Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep
When the winter winds start blowing in, and the sun goes into hiding, how does that make you feel? Maybe extra tired? Slightly depressed or anxious? Well, you are not alone in those feelings. Winter can be hard for a lot of reasons and this can create more stress on your nervous system which may lead to you feeling depressed, anxious and tired.
Let’s talk about the relationship between depression, anxiety and sleep and how chiropractic can help break the cycle for you this winter.
If you have ever dealt with depression, anxiety or struggled with sleeping, you probably know how these 3 can feed into each other. When you start struggling with one it seems like the other 2 want to come along for the ride. They feed off of each other and create a loop that can sometimes seem impossible to break. The good news is that you CAN break this cycle and we are here to help!
The key to breaking any cycle or pattern is the fact that your brain is neuroplastic. Neuroplasticity may be a big word but it doesn’t have to be complicated – it essentially means your brain has the ability to CHANGE and REWIRE itself. Neurologically focused chiropractic care works with your brain to help facilitate changes throughout your whole body. This makes it easier for your brain to break away from old patterns/cycles and move forward in growing your health. There is a growing body of research coming out that looks at how chiropractic adjustments can help with your brain’s activation and function. Dr. Heidi Haavick is a researcher based out of New Zealand and has found that after a chiropractic adjustment, brain function changes by 20% . These changes were primarily observed in the prefrontal cortex of the brain and in the cerebellum. These 2 areas play a role in decision making, social interaction, memory, attention, concentration, processing how you feel in your body, understanding emotional responses, and more. In the next few paragraphs, we are going to dive deeper into the details on how your nervous system impacts depression, anxiety and sleep.
Depression and its relation to your nervous system:
There are many different thoughts on what exactly causes depression and we wish we knew the exact answer. What we do know is that your nervous system directly impacts and regulates your moods and how you are feeling. Your nervous system plays a major role in balancing the chemicals in your body that are associated with depression (serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine). It detects and monitors what is going on inside your body and outside your body and can adjust the chemical balance in your blood based on what is going on. It does this in part by stimulating specific organs and glands to either produce more or less of the desired chemicals. When your nervous system is overloaded with stress it creates a subluxation. A subluxation interferes with your nervous system's ability to communicate information from your brain to your body and vice versa. If your nervous system is struggling to properly perceive and monitor your internal and external environment, then it can be hard for it to properly balance those different chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. When you get adjusted and we clear out any interference/subluxations in your nervous system, you start to feel better, because now the master chemist inside you can do what it is supposed to do and bring you back into balance.
Anxiety and its relation to your nervous system:
Anxiety is oftentimes the result of an overstressed, overworked, and/or overstimulated nervous system. This starts to push your nervous system into sympathetic mode (aka fight/flight) which makes your body more stressed. Oftentimes with our fast paced, busy lives we tend to live more on the “gas pedal” side of our nervous system, the fight/flight side. The issue starts to arise when your nervous system gets stuck over there, when you are no longer under stress but your nervous system is still responding as if you are. This makes it more difficult for getting into the rest/repair side aka “brake pedal” side where your body can actually relax and work on building up your health. Living in fight/flight mode keeps your nervous system on high alert and overdrive which can lead to you feeling more anxious when life gets stressful. If we were an auto shop, we would be the leading experts in brakes. Our adjusting technique is designed for stimulating the brake pedal of your nervous system to bring your body out of fight/flight and back into rest/repair/relax mode.
Sleep and its relation to your nervous system:
Just like with anxiety, the stress that locks your nervous system in the gas pedal side will negatively impact your sleep in a big way. If your nervous system is stuck in fight/flight, it is as if you are running away from a bear. How much sense does it make for you to get sleepy or even fall asleep when you are being chased by a bear? Not much! Your physiologic design when you are in fight/flight mode is to keep you awake so that you can either fight or flight from danger. By getting adjusted and getting your nervous system shifted out of fight/flight you’re going to be able to start sleeping better, longer and more restfully.
This winter take care of your nervous system and break the pattern. Let chiropractic help you function and feel better so that you can show up as your best self everyday for yourself and your family.