Sleep Well – Live Better
Sleep Well – Live Better
Yoga for better sleep
Sleep well – live better: Difficulty with sleeping has been a growing and prevalent problem in our modern, fast-paced lifestyles. Many describe a lack of healthy and nurturing sleep as an epidemic.
Chronic lack of sleep can lead to a variety of health and lifestyle issues, including:
- Reduced productivity
- Reliance on sleep drugs and caffeine
- Weight gain
- Poor mental health, including depression
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Low sex drive
- Relationship difficulties
Disrupted sleep can easily turn into a vicious and hard-to-interrupt cycle, and unless there is an identifiable medical problem or illness behind it, disrupted sleep is ultimately traced back to the ‘T Word’ – Tension.
Tension dramatically reduces the ability to rest appropriately and nourish the body’s tissues, resulting in the buildup of toxins and hormones, which in turn leads to increased tension. When we are tense, we can’t relax, and so it becomes harder to sleep. The sleep we do get is then of a lower quality, and we wake up feeling tired. More tension builds up… further inability to sleep… then a fear of not going to sleep due to past bad experiences… more tension.
So do we need to relax about sleep?
Yes, most definitely. Along with the genuine disruption in sleep patterns may also come a sleep obsession. Often, people are so obsessed with the need to get ‘proper sleep’ that they think they are sleeping less than they are. This causes the brain to overreact with fear. Once this pattern sets in, it is tough to fall asleep, and when sleep does come, it is disturbed.
Unfortunately, people are reaching for pharmaceutical pills or self-medicating with recreational drugs, alcohol, or food as Band-Aid solutions to the deeper underlying problem of tension within their system.
The use of sleeping pills and tranquillizers means that people build up a tolerance to these chemical substances, and thus, they require increased dosages to get the original effects. Eventually, the drugs lose their effectiveness, and when withdrawn, they leave behind the undesirable effects of no sleep the first night and disturbed sleep the next few nights. Even though this situation is temporary, the individual may panic and decide that he is better off with the drugs, thus getting back into the same old rut.
There are many natural ways to break the vicious cycle of disrupted sleep or insomnia, but some, such as herbal teas and warm milk drinks, still address the symptoms rather than the underlying cause.
Increasing physical exercise also helps in releasing built-up stress and tension. Forms of exercise that are engaged in to feel tired and ready for rest may also have the effect of increasing overall stress on the system.
Yoga is scientifically designed to relax mental and physical tensions, allowing sleep to come quickly and easily. Yoga, in its fullest expression, allows a person to find the ‘middle path’ for their system, where the mind, body, and the deeper layers of consciousness harmonise. In Yoga, when we are in a complete state of balance, this is also known as the ‘sattvic’ frequency. When our systems achieve this state of homeostasis, underlying tensions and even past traumas release at their root rather than manifesting as wounds that need to be bandaged from time to time.
The Good News
With some easy-to-follow simple yogic techniques, in most cases, a return to your own natural nurturing sleep pattern is possible. Many people even experience instant improvements.
- Techniques within Yoga that are known to help to heal your sleep cycle are:
- Restorative postures such as Shashankasana (Childs Pose) and Pawanmuktasana (specialized joint rotations).
- Breathing techniques that invoke the parasympathetic nervous system – restoring a restful state.
- Cleansing techniques to rid the mind of tension
- Yoga Nidra – Guided Deep Relaxation, which is excellent both for releasing deep underlying tensions and as a means to induce sleep.
Yoga, in this way, may be given as a Yogic Prescription – a unique mix of techniques and solutions that suit your individual needs and current lifestyle. Yoga Nidra, in particular, is a deep relaxation technique that can be tailored specifically for you and then recorded, allowing you to listen to it during the day to relieve and release tension systematically and also at bedtime to guide you into the most optimal brainwave pattern for excellent and restful sleep.
Psychologically, engaging in something active for your overall well-being, rather than passively taking a sleeping pill or having that extra glass of wine before bed, will empower you to take charge of the situation and ultimately develop a new, healthy, and beautiful relationship with bedtime and the renewing gift of sleep.
Try This
Try Child’s Pose for 3-5 minutes before going to bed. This posture calms the nervous system, brings rest and renewal to the spine, regulates the function of the adrenal glands, and helps us transition to a more internalized state, ready for sleep.