Yoga, your secret sleep weapon
There’s no doubt that yoga is a gentle way to wind down your day. And, although there isn’t enough reliable data to confirm a really strong link between the practice of yoga and the easing of insomnia, it is an avenue worth investigating.
Anecdotally, people have reported longer and better quality sleep, plus feeling refreshed on waking, after trying yoga even for only a short time.
specifically, Kundalini yoga, which is very gentle and puts more emphasis on meditation and breathing rather than the physical exertion, strength or flexibility.
Professor ellis says: ‘ We’re not really sure how it works, but our best guess is that yoga is especially effective because it relaxes both the body and the mind — it’s a two- in- one hit that reduces the stress levels so commonly associated with insomnia.’
If you do it right, you combine physical exercises with breathing techniques and meditation.
In one study by researchers at harvard Medical school, people with insomnia were taught basic yoga breathing, meditation and mantra (chanting) exercises in just one session.
They were then asked to practise yoga every night before bed for eight weeks, and keep a sleep diary throughout.
Improvements in sleep efficiency were significant, and included greater total sleep time, falling asleep more quickly and waking up later in the morning.
Another study, this time of postmenopausal women in Brazil, found that two yoga sessions per week could be linked to a reduction in symptoms and severity of insomnia, as well as lower stress levels and an enhanced sense of quality of life.
so, it’s worth trying to find a reputable practitioner running a class near you.
Alternatively, try making the following simple exercises part of your evening wind-down routine — you could even do them in bed.
BEDTIME TWIST
sIT cross-legged on the bed and exhale deeply as you twist your body to the left and place your left hand on the bed behind you, looking over your left shoulder. Your right hand should just rest on your left knee.
Breathe deeply for a few seconds, then return to the centre and repeat on the right side.
BABY SLEEP
Kneel on the bed with your knees apart, sitting on your heels if you can. exhale deeply and roll yourself forwards, so your forehead is resting on the bed in front of you, with your arms extended.
hold the pose for a few seconds, breathing deeply.
PUT YOUR FEET UP
sIT on your bed, with your bottom six to 12 inches away from the wall or headboard. lie back and lift your legs, so your feet are resting on the wall/headboard.
Breathe deeply for a few seconds, feeling the stretch along the backs of your legs.
DUVET HIP OPENER
BrIng your legs down and lie back on the bed with your knees bent. Place the soles of your feet together, then let your knees open to form a frog leg shape. rest your arms out to the sides and breathe deeply for a few seconds.
BED ROLL
sTIll lying down, hug your knees to your chest, wrapping your arms around your shins.
now rock gently back and forth and side to side for a few seconds, breathing steadily. roll back, straighten your arms and legs and drift off to sleep. Although many people swear by relaxation tapes as another way to unwind at the end of the day, Professor ellis isn’t convinced.
he says: ‘The ones that involve lots of spontaneous noises (such as rainforest sounds or whale song) could arguably provide distraction from your racing thoughts.
‘But they can also be counterproductive if you find yourself constantly waiting to hear what’s going to come next.
‘A repetitive noise would probably work best, if any sounds do.’
Mindfulness is an increasingly popular form of meditation, and is certainly worth considering, but wait until you have finished Professor ellis’s plan before trying it. That’s because it takes a different approach, which may confuse you if you combine the two at the same time.
Where the insomnia plan guides you to eradicate sleep- related thoughts, feelings and worries, mindfulness teaches you to work
with these thoughts to put sleep and insomnia into perspective.
It’s unlikely to be a quick fix, either: in studies where mindfulness was shown to cure insomnia, it required six to eight sessions and a half-day workshop. Its main idea is to be completely non-judgmental. Try to stop automatically thinking of being awake at night or sleepy during the day as negative things.
Try neither to sleep, nor to stay awake, but instead, just accept your state of being as it is; notice any feelings you might have and move on.
Mindfulness also encourages you to have a ‘beginner’s mind’, where you treat each night as a single entity, or a one- off, whether it’s good or bad, and to discard any thoughts about how it compares to previous nights or how you’re going to feel the next day.
You are also supposed to trust your body and mind, and accept that they are not deliberately trying to destroy you, but will naturally regulate both your sleep and daytime needs if you let them.
even after a prolonged period of sleep deprivation, it takes a relatively short time for the body to recover and for sleep to go back to ‘normal’.
The idea here is that your body and mind have the capacity to selfregulate and correct sleep loss, and you need to ultimately trust that they will do their job.