Have you ever been a light or restless sleeper who wakes up easily, still feeling tired when you wake up in the morning? Chiropractic experts warn that spinal problems may cause these conditions.
We often hear people say, “Stand up straight,” or “Don’t slouch,” which can be taken as more of a matter of manners. But you know what? If your body posture is incorrect, it can cause problems in your spine, which can profoundly affect your health.
Dr. Joyce Huang, a chiropractor who practices in the United States and Canada, mentioned in her book “Posture: A Determinant of Your Health” that her mother often complained about poor sleep quality many years ago and tried different ways to improve it, including buying ever more expensive pillows, changing her diet, quitting caffeine, and exercising, but nothing helped. She could only rely on sleeping pills to fall asleep, but she still did not feel well during the day, suffering frequent headaches, head pressure, and stinging pain. Her quality of life went from bad to worse.
Huang said that while studying chiropractic in medical school, she realized that long-term incorrect posture would lead to imbalanced force on the cervical spine and joint dislocation. When the curvature of the cervical spine is too vertical, the cervical spine and neck muscles do not get enough rest. In more severe cases, the joints there will press on the nearby nerves, sending wrong messages and interfering with sleep.
Huang suspected that her mother’s prolonged insomnia might be spine-related, so she took her to a chiropractor. With her spine corrected, her mother’s sleep improved significantly. After about three months of treatment, her mother’s insomnia finally disappeared. The mother not only got enough sleep, but the quality of it also improved.
The body is like a skyscraper, and the spine is like the pillars that support the building. From top to bottom, the spine is divided into cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum, and coccyx. At the top of the building, the cervical spine plays an important role, supporting the head and allowing us to turn it freely.
The spine comprises 33 vertebrae, with intervertebral foramina formed between adjacent vertebrae, allowing the spinal nerves to transmit messages to various parts of the body. The spinal cord has 31 pairs of spinal cord nerves, including eight pairs of cervical nerves, 12 pairs of thoracic nerves, five pairs of lumbar nerves, five pairs of sacral nerves, and one pair of coccygeal nerves. The spinal cord and brain constitute the body’s central nervous system and control all its operations. Whether the sympathetic or parasympathetic nerves in the autonomic nervous system, movement control of the hands and feet, the sensing and maintaining of balance, and the like, the spinal cord’s nerves are there to convey messages.
However, when pressure on the spine becomes imbalanced, the adjacent spinal cord nerves will become compressed, affecting the transmission of nerve messages. If the transmission is impeded, body functions will naturally be affected.
Sleep and spine health are inextricably linked. In April 2023, a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health noted that, based on data from the 2016–2018 National Health Interview Survey, sleep problems increased the incidence of spinal pain by about 1.8 times compared with cases without spinal pain.
Bedding is very important to the human spine, as correct bedding can help protect it.
Huang mentioned in her book that from the chiropractic point of view, she would recommend a spring mattress series with independent cylinders. The support mechanism employed in independent cylinders is the average support on multiple points. The pelvis, back, shoulders, and others are body parts that need more points to obtain enough support. Because each spring is independent, the somewhat concave parts, such as the lumbar spine and knees, can fit perfectly with the mattress.
Huang emphasized that you should lie down on the mattress to test it when choosing a mattress. Your weight will help determine the hardness needed. A mattress’ stiffness should not be so hard that it will cause rebound nor so soft that it will collapse beneath you.
The cervical spine’s curvature is like a pressure buffer. If you keep a bad posture, the cervical spine will be consistently under pressure, affecting the rest of the neck muscles and compressing the nearby nerves, leading to insomnia and other complications.
Huang said that a pillow’s function is to fill and support the gap between the cervical spine and the bed while lying flat, to maintain the proper curvature of the cervical spine, and not to change its curvature due to gravity.
She believes that when choosing a pillow, one must consider two key points: material and height. Huang recommends latex pillows with good flexibility.
She said the most suitable pillow height is that when lying flat, the chin is parallel to the ground without tilting up or down. When lying on the side, the space between the shoulder, ear, and head is well supported, with the chin staying between the two clavicles.
In addition to how one sleeps at night, one should maintain good posture throughout the day. Hu Naiwen, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physician in Taiwan, reminds everyone to avoid lying on the sofa or bed and frequently scanning their mobile phone because this may damage the spine. In addition, our daily lying, sitting, and standing postures can all cause scoliosis and affect health.
The spine is the body’s primary framework, and the central nervous system it protects is the only information channel controlling the operation of various parts of the body. Whether it is voluntary control actions, such as walking, jumping, grasping objects, or other functions such as heartbeat, digestion, breathing, blood circulation, etc., all rely on these nerves to transmit information to the brain, allowing the latter to make proper adjustments according to real-time conditions.
For example, if we eat something suspicious, the nerves send this message to the brain through the spine. The brain will then respond, potentially helping us expel toxic substances in the form of diarrhea or vomiting, thus reducing bodily harm.
Huang also mentions in another book, “Super Anti-Aging! The Deep Anti-Aging Magic of the Spinal Nerves: Effectively Bid Farewell to Early Aging and Reproduce the Miracle of Youth,” that the body will renew its cells every seven years to constantly eliminate aging or poorly functioning tissues. The body then produces new ones to maintain health, which is its self-healing capability. To improve this self-healing power, it is necessary to ensure the healthy operation of the spine, bones, joints, muscles, and nervous system and allow all parts of the body to receive sufficient nutrients and information. This helps the body strengthen its ability to repair and eliminate and keep it in better shape.