8 Sleeping Tips That Help with Vertigo

In this article you will learn 8 sleeping tips that help with vertigo and dizziness to help you improve the quality of your sleep and life. Vertigo is a debilitating condition that can affect your quality of life, but it doesn’t have to! By learning more about how to have better quality sleep and rest, and the other holistic alternative remedies available to you now, you can start feeling better from this condition sooner than later!

The Connection between Vertigo and Your Sleep

Vertigo is a common medical problem that makes people feel dizzy, lightheaded and usually involves the sensation of the room spinning. It can affect anyone at any age, but it's especially common in older adults. Certain movements can trigger vertigo attacks. If you have vertigo, the best thing to do is ensure you have a sufficient sleep regularly. This will let your body cope with the demands of your vertigo symptoms and attacks until you can get to the underlying cause. 

So how does your sleep quality affect or provoke your vertigo attacks?

Sleep deprivation

Studies show that sleep deprivation could cause dizziness, as well as trigger a more frequent occurrence of vertigo attacks. Furthermore, it has been shown that partial sleep deprivation (less than 6 hours of sleep) can increase the frequency and severity of a person's vertigo problems. Sleep deprivation also produces stress hormones, leading to health problems like depression and anxiety.

Sleep quality

According to a research from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), an estimated 40 million American adults have chronic insomnia or another type of sleep disorder each year—and even those without any form of insomnia still only get about seven hours on average each night. This is unfortunate because a good night's rest is essential for maintaining good health. But what if you're not getting enough shut-eye? Well, without enough restorative sleep, your body will weaken and become more prone to disease and poor health.

Importance of Quality Sleep

Getting ample quality sleep is important for our overall health, and vertigo is no exception. Sleep helps the body repair itself, which can help reduce the severity of a vertigo attack. It also helps our brain function properly and keeps our immune system functioning well. Getting enough sleep allows our bodies to process nutrients properly, helping us feel more energized throughout the day instead of tired and sluggish once we get out of bed in the morning. Finally, getting enough quality sleep allows us to relax before going to bed at night; so that we don’t worry about anything that happened during the day or stress over things that are coming up tomorrow or later on this week.

There are a ton of benefits to getting adequate sleep. In the graphic below we outline 8 sleeping tips that help with vertigo. And below that we give you more information about how to get good sleep and also search for the underlying cause of your vertigo, dizziness or disequilibrium.

8 Simple Sleeping Tips that Help with Vertigo

1. Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke.
2. Eat light meals, especially before bed.
3. Get plenty of exercises.
4. Avoid excessive caffeine and alcohol, which can increase your risk of attacks and make them more severe.
5. Rest when you feel dizzy or lightheaded.
6. Adjust the room temperature.
7. Maintain a regular sleep schedule.
8. Take a long bath before bedtime to relax and help you sleep faster.

Other Tips For Vertigo

Along with these eight sleeping tips that help with vertigo there are other things you can do to reduce vertigo attacks on top of improving your sleep quality and habits:

Anti-inflammatory Foods

To manage your vertigo better, try to avoid your food triggers or prioritize your intake of anti-inflammatory foods like: 

• Omega-3 fatty acids (like fish oils): can be found in food like shellfish, nuts, seeds, and eggs.
• Magnesium: can be found in leafy greens such as spinach and kale; grains like quinoa and brown rice; legumes including chickpeas; nuts such as almonds and walnuts; dark chocolate.
• Vitamin B6 (recommended daily intake: 2mg), is found in bananas, chicken breast, or tuna fish.
• If you have vertigo symptoms at night time when lying down for sleep or when waking up in the morning, having warm milk before bedtime may help you feel more relaxed.

Stress Management Techniques

One of the most operative means of reducing stress and anxiety is to practice a variety of stress management techniques. These include meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, prayer, positive thinking, and regular exercise. Another option worth considering is massage therapy or acupressure/acupuncture. This can help calm your body down while also improving blood circulation, which helps alleviate headaches caused by dizziness. Other forms of relaxation or stress management techniques are music therapy, aromatherapy, and art therapy – options that may help reduce stress levels no matter how chaotic things may seem.

Upper Cervical Care

Now let's turn our attention to finding the underlying cause of your vertigo, dizziness or disequilibrium symptoms. Head and neck injuries are a common culprit. Accidents and injuries to the head and neck because misalignments to the upper neck (atlas and axis bones). When the upper neck misalignments it can impact your body in a variety of ways including creating a slight tilting of your head. When the head is tilted to the side your body must compensate for that change in order to keep your eyes level with the horizon. This can impact the function of your vestibular system including your ears and the balance sensors in your brain.

Specialists within the chiropractic profession are experts at detecting and correcting misalignments in the upper neck. Many people with vertigo have found this to be the key to getting to the underlying cause so that there vertigo, dizziness or disequilibrium symptoms go away for good. Frequently this type of vertigo is referred to as cervicogenic vertigo meaning related to the neck. Here is one example from an upper cervical specialist's office.

You can't find this type of care from just any chiropractor but only doctors who have specialized training in the upper neck have consistently been able to help people with vertigo, Ménière's disease, dizziness, disequilibrium and other related conditions.

Upper Cervical and Vertigo Research

Below is a few of the case studies related to upper cervical chiropractic care, cervicogenic vertigo, Ménière's disease, and associated conditions.

Case Studies on Upper Cervical Care and Meniere's Disease:

• This article presents case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of upper cervical chiropractic care in treating Ménière's disease. One case study of a 63-year-old woman shows significant improvement in symptoms such as vertigo and tinnitus after receiving upper cervical adjustments. The study suggests that upper cervical care can be a promising non-surgical approach to managing Ménière's disease symptoms.
• Upper cervical chiropractic techniques, such as precise adjustments, have been shown to be effective in addressing vertigo episodes by realigning the spine. These techniques are tailored to each individual based on their specific condition and spinal alignment. Studies and clinical cases have demonstrated promising results in the management of vertigo through this method.
• The upper cervical spine plays a crucial role in the nervous system, and misalignments in this area can contribute to vertigo. Upper cervical chiropractic care focuses on addressing the root cause of vertigo from a neurological standpoint, offering a holistic approach to recovery that emphasizes the body's innate ability to heal itself.
• Research has highlighted the potential benefits of upper cervical chiropractic care in managing vertigo. For instance, a study involving 60 patients with vertigo found that all patients who underwent upper cervical chiropractic care reported resolution of their vertigo, with 80% experiencing complete resolution and the remaining 20% experiencing a significant reduction in their vertigo attacks.
• Additionally, upper cervical chiropractic care has been shown to be effective in addressing vertigo associated with conditions such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and vestibular migraines. In these cases, correcting misalignments in the upper cervical spine can help alleviate symptoms.

Overall, the research suggests that upper cervical chiropractic care offers a unique and potentially effective approach to managing vertigo, focusing on the relationship between the upper cervical spine and the nervous system to address the underlying causes of vertigo and provide relief.

These sources collectively offer a broad spectrum of research and case studies on the specified conditions, illustrating both the historical context and current advancements in the field. They underscore the complexity of diagnosing and treating these conditions and the potential benefits of upper cervical chiropractic care.

Although utilizing the sleeping tips that help with vertigo in this article will certainly help your symptoms most people want to find out why they are suffering. If you want to investigate the underlying cause of your vertigo it is important to start with the upper neck.

To find a credible upper cervical specialist in your area, check out the Upper Cervical Awareness page. It has the most comprehensive list of trusted upper cervical chiropractors in the world, so you can find hope and healing!

to schedule a consultation today.