Improve Your Sleep the Natural Way this Spring

With spring right around the corner, many people are starting to think about what they’d like to grow in their garden this year. Whether it’s delicious vegetables or fragrant flowers, in addition to the beautiful bounty you can expect from your efforts, researchers say that heading outdoors can also benefit one potentially surprising area of your life: your sleep. Here’s a closer look at how gardening could help you get the restful night you deserve!

Gardening and Sleep

A recent study called the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveyed 62,000 people and found that those who regularly gardened had “lower odds of multiple sleep complaints” including shorter sleep duration, insomnia, and sleep apnea.

Researchers believe that this could be due to several factors, including beneficial sun exposure, physical activity, and stress reduction. In fact, they have even noticed in other studies that there is an important relationship between green spaces and sleep duration, as well as mental health benefits to gardening including the improvement of dementia symptoms.

Get Outdoors

While the study did find a strong link between gardening and sleep, researchers believe there’s no reason people can’t experience these benefits by simply spending time outside, even if they don’t garden. Getting sunlight, fresh air, and even mild physical activity like a slow walk or hike can help provide the body with important vitamin D all while boosting the heart rate, which can also help improve cardiovascular health and lower cortisol levels just like gardening can.

Other Ways to Treat Sleep Disorders

In addition to getting outdoors, there are other ways to help overcome disorders like sleep apnea. In fact, your sleep dentist may have solutions that can help you get the rest you need such as a custom oral appliance that can help prop your airway open naturally and allow you to breathe without the need for a CPAP machine, or a Nightlase procedure designed to reduce snoring and help you (and your partner!) sleep. To learn more about these treatments, and to see if you qualify, speak to your sleep dentist about your symptoms.

Remember, spending time in nature tending a garden can yield a variety of amazing fruits, vegetables, and flowers. But it could also benefit you from falling asleep and staying asleep. To learn more about how you can treat sleep apnea with the help of a custom sleep device or other treatment, speak to your dentist today.

About Dr. Sierra

Dr. James T. Sierra earned his Undergraduate degree at Austin College and his Doctor of Dental Surgery from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is one of only 200 dentists in the United States who is trained to perform the NightLase procedure, a dynamic non-surgical treatment that eliminates snoring. To learn more about sleep apnea treatment from Friendswood Dental Group, visit our website or call 281-482-2631.