Using Yoga for Insomnia Relief

You look in the mirror and see black circles under your eyes and "tired" written all over your face. It's been another night when you just didn't sleep well.

You're not alone. According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 64 million Americans suffer from insomnia on a regular basis each year. That's almost 21% of all Americans. Also, if you're a woman you're 1.4 more times more likely to have insomnia than a man.

What Is Insomnia?
Insomnia is not only difficulty falling asleep but also includes people who have difficulty staying asleep. When people have insomnia it doesn't matter how long they have been awake, they still are unable to have a restful sleep.

What Causes Insomnia?
Insomnia can be caused by health problems, depression, stress, anxiety or specific medications. Life today can be very stressful. Stress can be caused by illness, personal relationships, work, or schedule changes due to work or family responsibilities.

Stress plays a large role not only in short-term insomnia, but also often in chronic or long-term insomnia. When evaluation treatments for insomnia consider how to reduce stress in your life as well. Too often people choose a medication to treat their stress and resulting insomnia before other approaches. Over 43 million prescriptions for sleep medications are written every year in the United States alone.

What's The Problem With Taking Sleep Medications?
What is not known about prescription sleep medication is their long-term effect. If someone takes sleeping medications over a long period of time does it permanently disrupt the brain's natural regulation of sleep? Sleep is used by the body to rest and reset many of its functions. If sleep medications are used for an indefinite period how can the body adjust to the change?

The other challenge of many sleep medications is one does not wake up in the same manner as natural or unmedicated sleep. This can lead to a vicious cycle where an individual takes a pill to go to sleep and another to wake up. Or uses lots of caffeine and other stimulants to stay awake. The stimulants further confuse the body's natural cycles leading to a hyperawake state where a sleeping medication is used to quiet the body and mind so it can sleep. This can be a never-ending cycle. Or can the cycle be changed?

Yoga For Insomnia?
One possible solution is using yoga to not only relax the body for sleep but to wake the body up as well. Many people hear the word yoga and think of extremely flexible people doing all sorts of contortions and strange positions. Yoga is actually an ancient thousand of year old system of breathing and body movements, which can aid the body in reducing stress.

When practicing yoga the body as a whole is involved. This leads to a relaxation of the body as the breathing, concentration and movement are all linked. When this all over relaxation happens the breathing and heart rate slows and the muscles relax. In yoga the exercises are called poses. When a pose is used the body responds with either a calming or stimulating response.

Sun Salutation For Relaxation And Energy
One pose, which is especially helpful for insomnia is the Sun Salutation. It is unique in that when done in the morning it can help a person wake up or at night relax. You can learn how to do the Sun Salutation by watching the following YouTube video and for animated and print instructions go here.

Yoga can change your stress level, which may lead to a peaceful, restful night's sleep. Yoga can also get your energy level going in the morning. Be nice to your self and start and end your day with the Sun Salutation. You just may sleep better tonight.