club too. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get a good quality mattress. Go to your local Mattress Firm and see what they have. One of my patients just bought a mattress online that came highly recommended and she loves it. It was a full-size mattress for only a couple hundred dollars. You don't have to break the bank for a great mattress. 

In terms of pillows, I sleep on a contoured pillow. One end is smaller than the other, and you need to sleep on the smaller end of the pillow with it placed right under your neck. You can use the larger end to do stretches before you go to bed. For our patients who have very straight necks, we give them exercises to do using the thick end of a contoured pillow. I like the memory foam contoured pillows because they give a little bit and are more forgiving. Many different companies make these wonderful pillows; you just need to find the company that's perfect for you! 

Now that you know about the best mattresses and pillows out there, what is the best posture for sleeping? The worst way to sleep is to sleep on your stomach because you have to turn your head to breathe, and when you do that all the vertebrae in your neck shift, causing irritated nerves and tightened neck muscles. Stomach sleeping also puts a lot of pressure on your abdominal contents like intestines and other vital organs, which is just not good. The best ways to sleep are either on your side or your back, depending on what you're most comfortable doing. 

• Side Posture Sleeping 
  • Your pillow needs to be high enough so your head remains in a neutral position (i.e not rotated or flexed to one side). If your head is not neutral it causes stress on the vertebrae, nerves and muscles in your neck, which can lead to you waking up with torticollis or a stiff, painful neck.
  • Have your hands in front of you and don’t put your arms at or above your head.  (because that puts a lot of stress on your trap muscles and your neck). 
  • Bend your knees about halfway to your chest. Put a big pillow in between your knees so you don't cross your legs over one another at night. Crossing your legs can misalign your pelvis.
• Sleeping On Your Back
  • Ensure your pillow height is proper that will allow for a neutral head posture (i.e not flexed or extended).
  • If you do have back issues or serious pain I would recommend putting a pillow under your knees. This cradles them which takes a lot of pressure off of your lower back. 
  • You can bring your knees up as well, which will give you similar results.

​
I hope all of this helps! If you're having problems sleeping or are waking up in pain it may be your mattress. It might also be that your spine needs to get checked. Generally, if I'm working with someone and they are still waking up in pain, it's usually not their spine that is causing the pain. It is usually their mattress, and it's time to get a new one. Come see us! We will be happy to talk you through all of this, give you proper advice, and keep your spine in good health! I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered! 

 

The world, the media, and our daily lives have been deeply impacted by the coronavirus and the threat that could be heading towards the Lowcountry. With the panic and worry that comes from these types of situations, I wanted to take a moment to put the virus and the current state of things into perspective for you. Let's just take this one day at a time. 

Hey everybody, Dr. Bob here from Lowcountry Chiropractic. Today we are going to talk about a very hot topic; the coronavirus (COVID-19). What I want to do today is explain a little about it, about viruses, infections in general, and what you can practically do to protect yourself so you don't get infected. The coronavirus is a respiratory infection and is very similar to the flu. I want to start by saying that there is a lot of hype about the coronavirus. There is a lot of panic out there, and people are very worried about this situation. What I want to do is to try and be practical about all of this and put your fears to rest. I'm not trying to minimize how you might be feeling about it at all, but I want to put everything that's going on right now into perspective. 

How I plan on putting everything into perspective is by comparing coronavirus to the flu virus that we get in the US every year. Right now, roughly, there are about 140,000 coronavirus cases worldwide with 5,000 deaths. Just to put that into perspective, this year so far 35+ million people have been infected by the flu virus in the US alone and 20,000+ people have died. In the United States, the coronavirus has infected 1,800 people and 40 people have died. If you put all of this into perspective, the flu virus we get every year that no one really talks about anymore that has a vaccination, is much more deadly than what we are seeing so far with the coronavirus. I want to urge everyone to stay calm and to take precautions and that is what we are going to talk about today. 

What can you do to put yourself in the best place possible so you don't get infected? The CDC has a bunch of practical advice for anyone looking to prevent and prepare. I'll go through those points quickly with you. I'm sure you've heard all of these recommendations before, and many of them are no brainers. 

• Avoid close contact with infected people. Now, if you're infected, the same holds. You don't want to go out where there are a lot of people and spread it around. 
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throw it away. Cough or sneeze into the crook of your arm instead of your hands so you don't spread it around. 
• Clean and disinfect objects that you use frequently. Household surfaces, desks, computer/laptop keys, your cell phones, and tablets. 
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. It is recommended by the CDC to do so for at least 20 seconds. Wash your hands after using the restroom, before you eat, after blowing your nose, and after coughing or sneezing. 

Those are some of the practical ways you can help yourself from getting infected. 

Now, I'd like to talk a little bit about vaccinations. Right now there is no vaccination out there for the coronavirus. Until then, we need to be careful and apply caution. When there is a vaccination, how does a vaccination work? A vaccination is putting a dead virus into your body, causing the body to create antibodies to defend itself against the real thing if you ever come into contact with it. We've talked about vaccinations before. I'm not a big fan of them because at best they are on average about 33% effective. This is because the virus vaccination is made by taking three of the most common strains that we would most probably get, and the vaccination is made out of that. Sometimes a new strain appears that we have no vaccination against, and that is when those death numbers rise.  Plus, you're putting a virus into your body, along with bacteria and other things like detergent and other questionable things that are found inside vaccinations. 

Absent from doing vaccinations in general, what I want to suggest is the fact that you can't kill viruses with antibiotics. They are very resilient. What you can do is get your immune system working better. You can strengthen your immune system and there are a couple of ways to do that! 

Supplements
D3 is one of the best supplements you can give your body. The only place it occurs naturally is from direct sunlight. The only way it can enter your body is from direct sunlight or from taking this supplement. You can't find it in food or anywhere else. This particular supplement is small and inexpensive, and you can take it at a high dosage. What this supplement does is increase your immune system's response to things. It helps to fight off colds and flus, infections, and things of that nature. Right now you can take large doses, even double up on it. That is what I'm personally doing right now (5,000-10,000 IU/day). Taking a double dose won't hurt you. The body will get rid of anything extra it doesn't need or can't use. 

The Wellness Formula
This supplement is chock full of immune building vitamins and nutrients. This you only want to take when you feel like you're coming down with something. You take this for a short amount of time to get your immune system into hyperdrive to defeat whatever it is that you're fighting off. 

Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care is very important. Why? How does it help in this situation? Remember the nerves in your spine control every organ, gland, blood vessel, skin cell, muscle, tissue, and system in your body among which is the immune system. That's the big one, especially in this particular situation. This is the system that helps keep you healthy. By keeping your vertebra in alignment, and your nerves functioning well, it keeps all other systems in your body working optimally. So, by going to a chiropractor regularly, even if you're not in pain, it's going to help keep your body healthy and prevent things like the flu, colds, sore throats, and other maladies that you might come into contact with. 

You know, we are all exposed to germs. Some people get sick, and some don't. What's the difference? There is only one. That one difference is how strong one immune system is compared to the other. If you have a strong immune system the likelihood of getting sick is less. Not to say you can't get infected, but it's going to be less than someone whose immune system is compromised. That's why most of the people who are dying from the coronavirus (and the common flu) are the elderly, or people who have a respiratory condition, or have a compromised immune system. The average age of someone falling prey to the coronavirus is around 80 years old. Their immune system is not strong. So if you are healthy and get infected with the coronavirus you will likely fully recover after getting some flu-like symptoms. 

This is the bottom line. You need to follow the practice steps the CDC has laid out, wash your hands, but on top of all that, the most important thing is to get your immune system working more efficiently and stronger. Following the three steps I provided can help you achieve that goal. I hope this blog has helped. If you feel like your body is not working at 100%, please come see us and we can chat, take a look at your spine, and help you get started to get to optimum health. Chiropractic care is extremely effective and it's all drug-free and surgery-free. 

I hope that helps! I'm Dr. Bob, and I've got your back covered!

In this blog we will be answering some of the most popular asked questions that we all hear in our office, so please enjoy. These might be some of the questions you've been dying to ask, but just haven't had the opportunity to yet!

Hey everybody! Dr. Bob here at Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope you've been doing well. This blog is going to be dedicated to answering some of our frequently asked questions. Have you been wondering about chiropractic, what we do, and how it works? Then you've come to the right place. That is exactly what we will be discussing today. So, let's get started!

QUESTION ONE: Are Chiropractors real Doctors?
Believe it or not, I do hear this question sometimes. Not as much as I used to, thankfully. I believe people are really starting to understand that YES we are real doctors. To get your doctorate in chiropractic, you have to go through three to five years of schooling, sometimes more, after you've completed all of your prerequisite classes. It is a very rigorous course of schooling, very similar to what a medical student would go through in terms of hours needed to complete your classes. It's very similar to medical school, except, we focus more on spinal anatomy and neurology whereas medical students focus on pharmacology and diagnosis. So, the focus is different. The number of hours and intensity of the classes is pretty similar. In school, chiropractors have to be in the clinic and take care of patients. Then when you graduate, you have to pass four national exams (written, practical, and oral) before you can practice and before you get a license. So yes, we are real doctors. We are called Doctors of Chiropractic or DC for short.

QUESTION TWO: Are there some stretches that you can teach me that I can do at home to take away my problems and pain?
I hear this question a lot. Patients come in and want to know if I can show them stretches that will fix their issues. Yes, we encourage that you stretch as much you can! It will keep the muscles loose and the tendons and ligaments limber. But, if you have a chiropractic problem, like a subluxation of your spine (spinal vertebrae that are misaligned) chiropractors are the only trained professionals that can remove those issues. Stretching won't help correct those issues. You need to go to a chiropractor for that!

QUESTION THREE: Is chiropractic care safe and effective for pregnant women?
It is absolutely! I would recommend any woman who is pregnant to get into chiropractic. As a pregnant woman grows and the baby gets bigger, sometimes the baby can sit on nerves on the low back and create a lot of painful problems. Chiropractic care can help with that. Chiropractic care can help keep the spine aligned, help keep pressure off the nerves and keep pain at a minimum. Chiropractic care is also proven to help reduce the time of labor and the amount of pain in labor. Chiropractors help keep the pelvis open, which helps the baby properly go through the birth canal. Another great reason to go to a chiropractor during your pregnancy is that your baby is getting all of their nutrients from you. If your body isn't optimally healthy, you're not passing 100% of health through your nutrition along to the baby. If you want your baby to be healthy, you want to stay healthy. I am also trained to help with any breech presentation, helping to keep the baby in proper alignment for a healthy and safe birth for both you and the baby. This can help if you want a natural birth and it helps avoid an emergency C-Section.

QUESTION FOUR: What conditions can be helped with chiropractic care?
The obvious ones that patients come in with are pain, like headaches, neck pain, and low back pain. These issues are the most common that we see. However, remember this. The nerves that come off your spine send messages and control every function in your body. When you have a subluxation on these nerves, things can go very wrong. For example, you can get acid reflux, you can develop high blood pressure, diabetes, and other digestive problems. You can experience a lack of energy or insomnia. Chiropractic care can help with these conditions as well, as long as they're being caused by a subluxation.

QUESTION FIVE: Is chiropractic care covered by insurance?
This is a big question. Most insurance plans do cover chiropractic care. Some don't, which is why when we get a new patient in the office, we check their insurance information right away. We will call your insurance company and make sure if it is covered or not, how much is covered, how many visits are covered, and how much the co-pay will be. We've started to see a trend recently with Obama Care in place that deductibles have grown a lot. This means how much you have to satisfy as a patient out of your pocket before the insurance will start to pay. While an insurance company may say they cover chiropractic, your deductible could be extraordinarily high and you will have to meet it before your insurance kicks in and starts paying for the care you want.

QUESTION SIX: Is Chiropractic care expensive?
Chiropractic care can be extremely affordable. If you take care of the maintenance of your spine now, you'll be avoiding issues down the road that could be extremely costly. For example, injections, surgeries, and things you don't want to do. Chiropractic care is all about prevention. We focus on what we can do for your spine now to prevent big issues down the road as you get older. It's very affordable because it's a maintenance model. Also, in our offices, we work with our patients. We will work with patients who have financial issues, and make sure that they get the care they need, not just what they can afford.

QUESTION SEVEN: Is it true if you get into chiropractic care, you will have to go for the rest of your life?
I would say if you want to remain optimally healthy, then yes you should continue with treatments throughout your life. Chiropractic care is like brushing your teeth, exercising, or eating properly. These are all healthy habits you do in your life to stay healthier. Normally how it works in chiropractic care is that you come in more frequently, in the beginning, to retrain everything in your body. Once everything's set, we put you on a maintenance program to make sure those problems we corrected don't come back. That's why we highly recommend that you stay on a maintenance program to maintain the work that we've done.

I hope that these answers helped you understand a little more about chiropractic care and what we do every day. If any of this resonates with you and you've got some problems with pain, please come visit us. Please come in for a consultation to see if we are the right fit for you and your health journey.

I'm Dr. Bob, and I've got your back covered! Until next time, stay well!

Even if you aren't new to the chiropractic world, you might not know how much chiropractic can do for your body beyond the spine. Did you know that chiropractic care can help you from head to toe? 

Hey everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here at Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope you're doing well! Today we are going to be talking about the expanded role of chiropractic in treating the non-spinal joints in the body.  Most people understand (if they know chiropractic) that chiropractors adjust or work on the spinal bones. In reality, chiropractors work on all the joints of the body. Why is that? Every joint in your body, if it is not moving properly, can cause problems or pain.  The chiropractor's role is to realign the bones that are out of alignment, and then restore the range of motion and get rid of any malfunction and pain. So let's start with the very top of the body and work our way down to discover how a chiropractor can help you. 

• Let's start with the bones of the skull. There are sutures found in the skull that are slightly moveable and can be adjusted.  The benefit of adjusting the skull is reduction of headaches and increase in mental focus.
• A chiropractor can adjust the sinuses, just above and below your eyes. This helps tremendously with allergies and sinus infections.
• Chiropractors can help with TMJ, which is a jaw issue that can be very painful when you're chewing, talking, and even sleeping. 
• Shoulder problems can also be addressed. If you have a torn rotator cuff in your shoulder, chiropractic care isn't necessarily going to help with that, but if you have other joints like the acromio-clavicular out of alignment, it can be very painful. Sometimes just one adjustment can fix this pain. I had a patient come in who is a construction worker, and he had a chronic shoulder issue. I adjusted his shoulder once, and he couldn't believe how much better it felt. 
• As we continue to move down the body, we hit the elbows. Elbows can give you all kinds of problems, the most common of which is pain.
• The bones in your wrists and hands can be adjusted. There are over 20 bones in just one hand! That goes for your feet as well! 
• The hip bones and hip joints often get out of alignment. When this happens, you're not walking symmetrically, which can put a lot of pressure on the feet and knees and can lead to joint degeneration. 
• Knees can be adjusted. I get a lot of people who come in with sports injuries or who have slipped and fallen, and it has caused them to misalign the kneecap or the tibia, fibula, and femur), and I can help adjust these issues. If you have a soft tissue injury like a torn ACL, chiropractic care isn't going to fix this issue. But it can certainly restore the proper motion in that joint that was lost with these soft tissue injuries. 
• We can adjust the feet, ankles, and toes. Again, in your foot, if one side is not working properly you will not be walking properly. The body will immediately be asymmetrical and when that happens, it can affect other areas of the body. The stresses will cause referred re pain back up into the knees, the hips, the lower back, and so on. 

I just wanted to spend some time on this topic because so many of my patients come in with an extremity issue, and don't realize that I can help them with it. Any articulation in your body can be effectively looked worked on by a chiropractor. If you are having any of these issues that are mentioned above and if you are trying to go the least invasive route (the least surgical and drug intensive route) look us up and give us a call. If it's a misalignment issue, we can help you! 

So again, it's Dr. Bob, and I hope you have a great day!

​

It's always so easy to start the New Year off on the right foot and make an amazing list of resolutions, but how long do you usually stick with them? Dr. Bob is here to give you some of the best resolutions that you can keep not only for the New Year but for the rest of your life! 

Hey everybody! Dr. Bob Salamon here at Lowcountry Chiropractic. This blog is going to be all about health resolutions that you can make for the New Year. Quite honestly, these are things that you can do any time of the year. If you do these things, I guarantee you will get healthier and stay that way! Most of these tips and choices have to do with you and having the discipline to achieve this new level of health and wellness. Then there are one or two things that are my responsibility as your chiropractor. Let's get started! 

Number One! 
Go green! What do I mean by that? We all need to eat healthier. Delicious, green, leafy vegetables are a great place to start. To be honest, if you use the guide of "eating the colors of the rainbow", that's a wonderful place to start. Eat colorful things like oranges, apples, purple eggplants, and things like that. These are great foods for you! They are great phytonutrients, antioxidants, and they are very alkaline. This is very important because cancer cells hate alkaline environments. If you eat more alkaline foods you are going to defend yourself a lot better against cancer. Green, leafy vegetables and fruits are the way to go, and that's the trend to follow. Most people don't eat this way. Most people eat processed foods, red meats, fried foods, and pasta. I would encourage you to shift your focus into going green. 

Number Two! 
Refine your life. This is a big one: Refined sugar is in a ton of products found on supermarket shelves. These products are bad for you! Why? These products create inflammation in your body. Inflammation is a haven for opportunistic diseases. Inflammation is also the cause of most pain in the body, especially for arthritic conditions. Along the lines of eating and going green, you need to eliminate refined sugars. Refined sugars can be found in desserts, chips, pasta, bread, and other foods like that. If you shift over to eating green and avoid refined sugars, you'll refine your life!

Number Three! 
Don't be a couch potato! We need to exercise and a lot of people don't. They just go about their daily lives without giving time to exercise and activity. Why is exercise so important? There are a couple of key reasons.

• If you have toned muscles, they burn more calories! At rest, a person who works out is going to burn more calories compared to someone who doesn't. 
• It's great for your cardiovascular health. 
• It's great for sleeping. The more you exercise, the better you'll sleep. 
• It is great for focus and getting efficient at what you do. 

What kinds of exercises do you need to do? I like a variety of activities. I do things that offer a multitude of variety like Crossfit, running, biking, and things like that. The goal is to confuse your body so that it doesn't get lazy. If you do the same type of workout all the time, your body gets lazy and you're not going to get much out of the workout. If you vary your workout and mix it up with cross-training, you will get the best results. Try this and make sure you're doing at least 20 to 30 minutes of sustained activity at least three times a week, if not more! 

Number Four! 
Don't worry, be happy! This has to do with our mental attitude. Having a positive mental attitude will go a long way towards you staying healthy because it reduces stress. 99% of the things we worry about in life we don't need to worry about because a) these things won't actually happen or b) if they do happen,  they turn out to be not as bad as we thought they were going to be! Find ways to have joy in your life, laugh a lot, smile a lot, help a lot of people, do good work for people, and be happy. You will find that you will be a much healthier person!

Number Five! 
Rest and relax. Most of us don't get enough sleep at night. Sleep is so crucial to our health because when we sleep, we go through a rapid eye period of sleep. This is the only time that our body has time to repair and regenerate our protein bridges, muscles, organs, and the covering of our organs, and everything in our body. Our bodies need this break so it can heal. If we're not getting our 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night, slowly bit by bit our bodies get broken down. What happens then? We get sick more often, we get more tired, we lose focus, we lose energy, and lose our health very quickly. I challenge you to try to get that extra half hour to hour of sleep at night. I challenge you to do this for a week and you will see how much better you'll feel at the end of that week. That alone will be a great incentive to keep going. 

Number Six! 
Get connected. What does this mean? Go see your chiropractor. The chiropractor is the only person who is specifically trained to relieve nerve interference in your body. We are the only ones who are trained to adjust vertebrae that have misaligned and are irritating nerves and causing your health to suffer. All the systems of your body are controlled by the nervous system. This includes the immune, endocrine, respiratory, reproductive, and digestive systems, among others. All of these systems are dependent upon a good nerve supply. This is because the brain sends all the messages down your spine, through the nerves, to all of your body parts. Those nerves then take all those messages back to the brain. If those messages aren't getting communicated to your body, your functions are going to suffer and you will break down. Chiropractic care will ensure that the flow of information is happening over those lines of communication, thus allowing your body to get and stay optimally healthy.

Those are my six top New Years' resolutions and all year round resolutions to help you optimize your health. Go green, refine your life, don't be a couch potato, don't worry, be happy, rest and relax, and get connected. I hope this helps. If you do these things well, I guarantee you're going to be healthier in the future and more healthy than you are right now. 

Again this is Dr. Bob and I hope to see you next time and in the new year. From my family and everyone at Lowcountry Chiropractic, happy holidays!

Having trouble sleeping? It might be something more than just having too many things on your mind or too many cups of coffee. It might be something much deeper, and something that can be fixed by the hands of a chiropractor!

Hello everybody! Dr. Bob Salamon here! Today we are going to talk about sleep issues and how chiropractic care can help you sleep better at night. To do that we need to talk about the two most important hormones affecting our sleep patterns. One is cortisol and the other is melatonin.

Cortisol is a hormone that is produced in the adrenal glands, which sit on the kidneys.  The adrenals produce more cortisol in the morning, when your body senses daylight. The cortisol increases your blood sugar levels, blood pressure levels, and prepares your body for the activities of the day. The adrenal glands produce cortisol to help wake you up and feel refreshed in the morning. As the day goes on your cortisol levels begin to drop, and an increase of the second important hormone begins. That hormone is melatonin.

Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in the brain. As the day comes to an end and your cortisol levels drop, your hypothalamus in the brain sends a message to the pineal gland to produce more melatonin. This will make you drowsy and will eventually put you to sleep. So as the day progresses,  cortisol levels decrease and melatonin levels go up. In the morning, the opposite occurs.

What does this all mean? First of all, you want to make sure you have the right production of cortisol and melatonin at the right times. Believe it or not, what regulates brain function and what regulates the cortisol and melatonin production are nerves that come out of your spine. If these nerves are not working properly, then you may have a situation where not enough melatonin is being produced at night and you have trouble falling asleep. You also might have an issue of not producing enough cortisol in the morning and you have trouble waking up.

How does a nerve stop working properly? It's pretty simple! It's called a subluxation. A subluxation is when a spinal bone misaligns and irritates or pinches a nerve that exits an opening  between one vertebra and another.. When this happens, the messages between the brain and the body and the glands are not transmitting as they should. So, in this case, these two glands (the pineal and adrenal) may not produce melatonin and cortisol in the proper amounts and at the proper times.

Chiropractic care is designed to realign the spine, correct the subluxation and allow the nerves that connect the brain and body and deliver messages back and forth to one another to function properly.. When the brain and the body are connected, good things happen! In this case, hormones get produced in the right amounts at the right times, allowing you to sleep better and wake up more refreshed in the morning!

If anybody is out there is suffering from insomnia or having any other sleeping issues, give us a call or look us up. We'd love to talk to you about it. I've personally had lots of patients who come in after their first adjustment and say, "I haven't slept like that in years!". I hope this blog helped explain the physiology behind sleep issues and how chiropractic can help these issues, and I look forward to seeing you in the office!