Yoga has been shown to improve sleep quality many groups of individuals, including women and the elderly. There appears to be a correlation between practising yoga and improved sleep quality, but what is it about yoga that has this effect?
As an experienced yoga teacher, I've found many reasons as to why yoga may help improve sleep. Along with my experience as a yoga expert, I also talked to Professor Heather Cleland Woods, Professor of Psychology Education and Sleep Health from the University of Glasgow to get an idea of how our lifestyle and exercise choices can impact sleep quality and how this might relate to yoga.
Why does regular yoga improve sleep quality?
Yoga helps to calm the body, mind and regulate our nervous system. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is our rest and digest function. Therefore, it makes sense that activating this part of our nervous system would result in us feeling rested, calm and even a bit sleepy at the end of a class.
Our nervous system, and how aroused or unaroused it is, can impact our sleep quality. Professor Heather Cleland Woods commented, “If your nervous system is aroused, then it will be more difficult to de-arouse and feel sleepy or tired. Building in time to relax and put your day to bed can be helpful here as well as physical activity.” Consequently, yoga may be the perfect antidote to a busy and overactive mind and nervous system.
Offering calming breathing alongside stretches to release tension in the body, yoga can de-arouse your nervous system while allowing you the opportunity to move your body and get in some physical activity — things that can help improve sleep quality. You can use it as a way to relax and to “put your day to bed”, resulting in better sleep quality. Plus, the more regular your practice is, the more often your nervous system will enter this rest and digest function, leading to better sleep more often.
Physical activity also has a link to sleep quality. Professor Heather Cleland Woods commented, “Regular exercise can help sleep quality as well as the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.” She added “regular moderate-intensity physical activities are the most effective, while high-intensity physical activities, especially in the evening or close to bedtime, may lead to difficulty sleeping.” With there being many forms of yoga you could try, from our sleep expert’s advice, it seems choosing a style of yoga that affords you moderate physical activity may prove the most beneficial in improving your sleep quality, and ensuring this practice is regular. These styles may include: Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Flow Yoga or Vinyasa Flow (and with a trusty yoga mat at hand).
These forms of yoga offer a more dynamic practice flowing from one pose to the next with your breath. However, more restorative forms of yoga such as Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga help to calm your nervous system and produce a feeling of being relaxed and sleepy — therefore these are worth a try if you’re looking for more of a nervous system reset. One thing you don’t have to worry about is what time you practice yoga — it's suitable to be practised before bed as it's not classed as a high-intensity physical activity and can be used as a wind down to bed, as long as you make sure to engage in a relaxation at the end.
Top tips for getting a better night’s sleep — from a sleep expert
While a regular yoga practice has lots of benefits for improving sleep quality, there are other things you can do to improve your sleep quality. Professor Cleland Woods offered advice when asked for her top tips for getting a good night’s sleep, “Exposure to daylight, some physical activity even a 20 minute walk, put your day to bed before putting yourself to bed, a digital sunset allowing you to step back from social interaction and arousing online material. A routine can help prioritise sleep too, so don't see sleep as something that can be condensed or as a treat. It's essential for physical and mental health!”
She also added, “It's important to recognise sleep quality is related to day as well as night. Exposure to natural light as much as possible, exercise, eating patterns and types of food are all important contributors to good sleep quality. If you're sedentary and eating/drinking too much caffeine, as many of us do, you're not managing to expend energy, de-arouse and allow your body and mind to feel sleepy tired at the end of the day.”
Consequently, it’s important we consider changes we can make in other aspects of our lives to improve our sleep quality. However, I would argue that by building a regular yoga practice, you would be tackling some of the big issues on Professor Cleland Woods’ list for better sleep quality, as practising yoga means you will move your body, expend excess energy and de-arouse your nervous system, which will allow you to feel sleepy at the end of a hard, overstimulating day.
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