Yoga for insomnia

Unfortunately, a great portion of our population suffers from insomnia and it is often overlooked. Most of the victims of this sleep disorder are neglected of care or have failed at looking for the appropriate means to help themselves. Insomnia is categorised by difficulty of falling asleep, sleeping at irregular times, staying asleep, etc. The most common form of insomnia comes in the form of acute insomnia that may affect anyone and it’s caused by several factors including stress, diet or unhealthy lifestyle. While acute insomnia may not have a prolonged effect, it may affect each person differently and bring people to go too far lengths to deal with it. You get to hear several of these stories on social media. In fact, there’s a great amount of awareness that is important to be spread regarding this sleeping disorder stigma.

Fortunately, yoga has always been the ray of hope in countless lives. You may hear never-ending stories about how yoga has proven to help people with headaches to even prolonged chronic illnesses… What a lot of people won’t tell you is the correlation between movement and one’s mental health. Hence, we have several yoga asanas that help with one’s insomnia, at-least to some extent.

Uttanasana: This forward fold is a form on a gentle inversion, perfect for beginners and can be done with variations that involve slightly bending your knees. This asana triggers your parasympathetic nervous system that will help you relax and get better sleep.

Balasana: Also known as the child pose is one of the favourite asanas of everyone. It passively stretches back torso and relaxes your posterior muscles. This reduces stress and promotes calmness in your mind

Inversions: Inversions like shirsasan require practice but they allow flow to your brain that relaxes and stimulates calmness.

Several of these poses are effective but perseverance is the key.