Bedtime Yoga: Benefits and Poses to Try Before Sleep

Yoga poses with deep breathing and meditation help us to practice mindfulness instead of poor late-night habits such as snacking or mindless phone usage

2:1 Breathing naturally slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and induces a deep state of relaxation, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Yoga is necessary for our daily life as it provides asanas that may completely change our lifestyle. Yoga asanas may change our eating, sleeping, working, etc. It enhances the hormones related to the problem for which we practice yoga. 

How to Relax for a Good Night’s Sleep

For example, the Cortisol hormone reduces stress. If you want to reduce stress and focus on work without any tension and stress, you need to practice those asanas, which shall decrease the production of cortisol. For this, you need to practice yoga exercises which shall make you practice yoga for good sleep. Yoga before sleep is helpful, but not all asanas can help you sleep.

You should know the asanas, which help in quick sleeping and a sound sleep too. Yoga is a form of meditative movement that combines alertness and focused breathing exercises. Many people have claimed that yoga for good sleep is helpful, provided you know the bedtime yoga asanas. Yoga helps to improve sleep as it reduces stress by relaxing our minds.

The quality of sleep determines good sleep. Yoga can improve the quality of sleep. It shall provide you with sleep without any disturbances. Some people sleep for longer than others but may not have quality sleep. The sleep would be filled with disruptions. They should practice yoga for better sleep. Yoga benefits the population of a large variety of people by practicing yoga before sleep. Yoga before sleep is beneficial for children who have autism spectrum disorder. It cures sleeping disorders among children. 

Yoga before sleep is beneficial for women with menopause as well as pregnant women. A pregnant woman suffers from anxiety and worry, and she cannot sleep. She can practice yoga for better sleep.

Mindful yoga would lower cortisol levels in a pregnant woman and relieve her from the anxieties and stress that she might suffer during pregnancy. Doctors suggest slow exercises for pregnant women. Slow movement exercises are usually sleeping asanas. It is beneficial for a pregnant woman to get quality sleep. Therefore, yoga for better sleep is a necessity. 

Women with menopause have difficulty sleeping at night. They practice yoga before sleep by adopting the sleeping asana in their daily routine. By adapting sleeping asana to their daily routine, everybody can be benefitted. If you cannot practice yoga during the daytime, practicing sleeping asana shall benefit from improving sleep quality.

Insomnia and Yoga

Elderly people often complain about Insomnia, snoring, and restless leg syndrome (RLS). If they practice yoga before sleep, they shall get sound sleep, and a whole day shall be spent pleasantly in a fresh mood. They often complain about sleep disturbances like Insomnia. 

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that causes poor sleeping due to stress, anxiety, health issues, and lack of physical exercise. Practicing yoga for better sleep can cure Insomnia. Practicing yoga before sleep reduces cortisol levels, and melatonin, a sleeping hormone, is enhanced. Melatonin is produced in darkness. So, it is to be kept in mind that whenever you practice yoga before sleep, you should practice it in a dark room to produce melatonin and cortisol properly. Melatonin will be produced for sleep, and cortisol levels will be decreased for quality sleep. Therefore the problems related to sleeping disorders shall be eliminated.

Benefits of Yoga for Sleep

Take a look at some benefits of a bedtime yoga routine.

• Controls blood pressure

Patients with an issue with blood pressure may also not sleep properly. To solve this problem, they should practice yoga before sleep or practice sleeping asana. It shall keep their blood pressure under control which will aid in sleeping. People who get an interruption often in their daily sleep practice yoga before sleep. They do so because the yoga pose well for sleep shall relax their mind and lower stress. 

After a hectic day, practicing yoga shall be very helpful before sleep as it gives relief from stress which will aid sleep. It enhances the production of melatonin, a sleeping hormone. It reduces nighttime sleeping.

If you want to improve the quality of your sleep, you should schedule a specific time for yoga before sleep. It would help if you learned the sleeping asana for yoga from yoga classes. Visit yoga classes weekly at your convenience, learn those asanas, and practice them at home.

Practicing yoga will not only aid sleeping. There is a specific yoga asana for overall well-being, diseases, and several other purposes.

• Breathing awareness and regulation

There are two elements of yoga. The technique of deep breathing and relaxation induces sleep. The two elements create awareness. This technique may prove that one should practice yoga before sleep.  


Also read: Kapalbhati Pranayama: Benefits, Precautions

• Regular exercise

To get proper sleep, you should practice sleeping asana regularly before sleep. Practicing it regularly will give you better results and thus prove that yoga for good sleep is necessary.

Uttanasana ( standing forward bend) and suptabaddha karasana( lying on your back) are some asanas that should be practiced before bedtime to eliminate sleeping disorders. These are famous yoga for better sleep. 

Practicing certain yoga poses with deep breathing and relaxation prevents late-night sleep, and you can inculcate the habit of creating a scheduled sleep. The yoga pose is considered yoga for better sleep as it also prevents having snacks late at night. Having late-night snacks can induce sleep disturbances and ultimately do not let you sleep properly. 

In Uttasana, you need to bend a little forward as it may release stress. Slowly, the stress from the legs and hips may also be released. Here we can confidently say that yoga for better sleep is as essential as yoga before sleep.

In Saptabaddha katana, you are stress relieved. Getting relief from stress is one of the greatest advantages of solving sleeping disturbances. It is a sleeping asana in a butterfly yoga pose. This sleeping asana is yoga better for sleep.

Benefits of Yoga for a better sleep

• Practicing yoga before sleep may also result in weight loss.

Regular practice of yoga before sleep results in weight loss as it creates alertness which affects our eating habits. Quality sleep is very important for our body because it may also affect our sleeping and eating habits. Disturbances in sleep can be removed by practicing yoga for better sleep.

• Increases blood flow  

Yoga before sleep is essential as it enhances the blood flow to all the organs of the body, which is essential. Blood flow to the brain nerves takes place rapidly at night. The neural activity takes place at night, so practicing sleeping asana is important. It has been observed that the lack of sleep may lead to biochemical changes, which in turn might lead to damage or arteries.

• Controls the Brain

We practice yoga for better sleep, provided we choose the right yoga pose for it. We should avoid the asana, which may lead to high palpitation. It is not to be done before bedtime. Slow and controlled breathing stimulates your vagus nerve. This nerve affects the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). 

This sleeping asana controls the entire body system, including the rest system. It proves that yoga before sleep benefits the entire body system as it controls the brain. Quality of sleep is important and not quality. Therefore, to maintain sleep quality, you should practice yoga for better sleep.

• Promotes relaxation

Practicing yoga for better sleep may put your body in a calm state. It may help you to relax. Practicing sleeping asana is also proven yoga better for sleep because it lowers the production of a stress-causing hormone: cortisol. A routine of this sleeping asana shall eliminate stress-related issues, which may also result in weight gain, anxiety, and Insomnia.

• Quality Sleep

Yoga for better sleep is essential because it causes stretching and relaxation of muscles which might, in turn, lead to less sleep but quality sleep without any disturbances.

• Reduced sleep Apnea problem

Sleep apnea problem is often found in elders with lower saturation of oxygen. Here we get that yoga for better sleep is necessary because it saturates oxygen and provides an improved respiratory system. Thus, indicating yoga for better sleep.

• Decreased heart rate 

Practicing slow sleeping asana results in a decreased heart rate. A decreased heart rate than that of in a day may be a beneficial yoga for better sleep at night, which might also result in low blood pressure. 

• Increases flexibility

Yoga for better sleep is important as some sleeping asanas may improve your well-deserved rest. Bedtime sleeping asanas are usually stretching exercises. Stretching of the back, knees, and legs results in increased body flexibility. Yoga before sleep is also important because once your body becomes flexible, you can try tougher yoga exercises and increase your well-being, affecting your overall health.

CONCLUSION

Earlier, yoga poses were not famous worldwide as it has gained prominence today. We find yoga being practiced by small children too in their school. A special time is allotted for yoga. 21 June is celebrated as the world’s international yoga day. It has gained popularity greatly during the pandemic, which people follow to date. Teachers used to take online sessions for yoga during the pandemic.  

Authored By: Poorvi Chhajer

About the Author: Poorvi is a psychology graduate with a knack for writing and belief in Ayurveda