Yoga Improves Sleep

People who suffer from chronic insomnia tend to feel energized at night, both mentally and physically, so they find it difficult to wind down and fall asleep. A preliminary study published in Applied Psychophysiology Biofeedback (2004; [4], 269–78) evaluated the effect of daily yoga practice to determine whether it could lower levels of arousal and make it easier for subjects to fall asleep, stay asleep and sleep deeply.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston observed 20 participants with chronic insomnia for 10 weeks. For the first 2 weeks, participants kept a preliminary sleep-wake diary. During the next 8 weeks, they practiced a simple daily yoga program after a single training session with an instructor. By the end of the study, all aspects of the subjects’ sleep had improved significantly compared to pretreatment measures.

More research needs to be done on the value of yoga to assist people with sleep issues, since yoga, like meditation, is much less expensive than prescriptive medication treatment and does not have adverse side effects.

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Shirley Archer, JD, MA

IDEA Author/Presenter

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Shirley Archer, JD, MA, was the 2008 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year and is IDEA’s mind-bo... moreShirley Archer, JD, MA, was the 2008 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year and is IDEA’s mind-body-spirit spokesperson. She is a certified yoga and Pilates teacher and an award-winning author based in Palm Beach, Florida, and Zurich, Switzerland. Two of her books, The Walking Deck and The Strength and Toning Deck, are now featured as iPhone apps. Contact her at www.shirleyarcher.com. less

IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 2, Number 6

June 2005

© 2005 by IDEA Health & Fitness Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

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