With the right night time routine, you’ll never have to lose a wink of sleep.
Are you dreaming of a good night’s sleep? The body needs high-quality rest to recharge its battery after a draining day. But sometimes, trying to drift off into a deep slumber can feel like a nightmare. This is especially true now as our brains are burdened with pandemic-related pressures and stressors.
And when your mind is overloaded with a long list of anxieties, it can seem impossible to silence these intrusive thoughts.
Getting sufficient sleep each night is just as vital to your health as eating well and exercising. It helps improve your mood, sharpen concentration, boost productivity, support weight management, and even strengthen your immune system’s defenses against illness.
If you are in need of a sleep aid, the following stretching sequence is just what the doctor ordered. By making this short, soothing sequence part of your nightly routine, you can melt away any accumulated tension in the muscles and redirect your focus from the events of the day to the tranquility of your breath.
For these before bed exercises to be effective, rid your room of the following:
- Anything with a screen. If you want to turn off your mind, you must unplug from your devices. Whether you are browsing the internet for recipes or scrolling through Facebook, the bright, blue light emitted from your laptop or smartphone keeps the mind alert, active, and excited.
- Nightly news. Staying informed about the events of the world is essential. However, before bed is not an ideal time for tuning into a breaking news broadcast. Particularly when the hot topic at the moment is the panic-provoking pandemic. Give your brain a break. Save these reports for the daytime hours, not a nighttime story.
- Late-night snacks. When you rest, so should your digestive system. Consuming bedtime bites can trigger indigestion, acid reflux, and heartburn.
- Worry. Distressing thoughts are a bad bunk mate, as they swirl around in your brain like a tornado, preventing you from passing out. One exercise for managing bothersome thoughts is to write them down in a designated worry journal. Before bed, empty your anxieties onto paper. Sometimes, when we can visualize and organize what is troubling our mind, it is easier to make peace with it.
Stretches for a deeper sleep
Child’s pose
- Begin in a tabletop position, with shoulders stacked over hands and knees wider than hip-width apart.
- Hinge back at your hips to sit on your heels and extend your arms out in front of your body. Relax your head on a pillow or on your yoga mat. Hold for 30 seconds, then release.
Knee-to-chest
- Roll over so you’re resting on your back. Bend your knees slightly so your feet are flat on the floor.
- Engage your abs by drawing your belly button in toward your spine. This will prevent your back from popping off the floor.
- Carefully pull your right leg in toward your chest. Wrap your hands behind your knee and hold for 20 counts. Repeat on the opposite side. Avoid pushing against your knee too hard, stiffening your neck, or lifting your head off the floor. Your upper body should be totally relaxed as you take smooth, even breaths in and out. For more of a hip stretch, you can straighten your grounded leg so it is parallel to the floor.
Spinal twist
- From the same supine position, bend your legs so your feet are on the floor. Place a pillow between your legs to cushion your knees. Gently squeeze your legs together to hold the pillow in place. Extend your arms to the sides for support.
- Engage your abs to lift your legs off the floor until your knees are stacked over hips. Slowly rotate your legs to the right until your body weight is resting on your right hip. Now use your core strength and hands to shift your weight back to center, and then the left. Repeat this sequence 10 times.
Wall legs
- Sit as close as you can facing a wall.
- Carefully lower your upper body so it’s flat on the floor, then lift your legs up to rest on the wall. Remain here for as long as you like. This can also be done in bed by using your headboard for leg support. If you are unable to maintain straight legs, a bent leg works just as well. Another alternative is dropping your knees, bringing the soles of your feet together, and holding a butterfly pose.
With the right nighttime routine, you’ll never have to lose a wink of sleep.
