I’ve had a strange relationship with sleep for years. I love sleep, I look forward to long lie ins, epic 12 hour sleepathons, at the weekends and I’ve yet to find that I’ve grown into early mornings! However long ,deep sleeps are, on the whole, a thing of the past for me.
It hasn’t always been thus. As a child I slept the sleep of the dead. Nothing would wake me. On one famous occassion, I had a dream I was being eaten by a lion. I was thrashing around in bed fighting for my life, but nothing could wake me, not even my parents! Oh to be able to sleep so deeply now.
It’s a bitter irony that people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Fibromyalgia, despite being almost always tired, do not sleep well. Some of us (like me) sleep poorly, and not for very long at a stretch and some of us can sleep for long periods of time but just don’t feel rested. It’s a bit of a Catch 22 really because this lack of sleep can cause the extreme muscle pains of Fibromyalgia, those same muscle pains that can keep me awake at night!
But it is not just people with CFS/Fibro who suffer. Millions of us aren’t getting enough sleep, whether it is because of sleep related disorders, stress and worry or simply not having enough time on top of all the other things we feel are expected of us. Once chronic insomnia starts we have to ask ourselves whether to drug or not to drug.
Personally I decided against the pill option. One of the huge advantages of being a yoga teacher is I have many a wide ranging toolbox of aids for relaxing and so I thought I would share one with you today that I feel has helped me more than anything else when it comes to falling asleep.
The Square Breath
Just begin by focusing on the breath and try to establish a gentle even rhythm, e.g. inhaling for the count of four, exhaling for the count of 4 (I’m using 4 as the count here but use what is comfortable for you).
1. Take four even breaths (inhale 4, exhale 4)
2. Begin to add a retention to the inhale (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4) – repeat 4 times
3. Begin to add a reention to the exhale (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4) – repeat 4 times
4. Let go of the inhale retention (inhale 4, exhale 4, hold 4) – repeat 4 times
5. Let go of the exhale retention (inhale 4, exhale 4) – repeat 4 times
It does look a bit complicated written down like that but you only have to practice it a few times adn you will soon know it.
Lying with your legs up the wall (Viparita Karani – see picture) is very beneficial for sleeplessness – try the square breath in this postion!
How do you sleep at night dear readers?
I love that you posted this because we are so in sync! Tuesday and Wednesday nights were terrible for my sleep. I was tired all day long but when I finally got to bed I just stared at the ceiling and couldn’t fall asleep, and hours later when I did, it was fitful. Last night was a bit better because I spent a long time winding down to get ready and did Legs up the Wall for 10 minutes before I turned off the light. I love to do it in bed, with my butt where my pillow goes, and then just rotate when I’m ready to sleep : ) Whenever my husband sees me doing this, he says I must be really serious about falling asleep that night!
I don’t get enough sleep at night (that is for sure). I go to bed around 9ish although that seems like it is getting later and later lately. And, I get up at 5 to head to work and drive 30 min. to be there by 7 AM. I run non stop the rest of the day too.
As soon as my head hits the pillow I am out, and only wake up if my Yorkie (Oakleigh) barks to pee – pee. Little boogie. Otherwise I would sleep soundly all night.
Yesterday, I rushed home to squeeze a nap in. I was so tired, before I headed to teach yoga at 5. Sometimes I am so worn down that by the time by Thurs. yoga class comes around, when I teach my brain says one thing and my mind another. Of course, as you already know I am working on reducing my schedule to take better care of myself. Anyway, by the time I got home, I had a brief 30 minutes to squeeze in a nap, but determined to do so. When my alarm went off to wake me up I could not get my eyes to open. They just wouldn’t open. Shows you how much more sleep I really needed. A trip. I can tell to that when I get enough sleep I eat better and not as much. The lack of sleep makes my vata eat more than I really need to try to drive my energy levels up to keep up. Interesting, huh?
I still need my sleep …. though I can’t lie in until past 10 any more, however late the previous night. I wish better nights for you – it does sound like a vicious circle
( Relaxation can be restorative too – I am sure Yoga works wonders!
For some reason my sad face after “vicious circle” came out happy on the screen. Naughty emoticon! I feel sad that you experience such bad nights……
Hey Angela, thanks for your kind words. Do you put noses in your emoticons? If so they always come up smiling. For sad you just have to do colon open bracket
Have a good weekend!
PS the fisrt post (by anonymous) was me…I should stop trying to post things before I have quite woken up in the morning!
I sleep pretty well, but I defenately do not breathe deep enough. I know my shallow breathing probably keeps me feeling so tense all the time…
thank you for sharing this technique! I was at yoga this morning and was trying to do a shoulder lift. too scared to lift my legs off the wall and tumble over! happy peaceful weekend to you! ciao!
thanks for stoppin by earlier and for your thoughtful comment re anon comments, formspring etc. totally agree!
lack of restful sleep is such a viscious, downward, spiral, isnt it. one thing that i think helps alot is to make sure we’re not magnesium depleted but most of us are from our stressful lives, caffiene, etc. try natural calm, works like a charm
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/01/calm-yourself-with-natural-supplements.html
I, too, am an “inflammatory” person. And lack of sleep, or poor quality sleep raises my stress level too. Which then makes me ache and then not sleep…on and on.
Yoga has done a lot for me. Especially meditation. But recently I also added Reiki. I became a Reiki I practitioner in February and the practice of self-healing has totally wiped out my sleep issues. I lie down each night and do a self-healing session and fall right to sleep. I don’t wake up in the middle of the night much anymore and if I do, I just note the time, see it’s not time to wake up, and then drop right back off to sleep.
I’ve been a chronic insomniac since at least nursery school, when I hated nap time because I just lay there waiting for it to be older since I couldn’t sleep. I’ve found various things that help, though nothing perfectly (and any sleep drug strong enough to really work ends up making me feel so drowsy the next day there seems little point). Really, the most important thing is simply not to let it bother me–as soon as I start getting upset because I can’t sleep, there’s little hope of getting to sleep at all, while, if I turn on the light and read a bit, usually my eyes will get heavy after a little while…