Yoga is a popular form of meditative movement that combines focused breathing and attentiveness with physical exercise. The practice dates back to more than 3,000 years ago and originates from Indian philosophy; however today there are various schools and types of yoga. Each variation emphasizes different exercises and postures, meditation practices, and breathing techniques.
Yoga offers a plethora of physical and mental health benefits for people of all ages including offering stress release, relief of pain, improved sleep, and weight loss. Incorporating a yoga practice in your nighttime routine is a terrific way of improving the duration and quality of your sleep.
Practicing yoga is especially useful for people who have insomnia, limited time to sleep, or who sleep lightly. Here we discuss the benefits of bedtime yoga, yoga posture, and tips to improve your relationship with sleep:
Does Yoga Help You Sleep at a Glance?
More than 55% of yoga practitioners reveal that yoga has help improved the quality of their sleep, whereas 85% of them report less stress.
Multiple other studies show that yoga can boost sleep for a various different people. Most of these studies focus on the individual’s quality of sleep rather than the quantity. This is because an increased amount of sleep does not necessarily mean better quality of sleep and overall well-being.
Instead, the definition of better quality sleep means one feels energized for the day to come and a lack of disturbances.
The Benefits of Yoga
Here we discuss the many benefits of yoga:
Battles Insomnia
Regular yoga practice is a great way to relieve insomnia symptoms. By adding yoga in your bedtime routine you can enjoy falling asleep faster and return to sleep at any time.
An in-depth research reveals the effectiveness of yoga and other mind-body therapies in promoting better sleep and in treating insomnia. Apart from yoga, people who practice tai chi, meditation, and qigong experience improve sleep patterns.
Yoga Benefits Heart Health
Regular yoga practice can help body-wide inflammation and reduce levels of stress that contributes to healthier hearts.
Moreover, yoga can address symptoms of other factors contributing to heart disease including excess weight and high blood pressure.
Yoga Promotes Relaxation
Yoga can also help put your body in a calm state, also known as the relaxation response. Practicing calming yoga posses can assist you in relaxing, as well as enter a lower state of arousal.
This further helps you lower blood pressure and control the amount of stress hormone cortisol. With the help of a well-structured nighttime yoga routine you can alleviate several stress-related concerns including insomnia, anxiety, and weight gain.
Yoga Helps Brighten Your Mood
With the help of yoga you can feel more energized both mentally, as well as physically. With a boost in enthusiasm and alertness, you can lower negative feelings.
Yoga Helps You Manage Stress
In depth study by the NIH, yoga supports mental health, health eating habits, stress management, mindfulness, weight loss, and better quality of sleep.
It also promotes better self-care.
To Sum it Up
Try some incredible yoga poses including the reclined butterfly, corpse pose, and so on to improve the quality of your sleep, as well as overall physical health.
Sources
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-activity/yoga-and-sleep
https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/benefits-of-yoga/
https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/bedtime-yoga#benefits
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/9-benefits-of-yoga
