What do you do when you lie on your bed wondering when sleep will come? You should get up and follow stress management and relaxation techniques to sleep well. They comprise six effective and natural recourses to follow that are effective.
Various disorders cause sleeplessness such as insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, sleeping sickness, sleepwalking, and night terrors. They are all associated with mental, medical, or pathological causes.
Stress and anxiety-related sleeplessness is something that you can tackle on your own provided you follow the stress management relaxation techniques.
It is essential therefore to learn and practice these techniques, which will relax your mind and muscles and let you drift to sleep with ease. It is called sleep management.
Stress management relaxation techniques to sleep well
It is important to note that the quality of sleep is more important than the quantity of sleep. It is not just the required hours of sleep that count. Your sleep should have the right order and proportion of the sleep stages, including deep sleep, that make up the sleep cycle.
There are stress management relaxation techniques, which prepare you psychologically to fight anxiety and stress. They relax your breathing and the muscles of your body and effectively act together to fight your sleeplessness.
1. Light reading and slow classical music
If you do not fall asleep within twenty minutes, you should avoid lying in bed. It will only make matters worse. Go to another room, if available, or sit in a comfortable chair. Pull out a book and do some light reading.
Do not watch the television or sit in front of the laptop. The light emanating from these electronic items will disturb your body’s biological clock and take sleep further away from you.
2. Deep breathing exercises
You will find many ways to do your breathing exercises each showing different techniques. The following is an easy and very effective method.
First, take a few slow deep breaths with your eyes closed and try making each breath deeper than the previous one, each time focusing on your breath. Follow this up with this sequence:
Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose keeping your mouth closed.
Hold your breath for a few seconds. You should hold your breath only for as long as you feel comfortable. It should not make you breathless.
Release slowly through the mouth.
Repeat this procedure up to 10 times. You may feel the need to repeat this exercise after some time. If you do, you can repeat it.
How does it help? Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, which reduces the stress response and prevents it from overreacting. This makes you feel more relaxed
3. Progressive muscle relaxation
How does muscle relaxation work? The technique of progressive muscle relaxation comes from the theory that mental calmness comes from physical relaxation.
How do you do it?
Wear comfortable clothing. See that your bedroom environment is ideal.
With closed eyes, inhale slowly for 10 seconds. At the same time, tighten the muscles of your calves.
Exhale out slowly and release the tension of your calves keeping your eyes closed.
Your mind should concentrate on the tightening and relaxation of your muscles each time.
Wait for twenty seconds.
Move upward and follow the procedure with your thigh muscles, buttocks, abdomen, neck muscles, and finally the scalp. Take each muscle group at a time. Follow this cycle a few times.
4. Relax your mind
Bring good happy thoughts and activities into your mind. If you try, you can remove the irritating and stressful thoughts from your mind. Promise yourself that you will deal with these chores the next day and stop worrying about them. This is an important feature you must learn to practice.
5. Meditation
Meditating before bedtime will help you relax physically and mentally. It is a good technique that has helped millions of people not only to sleep but also to improve daytime efficiency and health.
meditation helps you to sleep by increasing serotonin in the brain, which helps induce sleep. It decreases the tendency to worry and increases stress tolerance. Besides reducing stress, it brings inner calmness, and clarity and makes you feel contented.
Learn the proper technique of meditation before starting to practice it on your own. wikiHow shows you how to do it.
6. Yoga
Several studies have shown that yoga along with meditation improves sleep. More than 55% of people who tried yoga for better sleep have endorsed that it has also increased the quality of sleep.
Do not do yoga on your bed because your bed is reserved for sleeping. Use a separate yoga mat. Be consistent. Do these exercises every night before bedtime.
The yoga journal describes 6 yoga exercises that work. Practice them. They are effective.
