Yoga Practices and Bedtime Routines that Could Enhance Quality Sleep

Are you keeping awake for most of the night and getting up all tired and groggy because of insomnia and poor sleep? Then here is how you could part ways with such obstacles to a good and healthy life.

Yoga for Enhanced Sleep

Sleep is one of the best medicines that nature has provided for humans. It is said that man can survive a long time without food, but cannot survive without sleep for long. It can take its toll on the human body if the condition persists. So here are a few yoga poses that you could practice to experience the joys of proper and adequate sleep.

The 5 best yoga poses for good quality sleep are:

•  Child’s pose or balasana – It stretches the lower back and hips and releases all the tension in the body making the mind calm and cool before bed. It helps the individual to focus inwardly and makes the person wind-down before pushing off to sleep.
• Butterfly pose or baddha konasana – It relaxes the body and stretches out the tight inner thighs and hips. It also aids in releasing the tension from the lower part of the body to ultimately help the individual to relax and fall off to sleep.
• Legs-up-the-wall pose or viparita karani – With the legs up against the wall, the blood flows back to the heart ensuring proper circulation and flow of the blood. It also aids in relieving slight tensions in the back that might have built up over the course of the day. It lets the body unwind.

Other poses that might benefit the body are cat-cow pose or marjyasana-bitilasana and happy baby pose or ananda balasana.

Also read - Winter Warning: The Dangers of Sleeping in Woolen Clothes

Bedtime Routines for Better Sleep

Going to bed and falling off to instant sleep is a dream that many see. Sleep mostly eludes almost every adult today because of the lifestyle and chaos prevalent today. To ensure that even adults fall off to sleep and quality sleep there are certain bedtime routines to be practiced by all. Here we will walk through them.

Early dinner

The first and foremost ritual to be maintained is an early and very light dinner. This helps an individual to sleep better and does not interfere with digestion. The phone and all electronic gadgets should be kept away from the bedroom so that the person can disengage from everything and engage with sleep.

Light Exercises

This could be in the form of some light stretching exercise or yoga poses that have already been discussed above. Even a small walk outside after dinner could be part of the bed time ritual for quality sleep. It helps to prevent diabetes, heart diseases, depression and high blood pressure. Pranayam is also another way to ward off insomnia.

Breathing Exercises

Breathing exercises are a good way to reconnect with sleep. It helps the body and mind to reconnect and thus relax and feel more concentrated. Breathing deeply in and out for some time could work wonders.

Bedtime Drinks

Bedtime drinks are something that most people do not pay attention to. Milk with turmeric powder is one of the many wonders of the ancient world of ayurveda. Alternatively, a person could brew half a cup of milk with 1⁄4 teaspoon of ginger, cardamom & cinnamon powder and 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg powder.

Abhyanga

This just simply refers to self-massage with certain oils that aid sleep according to ayurveda. The massage helps to relax and calm the muscles that become taut and strained as a result of the day’s hectic schedule. The oils that can be used are coconut, sesame, sunflower, olive oil and ghee.

Other routines include aromatherapy and a warm bath with rose and jasmine essential oils.

Conclusion

If these yogic poses and essential bedtime rituals are diligently followed here is no reason why sleep should elude you. So you could give it a try to check out for the results.