By Hillary W Torres
Our bodies are like machines. Our sleep is an important process of that machine that allows our body to shut down and rest so that it can run all over again the next morning. Without proper sleep, we can experience insomnia, fatigue, and stress but, there are many reason to include grounding and yoga in your sleep routine.
Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult for some of us. There are several different reasons people may experience insomnia, mildly or chronically. Having a hard time falling asleep can be attributed to several distinct underlying conditions. You can find the many different reasons of sleep disturbance here.
If you are having serious sleep disturbances, consult with your physician.
Understanding why you’re experiencing trouble sleeping is important so that you can make a proper sleep routine that fits with your lifestyle. Two beneficial practices that you should include in this routine are yoga and grounding.
Reasons Why You Should Have a Sleep Routine
A sleep routine is vital to cutting out bad habits. If you’re having trouble sleeping, you should try having a sleep routine to get you back into shape.
Sleep routines consists of:
- Laying down in bed at about the same time every night
- What you do before right before falling asleep
- What you do right when you wake u from sleep
- How long you are sleeping for
- And the comfort level of the environment you’re sleeping in
If you’ve never had a sleep routine before, it’s great to start by answering these questions to help prepare yourself in creating new sleep habits. Your sleep habits can alleviate some stress and aid in the balancing of certain hormones. Without proper sleep, our bodies lack growth and energy they require to complete daily physical activities.
Reasons Why Yoga Should Be Part of Your Sleep Routine
Yoga is beneficial to the human body in many ways, specifically sleep. Many yoga poses have been recommended by yogis that promote better sleep. Some studies have even demonstrated that yoga can have a positively healing effect on insomnia. They found a decrease in the frequency of sleepless nights and lower stress.
By doing a little yoga everyday, you’re able to loosen up tight muscles and also practice relaxation at the same time. If you’re experiencing muscle injury or stiffness that can interfere with your sleep, many yoga poses will help relax those muscles and stretch them out. The relaxation that comes along with doing yoga will help alleviate some of your everyday stress. Stress and muscle stiffness are often big determinants in our sleep cycles.
The ancient practice of yoga is also great for improving insomnia by promoting deep sleep through its breathing techniques while stretching. Yoga focuses on the breath so that one can prepare oneself for deep meditation. By doing just fifteen minutes of yoga before bed, you are likely to have a better sleep.
Upon trying to figure out just how yoga affects the body, scientists were able to support the notion by looking at the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep in our bodies. Yoga can clear up blocked energy to increase our intuition and awareness.
How Practicing Grounding During Yoga Improves Sleep
Grounding, also known as earthing, is the process of connecting to the Earth’s energy. It is a holistic remedy that practitioners have used in the past to heal and protect themselves. With the emergence of a plethora of alternative medicinal information on the internet, many people have found themselves engaging in ground practices.
Psychologists attribute this feeling with the electromagnetic fields of the earth coming into contact with the electromagnetic field of the human body. By doing so, our bodies reduce pain and restlessness all the while healing and creating a force of positive energy within us.
It’s a great idea to purchase a grounding mat for those evenings that you cannot do grounding yoga outside. But if it’s light out around 8pm and you’re usually in bed by 10pm, try doing some yoga and grounding around eight. This way you can continue your sleep routine after and get right into bed at ten pm.
A healthy sleep routine that includes yoga and grounding will surely be able to help you physically and mentally.
Resources: