2023-05-03 09:24:51
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — You feel exhausted, and your body desperately needs sleep, yet, as soon as your head touches the pillow, racing thoughts sweep over you, making sleep a distant dream for you, and sometimes impossible.
Don’t worry, because there are relaxation techniques you can use to calm this racing mind:
“Consider these relaxation exercises as part of your toolkit for better sleep,” said Rebecca Robbins, a sleep specialist and instructor in the department of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School.
1. Control deep breathing
Deep breathing, a scientifically proven method of calming the body and mind, can be easily practiced before bed and upon awakening in the middle of the night.
Changing your rhythm slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, and stimulates your body’s “rest and digest” system, which can dispel feelings of anxiety.
“Consciously focusing on your breathing can help you separate yourself from the impulsive thoughts that cross your mind,” Robbins said.
She indicated that there are a number of deep breathing techniques that you can try, such as:
Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as belly breathing, focuses on relaxing the diaphragm, the main muscle of breathing. Start by taking a deep breath in through your nose for a slow count of six, making sure that you feel your stomach rise with your hand as it fills with air. Then count to six once more to slowly exhale.
2. Meditation
Meditation is a centuries-old method of calming the body and mind. Studies show that it can help desperate people to be perfect in everything they do by stopping judging themselves, and may help treat smoking, pain, addictive disorders, depression, and more.
One study showed, using direct measures of brain function and structure, that practicing meditation for 30 minutes a day over a two-week period produced measurable changes in the brain.
Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and founder and director of the Healthy Mind Center, told CNN in a previous interview that “teaching people this type of mental exercise changes the function and structure of the brain.”
3. Visualization
Visualization is another sleep aid. Imagine a quiet spot where you feel at peace and fill it with specific objects, colors and sounds. Researchers have found that people who visualize in minute detail have the ability to drive unwanted thoughts out of their minds.
And if you’re having trouble filling in the scene, the researchers suggest asking yourself questions regarding smell, touch, and light, such as, “Can I feel the sun on my skin? What is the scent in the air that I smell?”
4. Progressive muscle relaxation
Most of us don’t realize how much tension our muscles are in until it manifests itself in backaches and headaches.
Experts say progressive muscle relaxation is a way to relax those muscles, making it easier to fall asleep. They tense and release muscle groups in the body in a specific order, from the head to the toes.
Contract each part of the body tightly and hold each tension for 10 seconds while inhaling. Be sure to squeeze each muscle firmly, but not to the point of cramping or pain. Then, as you exhale, abruptly relax the muscles all at once.
Experts say there is an added benefit to exercise, as there is no place in your brain for anxious thoughts.
5. Set a “worry time” before bed
Here’s a way to keep your mind from repeating all the things you should have done (or didn’t do) until you put your head on the pillow.
“Don’t worry in bed,” says Dr. Raj Dasgupta, MD, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Set up a ‘worry time’, a period of time out of the bedroom, out of bed, to worry regarding things that are creeping into your head. normal during the night.
“Write a list of things you need to do the next day,” suggested Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, professor of medicine and director of sleep research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“You can even email it to yourself. It gives you the satisfaction of realizing that one night there’s nothing you can do with your list, but you can get it done the next day.”
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