My best insomnia hack
Happy Thursday! Here’s an anecdote, an exercise and an inspiration.
Anecdote: Last week I confessed that I color my roots. This week, another confession (though some of you already know): I have for years struggled with insomnia, making me feel like a fraud as a yoga teacher. My trouble is never falling asleep. Staying asleep is the issue.
In my experience, sleep trouble is linked to either stress, hormone imbalance or both. (Since I started addressing the hormonal part with my doctor, my sleep has improved considerably.) If the issue is stress, nervous system regulation practices can set you up for a better night’s sleep. Any of these can be helpful, especially in the later afternoon and evening: lying with your legs up the wall for five minutes, lying over a bolster to open the chest, yoga nidra/guided relaxation (try this beautiful free practice recorded by my mom), foot massage, breathing with a prolonged exhale, tensing and releasing your muscles, a warm bath, or gentle stretching, especially hip opening.
But once I’m up at 3 a.m., none of that reliably puts me back to sleep. My best hack: Read a boring book. I will not tell you what I’ve found boring lately, but I will say that technical craft books can be a lifesaver!
Note I did not list meditation on the list above because I believe it’s most effective when done while alert. In my case, that means the morning or early afternoon. Another confession: I am far more consistent with a morning routine than an evening one. I can get up earlier than my kids, but once they are asleep at night, I’m toast.
I’ve recently seen some social media influencers touting a practice that’s long helped me. For some reason, eating a spoonful of nut butter before bed makes me more likely to sleep through the night. The Internet says I’m stabilizing my blood sugar. I have zero scientific evidence to back that up, but unless you have a nut allergy, it’s a harmless and delicious experiment. (Cashew butter is my fave.)
What helps you to fall and stay asleep?
Exercise: What I’m doing in this video is known as rabbit pose in yoga, and it feels soooo good on tight upper back muscles, as well as the neck and shoulders. To do it:
Kneel, and curl your toes under.
Round forward to place the crown of your head on the floor. (If you don’t have a yoga mat, a folded blanket or towel under your head works just as well… perhaps even better.)
Reach back to grab your heels, and resist the heels into the hands and vice versa.
Lift your hips.
Don’t forget to breathe!
If anything hurts, please back off and listen to your own body above all else.
Hold for 10-30 seconds, 1-3 times.
Inspiration: Browsing for like-minded Substack accounts, I was so happy to find Jo Hutton’s Yoga For Tired People. In this post, Jo instructs the most basic and important breathing exercise, imagining the whole torso like a balloon gently inflating on the inhale and deflating on the exhale. (We often focus on breathing only with the front of our bodies.) I sometimes practice this exercise with a strap or belt lightly looped around my torso to feel the breath moving through all 360 degrees.