The definition of insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep long enough. The most common type of sleeping problems is sometime known as sleep maintenance insomnia, this is a hyperarousal disorder whereby your nervous system is just turned on too high. The sympathetic nervous system is active, the brain circuits that keep you awake tossing and turning and the mind cannot stop thinking.
When your fight or flight system is activated, it does not take much to set you off, which often results in lack of sleep. Some amount of stress is good for us but when we have too much, we turn on that sympathetic nervous system to high alert causing irritability, short-temper, worry, anxiety, depression which in turn may lead to sleepless nights.
Yoga can help in calming the nervous system down, by practices such as restorative yoga, yin yoga, along with breathing techniques to calm the mind. Another wonderful practice would be yoga Nidra also known as yogic sleep.
The practice of yoga has been found by numerous studies to lower high levels of cortisol which is the stress hormone the flight or fight response. Cortisol your natural built in alarm system, your body’s main stress hormone.
Turn your nights into blissful sleep as our OnDemand service has all the sessions you need!
Here are a few we would recommend:
- Hatha Soothe for Sleep with Jamie John, a sumptuous, calming practice with postures to soothe your body and mind.
- Yoga Nidra Meditation with Maddy Jones, a deeply relaxing twenty minute meditative practice to calm the mind and melt away tension.
- Sleepy Time Yin with Daphne Bath, a forty minute Yin practice to help you 'let go' and achieve a blissful nights sleep.
Written by Daphne Bath and published on Sunday 14th February 2021 at 16:30
Comments (0)