Transform Your Sleep: How Yoga Can Combat Insomnia and Enhance Wellness

By Dennis Bluthardt, Namaste Studios

Insomnia affects millions of people worldwide. The long-term consequences of chronic sleep deprivation include a lessened immune response, increased stress hormones, and the possibility of developing conditions such as obesity and heart disease. As this issue continues to grow in our rapidly advancing, techno-centric world, it is essential to learn effective methods to deal with it.

Yoga and meditation help insomnia. A calm and relaxed mind will more easily transition into sleep. When applied as a nighttime ritual, studies have also found yoga to help increase “sleep efficiency” reduce anxiety, and the effects of long-term stress on our bodies. When you include specific yoga poses (like Child’s Pose and Legs-Up-the-Wall) that open the chest and reduce nervous tension, you have the perfect recipe to calm the mind and relax the muscles before sleeping.

All that’s missing might be meditation. Engaging in mindfulness practice, where you are simply observing the breath and present moment awareness, is a great way to reduce the random thought patterns, anxieties, and ruminant thinking, which may be the primary cause of your insomnia. At the end of this article, I will describe how to implement mindfulness meditation into your bedtime routine. If the previous routine doesn’t put you to sleep by itself, the mindfulness exercise will undoubtedly lead you to better sleep and better health. Read on to learn about the benefits of yoga for sleep and to get started with yoga today!

Understanding Insomnia and Its Effects on Health

Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early and not being able to get back to sleep. It often leads to symptoms such as tiredness, grouchiness, inability to concentrate, and other mood disturbances. Throw in some physical symptoms for good measure (headaches, wake-in intestinal problems), and you have something that affects life 24 hours a day.

Not only the tiredness but a lack of sleep also damages physical and mental well-being. Not getting enough sleep can lead to cardiovascular disease, being overweight, and having a poor immune response. Sounds like getting old. In the mental domain, not enough good quality sleep puts you in a worse mood and deepens the damage done by any mental health issues. Insomnia can deepen the effects of anxiety disorder, recession, and broader issues of mental illness.

Alleviating insomnia has many reasonable solutions, many of which are physical activity-based or product-based. The first lifestyle effort you make is trying to practice some yoga in the evening. Some types of yoga encourage mindfulness and relaxation techniques, along with the added tiredness, which will help you get to sleep. Maintain a tidy bedroom and bed, keep your electronics out of sight, and ensure you are physically comfortable when preparing to sleep.

The Connection Between Yoga and Sleep

Yoga is a holistic practice with many physiological and psychological benefits contributing to better sleep!

On a physical level, sleep involves postures and breathing exercises that activate the relaxation response and help reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone!). This can help you feel more relaxed and create the perfect physical environment for rejuvenating sleep. The delicate stretches and movements can also increase blood circulation, helping you get rid of any discomfort that you can carry into bed and sabotage you there.

On a mental level, sleep can help a lot because two of the most common causes of difficulty sleeping are stress and anxiety. You can make it through even the most challenging days when trouble sleeping is still off your list of problems. The mindfulness/meditation techniques built into yoga help you manage thoughts more effectively so that you fall asleep more quickly. Aside from helping those thoughts of the cute girl or guy at work who isn’t keeping you up at night, better blood flow and a better mental state can promote a longer, deeper, and more restful sleep. No more clock-watching and throwing covers.

Yoga introduces a practice that occupies your mind, helping you better deal with stress and anxiety throughout the day and get a more restful night’s sleep.

Effective Yoga Poses for Better Sleep

Child’s Pose is a calm and gentle move that prepares your body for sleep by offering a soft stretch and time for introspection. This move requires you to kneel and fold your body over your knees, giving the muscles in your back and shoulders a break. This stretch will not only elongate your spine and relax your mind, but the natural feeling of safety and peace encourages your body to indulge in relaxation’s physical and mental benefits.

Another great pose to try? Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose. This Pose, as promised, encourages you to lie on your back and hold your legs up against a wall or in the air. This gentle and simple inverted stretch helps type-B personalities multitask by doing virtually nothing: The angle helps with circulation and fatigue, profoundly calms the nervous system, increases focus, decreases anxiety, and helps calm symptoms of related diseases and conditions. Additionally, using your legs as a “lever” creates the grounding, control, and calm you need to tip-toe into a good mental and physical place for sleep.

Just as important? Practice Pranayama (breath control) throughout these moves. Pranayama triggers the body’s resting state (the parasympathetic nervous system’s responsibilities). From the brain’s perspective, this state guides the body mentally into adequate physical rest by lowering the heart rate and blood pressure, relaxing the body’s muscles, and increasing the body’s intestine and gland activity. During this time, your body prepares to power up in dreamland as you wind down.

Ready? After moving through and practicing these techniques, sit as quietly as possible (up to a minute) and enjoy your newfound sense of calm before quietly climbing into bed.

Meditation Enhances Sleep Quality

Adding simple meditation techniques to your “get ready for bed” routine can help improve your sleep quality.

Mindfulness meditation helps to promote better sleep. Just a minute or two can create a calming presence and prepare your body for sleep.

The physical essence of yoga promotes stress reduction by “working out” the tension build-ups from the day. The meditative aspect of yoga encourages mindfulness.

Ending your day with a bit of yoga or meditation can help improve the sleep ahead of you and the day that follows. Gentle stretches promote relaxation and calmness, two specific feelings you want to invite into your evening routine.

The emotional day behind you is over; it is finally time for some sleep. Mindfulness meditation can help improve how you fall asleep at night. Grounding yourself and releasing the day’s stress can make falling asleep much quicker, easier, and smoother.

Creating a Bedtime Yoga Routine

Adding a simple bedtime yoga routine can dramatically affect the quality of your sleep. There are several easy poses at your disposal. Some favorites include Child’s Pose, Legs-Up-the-Wall, and Supine Spinal Twist. Each Pose helps you relieve some of the tension over the day. They will help you relax and transition from the busyness of the day into a state of rest. Aim to hold each position for any time that feels good to you, up to 10-15 minutes. As you go through these stretches, focus on your breath and let your mind slow down.

Try choosing a specific time each day when you would like this yoga routine to take place. Once you have done this, commit to keeping yoga there. Try turning this into a fun and peaceful nighttime routine- put your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and then practice five minutes of yoga. 

You could transform this space into something you look forward to each night by creating a calming environment around you. Turn the lights down low. Light a candle. Invite your favorite calming scent into the room. Smooth on some of your favorite comfy loungewear. Give your body all the bedtime signals that it craves with any of these sleep-promoting dresses. The important thing with this approach is to become consistent. Practice yoga every night, at the same time, for a few days, and see what happens. Your body will know what to do.

Breathwork, like yoga, also pairs well with this nighttime routine. Since it will likely be a part of what you’re doing on the mat already, aim to spend a few minutes seated on the mat when you finish your bedtime stretch routine and practice mindful breathing or meditation. Use this as an approach to create mental space and to set aside all the thoughts and tendencies that are causing stress or anxiety. This approach should make a little buffer of some quiet, calming space between you and your mind, allowing you to sleep better without all the noise. Consider this part of the practice as the beginning journey of wellness, peace, and quiet.

Yoga and meditation can be sources of relaxation and stress reduction, which is essential in fighting insomnia. Gentle yoga lets you stretch physical tension out of your body. Following this with meditation will create a calm mind, making a peaceful, easy transition to sleep.

Additionally, you can use your pre-sleep ritual to create a space that feels good to you. For example, you could light a candle, spray a sleep spray, or use essential oils. You could also go tech-free for an hour or listen to calming songs. Begin to experiment with creating a routine that truly feels special and sacred to you.

Some people hate the whole idea of nighttime routines. If this is you, then forget about it. You’ll find it helpful more as a suggestion than as something you must work hard at! But play with the idea and see what works best for you.