Using Yoga Techniques to Cure Insomnia

by

Alfredo Perados

Insomnia is a condition characterized by an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep and receive decent quality rest. It can develop at any time during a person’s life and will either fall under the primary insomnia category whereby it occurs on its own with little known cause, or under the secondary insomnia category whereby it is a result of another condition (such as arthritis) because they cannot sleep through the symptoms.

In the 1960s, the ancient Indian practice of yoga spread throughout the Western world. It was popularized by the Beatles and over the next forty years its many health benefits would become common knowledge. Yoga involves combining calm thought and specific breathing with certain bodily movements and held poses to bring the body into union. Most of us know that yoga relaxes the mind and makes the body more flexible, but many remain unaware that it can also be beneficial to insomniacs. You see, yoga as a whole stimulates the brain and can improve cognitive functions such as memory and concentration. It does this by improving circulation to, from and around the brain which also improves the function of the part of the brain that controls sleep. It improves our circadian rhythms (natural biological processes that occur over a 24 hour period) and helps to define them, so we feel sleepy when it’s time to sleep at night, and awake during the day. Yoga poses also cause the body to flush out toxins that might be keeping us awake, such as an excess of caffeine, or even something as simple as a cold virus that has our nose blocked, making it hard to sleep comfortably.Yoga is the perfect choice of exercise for an insomniac, because it doesn’t require raising the heart rate or getting out of breath. Doctors recommend you don’t do any exercise in the three hours before going to bed because it will wake your body up, but yoga will not do this. If you are considering taking up yoga then there’s no need to consult your doctor, but you should try to find a reputable yoga class and qualified teacher to learn how to do it properly. This will also allow you to personalize your yoga experience and ask your teacher to teach you the poses and breathing exercises that specifically help with insomnia, rather than following a generic yoga DVD. Just some of the poses and exercises that could help you to get a better night’s sleep include: – The Sukhasana: a yoga pose which is done cross legged to promote healthy breathing- The Ananda Balsana: a pose which relaxes the hips and lower back- The Halasana: perhaps the most relevant to insomnia, this pose involves deep breathing and concentration- The Three-Part Breath: a breathing exercise that is beneficial when done right before attempting to sleeping Although it may not be obvious at first, many people will find that their insomnia is caused by an underlying factor such as stress, anxiety or depression. Yoga has been shown to have a positive effect on all of these conditions. Therefore, rather than going to your doctor for stupefying sleeping pills and addictive beta-blockers it’s a much better idea to improve your posture and flexibility at the same time as your insomnia, with a natural approach such as yoga.

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