Are you looking for a way to wind down at the end of the day and improve the quality of your sleep? If so, you may want to consider yoga. According to one survey, 55 percent of participants claimed yoga before bed helped them to sleep better. Approximately 85 percent of those surveyed claimed yoga reduced their stress levels.
How Does Yoga Before Bed Improve Sleep?
Here are some of the ways that yoga before bed can help improve the quality of your sleep:
- It can increase the length of time you sleep
- Yoga can make your sleep more efficient
- Yoga can reduce the amount of time it takes for you to fall asleep
- Yoga may decrease the number of times you wake up during the night
It’s important to note that yoga before bed is more than a viable aid that can facilitate improved sleep. Yoga can provide a host of other benefits, such as increased strength, muscle tone, flexibility, reduced blood pressure, greater happiness, and better focus as well.
Your Breath Is the Key
If you want to enhance your sleep and enjoy the additional benefits yoga can provide, you should know that your breath will be the key to your success. While your physical position is important in yoga, your breath is at least as important, if not more so.
In general, you’ll often use Ujjayi Breath in many yoga poses. To execute this breath, take a deep breath through your nose. Close your mouth and exhale through your nose as you constrict the back of your throat like you’re getting ready to exclaim, “Ha!” but don’t open your mouth. Use this breathing technique to ease your way into various yoga poses and while you maintain your position in each one unless a different technique is recommended.
Yoga Poses to Improve Your Sleep
For the poses discussed below, you’ll use the Ujjayi Breath. Hold each restorative pose for three to five minutes apiece to alleviate tension, stress and anxiety before you go to bed. While it may take time for yoga to improve your sleep, you’ll get closer to a good night’s sleep every time you practice your poses.
Balasana
If you have knee or hip problems, you may want to skip this pose. If you’re good to go, kneel on the floor and align your big toes side by side. Push your knees in opposite directions so they’re aligned with your hips. If you can’t do that, just push your knees outward as far as you can.
Exhale and let your torso sink backward. Relax your hands at the sides of your body and point your arms toward the rear of the room with your palms up.
Uttanasana
To execute this pose, stand with your feet separated so they’re in line with your hips. Breathe in deeply. Breathe out as you bend your torso forward so you’re leaning over your legs and elongating your spine. Place each hand on the opposite elbow or let them rest against your shins or the floor.
Viparita Karani
If you work on your feet all day, you’ll enjoy this yoga pose. Position your yoga mat so that it’s perpendicular to some empty wall space. Sit on your mat and bring one of your sides into contact with the wall. Lie back on your mat and slowly bring your extended legs to rest on the wall. Your arms should be relaxed along your sides.
FAQs at Ben’s
While we can’t help you master a yoga pose, we can offer answers to your questions and provide the mattress and furniture you need for improved sleep. Read our frequently asked questions now or try out our online mattress comfort test to find out which bed is best for you.