Studies have show that progressive muscle relaxation can help relieve stress, pros say it can improve sleep.
Here’s how to try it out.
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sleep medicine specialist atNorthwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
Physician Edmund Jacobsen, MD, PhD,developed the methodin the 1920s to treat anxiety.
Insomnia is really a condition where people cant relax both the mind and the body.
Progressive muscle relaxation works because its about that connection.
Studies have shown progressive muscle relaxation to be an effectivemethod for relieving stressand reducing symptoms ofdepression.
It is also particularly effective for sleep.
Progressive muscle relaxation works because its about that connection, she adds.
Establish a breath pattern
As with many mindfulness practices, breathing is a key part of progressive muscle relaxation.
Itcalms the nervous systemand helps guide movementslike setting a metronome before starting piano scales.
Start by taking a deep breath in, holding it, and then exhaling slowly.
sleep medicine specialist atNorthwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
Ideally, inhalation is a little longer than exhalation, Dr. Gill says.
Then set your pace before you move on to step two.
The muscles should feel taut and tense while you flex them.
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Repeat this process throughout the entire body, tensing up and then releasing different muscle groups.
She also advises doing this close enough to when youre actually getting in bed to usher sleep in easily.
Dont give up if it doesnt come easily, either.
As with many other pursuits, it gets easier with practice.
With the parameters of the experiment in place, I was excited to start stretchingand hopefully, sleeping.
Standing next to my bed, I worked my way through the video and listened to the narrators cues.
(All while keeping in sync with my breaths.
I was surprised at how at ease I felt after night one.
I climbed into bed, and the next thing I remembered, I was waking up in the morning.
Throughout the week, I found myself tensing my muscles harder and aligning my breath with more ease.
I knew that this technique was something should use on acutely stressful, sleepless nights.
Overall, I fell asleep faster on the nights I did progressive muscle relaxation.
On nights I did progressive muscle relaxation, this time felt like it was cut in half.
The takeaway
Overall, I found progressive muscle relaxation got me in the right mindset to sleep.
Im happy to have found another sleep-inducing tool to add to my bedtime routine.
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