Give your spine and nervous system quality time to heal and recover
- Use a towel to restore your neck curve: Due to our stressed and sedentary culture, most people have a forward head carriage position which put an added strain on the neck. A good habit to combat this is to lie down on the floor or in bed with a rolled-up towel behind the neck to allow the neck to relax back into a healthy curved posture and to establish a pre-sleep wind down routine.
- Dim the evening lights: Your body clock runs of your activity level, meal timing and level of light exposure. If you wake your body up with stimulating TV and device screen light in the last 2-3 hours before going to bed you will waist time lying in bed with less deep and less rejuvenating sleep due to “awake hormones” still circulating your system. This will directly interfere with the maintenance of your spinal health as well as your overall health and wellbeing. So, make a point of avoiding or dim bright screen light or florescent light for the last few hours every evening.
- 2-hour evening fast: To have the hormonal cocktail optimized for growth and recovery it is advisable to not eat anything for the last 2 hours before going to bed at night. This will increase your testosterone and growth hormone levels so your spine can heal and allow you to get better results faster with your chiropractic care.
- Consistent bed time: Your body loves being in a rhythm, a regular body clock that is in sync with dusk and/or dawn leads to deeper sleep and better recovery for your spine and nervous system.
- Get to bed 15 min earlier: A good sign that you are getting enough sleep is if you wake up naturally feeling rested. A nice little trick is to get to bed 10-15 min earlier every week until you find yourself waking up consistently just before your alarm clock feeling rested and ready for the day. This will ensure time for your neuro-spinal system to heal and recover.
