Celebrating World Sleep Day - Impact of Sleep on Health

March 15th is World Sleep Day! Who doesn’t like to sleep in on the weekend? Or wish they had an extra hour or two to sleep in Monday morning? Chances are, you’re more than familiar with those feelings, as most of us are. This is why it’s so important to discuss the impact of proper sleeping habits on our general health.
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As health professionals, physiotherapists constantly promote better sleep habits to our clients, as it plays an incredibly important role in injury recovery and pain levels. Andrew Koppejan, a registered physiotherapist in Alberta, even wrote a book about the impacts of sleep and how to integrate it in our practice.

A few points from his book that may surprise some:

• Better sleep habits lead to lower risks of developing obesity, diabetes, and generally lower incidence of mortality.
• For people with chronic pain, better sleep promotes a lower sensitivity to pain.

Poor sleep negatively impacts the symptoms of inflammatory diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis).
With those in mind, why not take a moment to think about our own sleeping habits? There is no better time to tackle this than today on World Sleep Day! Here are a few tips to get you started. 

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