Know the Benefits of Yoga to Improve Sleep Quality
If you are someone who often experiences insomnia or perhaps has difficulty getting quality sleep, try starting now to incorporate yoga practice into your nighttime routine. The reason is, yoga has been proven to improve the quality and duration of sleep, you know.
Breathing exercises
One of the most important aspects of yoga is breathing exercises. This is done by inhaling deeply through your nose for a count of 4, holding your breath for a count of 7, and exhaling slowly through your mouth for a count of 8.
So, if you do it regularly, you will get used to doing this in your daily activities to be more relaxed, especially when you are anxious or panicked. According to research, doing breathing exercises regularly can relax the body, so that sleep quality can improve.
Meditation
When doing yoga, you will also be trained to meditate, namely by focusing your attention and awareness on what you are doing.
Meditation has been proven to increase the production of melatonin hormone levels. This is a hormone that functions to regulate sleep patterns, so that sleep quality can also improve.
Physical activity
Not a few people avoid physical activity at night. In fact, a number of studies show that doing light to moderate exercise, such as yoga, regularly at night will not disturb your sleep, you know. On the contrary, it can actually help improve the quality of your sleep.
This is because physical activity can increase the production of natural stress-relieving hormones, namely endorphins. That way, your body will feel relaxed and your mood will improve, so you can sleep more soundly according to hotroomtoledo.com.
Best Type of Yoga to Improve Sleep Quality
Indeed, there are many types of yoga that you can try, but not all types of yoga have the same benefits for improving sleep quality, yes. So, below are several types of yoga that are most suitable for you to do before bed:
1. Bridge pose
Bridge pose is an easy yoga pose for you to try before bed. Apart from improving sleep quality, bridge pose is also useful for training the abdominal muscles, hips, hamstrings and buttocks. Below is how to do the bridge pose:
Lie on your back with your legs together.
Place both arms beside your body.
Bend your knees and straighten your back.
Tighten your abdominal and buttock muscles.
Lift your hips until they are in a straight line with your knees and shoulders.
Hold the position for 5–10 seconds while breathing slowly.
Lower your hips to the starting position.
2. Legs up the wall pose
Legs up the wall pose is also one form of yoga that you can try before bed. Not only does it make you sleep more soundly, this pose can also reduce fatigue and soreness in your legs after a day of activities. The way to do it is:
Lie on your back facing a wall with your knees bent.
Position your buttocks as close to the wall as possible.
Raise your legs against the wall.
Lift your hips, then place a pillow under your back.
Regulate your breathing slowly.
Hold the position for 2–3 minutes.
3. Corpse pose
You can do corpse pose at the end of your yoga practice in the evening, as meditation. To do this pose, you simply lie on your back with your legs apart and your palms facing up.
Then, regulate your breath slowly and feel each breath, until you really feel relaxed from head to toe.
Apart from the three types of yoga above, you can also use laughter yoga to improve sleep quality. So, what you need to remember is that you can only get the maximum benefits of yoga to improve sleep quality if you do it regularly and consistently, OK?
