Considering Yoga for Insomnia Lori Taft Sours, PhD, CTY August 2014
One of the effects of aging is the reduced ability to sleep well. Many people have trouble falling asleep, and in other cases, one may fall asleep easily, but wake up in the night and be unable to get back to sleep. Both conditions fall under the label of insomnia. There are many factors which contribute to insomnia, including circadian rhythm disorders, major life changes (good or bad), and a diet that includes caffeine, alcohol, and other stimulating or “rajasic” foods, and chronic stress. Dr. Timothy McCall notes that “insomnia often affects people whose nervous systems are in a near-constant state of arousal.” [1] In other words, the “fight-or-flight” system is always present and, he says, “Insomniacs show not just higher levels but more frequent bursts of stress hormones, which can occur in response to either stimulation in their environment or to their thoughts. Research indicates that people who sleep poorly don’t have more stressful events in their lives than others, but tend to perceive them as more stressful, and react to them more intensely.”[2] Dr. McCall describes several ways in which yoga can help insomnia. First, it shifts the balance from the “activating sympathetic nervous system to the relaxing parasympathetic nervous system.” In addition, it lowers the levels of stress hormones in the system, and it reduces muscle tension (unlike many other forms of exercise.) The breathing practices in yoga also help raise the body’s levels of carbon dioxide, “a natural sedative that helps you sleep.”[3] It seems reasonable that the breathing, stretching, relaxation, and meditation that are part of a yoga practice could help insomnia sufferers. Indeed, scientific evidence points toward the effectiveness of yoga in decreasing insomnia. One example is a recent study by Afonso et al[4] comparing three groups of postmenopausal women: a control group, a group which did passive stretching, and a group which did yoga. The results showed that “The reduction in insomnia severity in the yoga group was significantly higher than that in the control and passive-stretching groups.” Another study, by Dr. Lorenzo Cohen and reported in the journal Cancer, investigated the effects of yoga on the sleep of a group of patients with lymphoma. As summarized by Dr. Timothy McCall, “they reported getting to sleep sooner, sleeping longer, and needing fewer sleeping pills, a statistically significant result.”[5]
Notes:
[1] McCall, Timothy. Yoga as Medicine. New York: Bantam Books, 2007. Print. P. 413.
[4] Afonso, R F., H Hachul, E H. Kozasa, Dde S. Oliveira, and V Goto. "Yoga decreases insomnia in postmenopausal women: a randomized clinical trial." Menopause 19.2 (2012): 186-93. Ebscohost. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.