The Importance of Good Sleep: Interrupted vs. Abbreviated Sleep

by Ram

Self Portrait Between the Clock and the Bed
by Edvard Munch

Ayurveda declares sleep as one of the three pillars that endow the body with strength, healthy complexion, and healthy growth that can continue until the full span of life, provided that the individual does not indulge in activities that are detrimental to health. The Ayurvedic texts also describe the maladies that can result from improper sleep, including but not limited to misery, emaciation, weakness, stupor, fatigue, body aches and fever. 

Proper sleep and rest is essential for the well-being of any individual as the body utilizes the sleep time to repair itself of any damage sustained during the waking hours. Good sleep also helps to maintain a healthy immune system and balance our appetites. A good night’s sleep enhances the same positive feelings and states of being that we achieve through our yoga practice. On the other hand, poor quality sleep:

1. results in failure to sustain and preserve new memory
2. triggers obesity and other metabolic disturbances
3. contributes to accidents, falls and traffic mishaps
4. triggers emotional disturbances
5. lowers immunity, making the individual more susceptible to degenerative diseases or infections

Several recent studies have shown that lack of sleep or a discontinuous sleep during the night may be deleterious for the brain, and may trigger dementia and increase the risk of stroke symptoms. Unfortunately, we’re a world of unhealthy sleepers. If you compare the world statistics of insomnia and poor quality sleep, it is interesting to note that the numbers are nearly similar throughout the world. Within the USA, more than 30% of the population suffers from insomnia, with more than half of Americans failing to have sound sleep due to tension, work, stress, and/or emotional upheaval. Between 40% and 60% of people over the age of 60 suffer from insomnia, with women up to twice more likely to suffer from insomnia than men. Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. use prescription sleep aids. Thus, the type of sleep and how we are affected by it is of great interest to sleep researchers. 

In a recent study The Effects of Sleep Continuity Disruption on Positive Mood and Sleep Architecture in Healthy Adults., researchers sought to find out what’s the worst kind of sleep that would trigger poor health: the kind where you go to bed at the normal time but are constantly up every few hours (interrupted sleep), or the kind where you go to bed very late in the night and get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep (abbreviated sleep). In my personal opinion, while both kinds of sleep are unhealthy to the body and mind, people who wake up several times in the night, resulting in what is termed as interrupted sleep—even if they're in bed for eight hours—are more unhealthy than people who sleep for very few hours of sleep that is uninterrupted sleep. 

The study was conducted on a group of 62 healthy men and women who did not have any issues with sleep and were all good sleepers. The participants spent three days and nights in a sleep lab, with the researchers measuring and analyzing their sleep stages (light to deep slumber) with regard to how much of each stage of sleep each volunteer got every night. The participants were randomly divided into three groups. The first group of 21 participants was woken up several times during the night (interrupted sleep), the second group of 17 was asked to go to sleep very late in the night but their sleep was not interrupted (abbreviated sleep), and the third group of 24 serving as the control went to sleep early and was allowed to sleep uninterruptedly through the night. Participants answered questions about their moods (positive and negative) each evening before dozing off. The researchers also looked at the brain patterns of the individuals through a test called polysomnography. 

When the researchers compared the mood of all three groups, the first two groups showed a decline in positive mood after the first night. But on the next two nights, the interrupted sleepers continued to report significant decline in positive moods while the abbreviated sleepers did not report any further drop—their mood stayed at about the same level they had reported after the first night. The declining trend in positive mood in the interrupted sleep group occurred regardless of what the participants reported on the negative mood scale. Thus, a disrupted sleep seems to have a stronger effect on dampening positive moods than it does on increasing negative emotions. 

When the researchers looked at the brain patterns of the sleep groups, they found that the interrupted sleepers showed significantly less “slow wave sleep” (slow wave sleep aka deep sleep is normally associated with feeling rested and rejuvenated), than the other two groups of sleepers that had slept continuously. The significant drop in the slow wave sleep was associated with the striking drop in positive moods, having implications for how everything from stress to depression can affect both sleep and mood. The most important question that is not yet answered by the study is whether interrupted sleep triggers faulty mood behavior or whether carrying negative moods to the bed triggered interrupted sleep. Whatever may be the initiator, it appears that losing slow wave sleep impairs the ability to recover or stabilize positive emotions. The researchers strongly advise that we need to pay attention not just to the quantity or quality of sleep, or the quantity or quality of mood/emotions, but to the combination of both sleep and moods. 

Living in a hypercompetitive and stressful world with all the demands of work and family obligations, we need to lessen the negative impact on our lives of these demands at least by getting good quality, uninterrupted sleep. In addition to supporting the Ayurvedic concept of sleep being one of the pillars of life, this study appears to offer a reasonable explanation of why this is true.

We have highlighted the importance of sleep through various articles in this blog (see Sleep: A Pillar of Life) and also provided several tips on practices that will help you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply (see 5 Tips for Better Sleep, Day to Night: Yoga for Better Sleep, and Proof that Meditation Helps Improve Sleep). I hope after reading this article you will appreciate the importance of good sleep and, if needed, will follow some of our recommendations for achieving it. Remember, good sleep is essential for your health and wellbeing, and if you are experiencing sleep problems, there can be quite a price to pay. 

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect

Read More

Keeping Your Cool: Stress Management and Equanimity

by Nina

Karen Knight, Age 54

I learned about dangers of chronic stress the hard way. Back in the early nineties, I had a job as the documentation manager and lead technical writer at a software start-up company, while at the same time I was raising two children. As you might imagine, the pressure was intense as our small company struggled to meet our first deadline, the first test of the product by real customers (who needed my manuals to teach them how to use the product!). As the deadline approached and I started working overtime, I began having difficulty sleeping. I also started losing weight because the stress made me so feel nauseated that I lost my appetite. Eventually I was so anxious, exhausted and nauseated that even though I met my deadline (and the company went on to success), I couldn’t bounce back to normal health. What began as simple, chronic stress had ultimately turned into something more serious: agitated depression. It took a year and half of therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes for me to recover completely.

So, yes, chronic stress is not only dangerous for your physical health, but it can have a strong impact on your mental health, affecting the way you feel, the way you think, and the way you sleep. 

Moods and Emotional Disorders 

To start with, chronic stress has a negative effect on your moods. When your sympathetic nervous system is over-stimulated, you may experience any of the following negative feelings: anxiety, restlessness, lack of motivation or focus, irritability or anger, sadness or depression. Obviously those moods are not only unpleasant but they can interfere with your ability to conduct yourself in a way that is in line with your values and goals. For example, if you’re restless and irritated, it’s hard to be patient with and loving to family members and friends. 

Then, for people who are susceptible, full-blow anxiety or depression may develop. There are several different theories about the mechanisms that cause depression and anxiety. Chronic stress leads to elevated hormones such as the “stress” hormone cortisol and reduced serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain , including dopamine, all of which are associated with depression. And, lately, there is a new theory that depression may be caused by inflammation, which itself can be triggered chronic stress (see Depression May Be Caused by Inflammation). High levels of cortisol can also be responsible for causing Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a common anxiety disorder in older adults (see Reducing Cortisol Improves Anxiety).

Even though research about the exact mechanisms is ongoing, the bottom line is that there is agreement that chronic stress can cause a whole range of emotional problems, including both depression and anxiety.

Stress and Your Thoughts

In my post Stress and Your Thought-Behavior Repertoire, I described how when you’re in stress mode, your thoughts narrow and become limited to fight or flight strategies, while when you are calmer, your thoughts are more expansive, and therefore include a much wider range of possibilities. Practicing stress management on a regular basis allows you to keep your level of arousal (the intensity of the Stress or Fight or Flight response) appropriate to your current environment. For example, for a soldier, a very high level of arousal is appropriate in an actual battle, but that same level is not appropriate if he or she is stuck in a traffic jam or working at the office. On the other hand, when your arousal level is "optimum" for your situation, your thoughts and behavior possibilities expand, until it is possible to consider altruistic possibilities and living in line with your basic values and goals. Here’s how psychologist Dan Libby puts it:

"The basic gist is that regulating our autonomic nervous system, which really means activating the more newly evolved part of the parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerve, allows for an expansion of your thought-behavior repertoire. Instead of having a limited, narrow, tunnel-vision, like we do when our sympathetic nervous system is dominant, we have more cognitive and behavioral options available to navigate our world."

Obviously being able to live in line with your basic values and goals is going to contribute to your equanimity. You’ll be able to interact with people and solve problems in a more peaceful and productive way. And reducing chronic stress will help you keep your thought-behavior repertoire appropriate to your circumstances.

Stress, Your Sleep, and Your Emotions and Thoughts

One of the common effects of an overactive sympathetic nervous system is insomnia, something I know about all too well. Your nervous system keeps you on the alert—and awake—so you’re prepared to face imminent danger, except in the middle of the night when your worries are about everyday life, that’s rather counterproductive. And, according to Ram, our brain health expert, lack of sleep or sleep deprivation triggers accelerated mental decline. Sleep appears necessary for our nervous systems to work properly. Too little sleep leaves us drowsy and unable to concentrate, and leads to impaired memory and physical performance. If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings may develop.

Just as sleep gives the body time to heal itself, sleep allows neurons to lower down their neurochemical activity and repair themselves. Without sleep, neurons become “fatigued” and begin to malfunction. Sleep helps to clear out toxins from the brain as well as from the body (see Sleep, Alzheimer's Disease, and Yoga). Finally, the brain gets exposed to thousands of stimuli through the five senses, and sleep helps to reduce chaos and bring order to the information flow, helping to put an order to these information inputs and archive them as memories. 

Whew! Do I even have to explain chronic insomnia is going to interfere with your ability to face life’s difficulties with equanimity? So, if sleep is problem for you, it’s a really good idea to consciously manage your daytime stress levels so you don’t go to bed with an over-active nervous system—that’s going to improve your nights as well as your days. 

How to Practice Stress Management for Equanimity

Practicing stress management in general is good preventative medicine for fostering good emotional and mental health, just as it helps foster physical healthy. And when you are trying to deal with existing mood and/or emotional problems as part of a self-care program, you should definitely include stress management techniques in your yoga practice. All the stress management techniques we describe in The Relaxation Response and Yoga will help you reduce chronic stress levels, with the only exception that for people with depression, meditation is not recommended (it can cause a downward spiral). Re-patterning your nervous system as described in Re-Patterning Your Nervous System will train you so you don’t react as intensely to stressors in the first place. And learning to self-regulate as described at Self-Regulation and Yoga: Managing Your Internal States will allow monitor and manage your internal states, so you can take appropriate actions to calm yourself, comfort yourself, uplift yourself, or energize yourself, and bring yourself to a more balanced state. For extra information about improving your sleep, see 5 Tips for Better Sleep.

Although I'm sold on the effectiveness of yoga for keeping us as physically healthy as possible, I actually became a yoga teacher specifically because I realized that my yoga  practice was helping to keep me emotionally healthy and that was something I wanted to share with others. So if you're someone who wants to cultivate emotional stability, I hope this post will inspire your practice!

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect

Read More

Proof that Meditation Helps Improve Sleep

by Nina

The Hammock by Courbet

Yesterday morning I was excited to read a New York Times article Meditation for a Good Night's Sleep about a scientific study that demonstrated that meditation helps improve sleep in older adults. It’s not that this was such a big surprise to me. I’ve been saying for many years now that yoga can help improve your sleep by reducing your overall stress levels (see Yoga for Insomnia: Part 1 and Five Tips for Better Sleep). But it’s always great to have scientific proof to back up these claims. In the past, I was using a combination of two basic arguments to back up my claim: 1) a line of reasoning that because stress can cause insomnia and yoga can reduce stress, using yoga to reduce stress will improve sleep, and 2) using yoga to reduce chronic stress and trigger the Relaxation Response has helped me personally with improving my sleep. 

Now there is a study that was published in JAMA Internal Medicine Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances, in which 50 older adults with moderate sleep problems were assigned to one of two programs. In the first group, the participants learned sleep hygiene behavior (you know, all that stuff they always tell you—does it even work?—like establishing a regular bedtime routine, using your bed for sleep or sex only, etc.). In the second group, the participants took a six-week program on mindfulness meditation led by a certified teacher and practiced meditation “homework.”

The results after a yearlong study were that the participants who meditated had greater improvements in sleep quality and fewer symptoms of insomnia, depression, and fatigue than those who learned sleep hygiene practices. Now you may be wondering, as I did—especially because this study only included meditation and no any other yoga stress management practices—did the scientists conducting the study have ideas about why was the meditation practice so effective for improving sleep? According to the New York Times article: 

“The lead author of the study, David S. Black, said mindfulness meditation probably helped settle the brain’s arousal systems.”

Hmm. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Is this “brain’s arousal systems” thing the same as chronic stress? I’ve been wondering about this anyway since I read the most typical form of insomnia, sleep maintenance insomnia, was caused by “hyperarousal disorder.” 

Here’s a technical explanation of the phenomenon from the National Institutes of Health:

Insomnia, the most frequently reported sleep disorder, is characterized as a state of hyperarousal in which stress is believed to activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis [41,85]. Vgontzas et al. demonstrated that, compared with healthy subjects, those with chronic insomnia had increased secretion of corticotropin and cortisol throughout the sleep-wake cycle [121]. 

Additionally, Nofzinger and colleagues, using positron emission tomography (PET) studies to assess regional cerebral glucose metabolism, demonstrated that insomnia also is associated with greater whole-brain metabolism during both sleep and wake periods and, notably, a failure of wake-promoting structures to deactivate during the transition from waking to sleep states [78]. Structures regulating the sleep-wake cycle, such as the brainstem, hypothalamus, and basal forebrain, are abnormally overactive during sleep. The ventral emotional neural system also is hyperactive during wakefulness in patients with primary insomnia and insomnia associated with depression, and this abnormal activity persists into NREM sleep [77]. These PET findings of whole brain hypermetabolism during sleep and wake states, and reduced waking metabolism in the prefrontal cortex of patients with insomnia, suggest that they have chronic insufficient sleep, which may explain daytime symptoms of fatigue [78]. The results also may explain why cognitive factors (eg, worry) and environmental cues (eg, light exposure and unstable sleep schedules) perpetuate insomnia.

So, yes, stress is believed to cause hyperarousal because high levels of stress hormones are detected in the hyperarousal state, and, also, interestingly, cognitive factors, such as worrying, can perpetuate the condition. In Timothy McCall’s Yoga As Medicine, Roger Cole describes hyperarousal in simple English:

“Your nervous system is just turned on too high, the sympathetic nervous system is active, the brain circuits that keep you awake are active, and you can’t stop thinking.”

So “settle the brain’s arousal systems” really is the same thing as my number one tip in my post Five Tips for Better Sleep

1. Reduce your overall stress levels. Because insomnia is often caused by chronic stress, regularly practicing conscious relaxation or calming yoga poses can help prevent the busy mind and over-stimulated nervous system that is keeping you awake at night. See The Relaxation Response and Yoga, Yoga for Insomnia: Part 1 and Conscious Relaxation vs. Sleep for information. 

Well, that’s your science lesson for the day. But your takeaway should be exactly what I told Paul Weston (the fictional character on the TV show “In Treatment”) in my post Yoga for Insomnia: Part 1 that if you’re having trouble sleeping, you should give yoga stress management techniques a try. And while mindful meditation, which triggers the Relaxation Response, has been now been proven by a scientific study to be successful at helping people improve their sleep, I have a strong feeling any of the other techniques we have been recommending—all of which have the same effect on your nervous system as meditation—will be equally effective. 

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect

Read More

Never go to bed angry

by Nina

Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens: A Detail by Joan Webster

On Tuesday I read a short little piece in the NY Times questioning the adage “Never go to bed angry” (see here). It was one of those bottom line pieces, and the bottom line was this:

“Going to sleep upset or disturbed preserves the emotion, research suggests.”

In the cited study in The Journal of Neuroscience, scientists exposed 106 men and women to images that elicited various emotions. In some cases the emotions were negative and in other cases the emotions were positive or neutral. The researchers then looked at what happened 12 hours later when the subjects were shown both new images and the previous ones, either in the morning after a night of sleep, or at the end of a full day of wakefulness. The conclusion was:

“The scientists found that staying awake blunted the emotional response to seeing the upsetting images again. But when the subjects were shown the disturbing images after a night of sleep, their response was just as strong as when they had first seen them—suggesting that sleep “protected” the emotional response.”

That doesn’t sound good, does it? Going to bed angry and waking up angry is not only an unpleasant experience for you, but it probably doesn’t enhance your relationships with the people around you. Besides, it's also not a good idea to go to bed angry if you are concerned about getting a good night's sleep. Your stress levels will be high and your sleep, if you can sleep, will be restless—maybe filled with upsetting dreams—and you won’t feel rested in the morning.

But very probably you—unlike the people in the study—can’t just put away an “upsetting image” when you are very angry. In fact, the chances are you’ll keep having one angry thought after another, and with each angry thought you’ll get another jolt of adrenaline (that’s why they call it the “fight or flight response,” people), keeping your stress levels as high as they were before.

The good news is that Baxter says it takes only about 90 seconds to clear the adrenaline released in your system by an angry thought if you switch to a more neutral topic. So to put away your anger, he recommends a structured breath practice, in which you measure your inhalations and exhalations, and count your breaths to engage your mind. If you combine this type of breath practice with a supported inversion (such as Legs Up the Wall pose) or a supported forward bend (if you find those soothing), both of which help switch your nervous system to relaxation mode, you’ll get a double dose of calm.

You could also use a guided relaxation (see here) as a way to engage your mind and relax your nervous system at the same time.

Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook 

Read More

5 Tips for Better Sleep

by Nina

Field of Tulips by Melina Meza

I recently read a very disappointing list of same-old, same-old tips for better sleep. You know, don’t use your bedroom for anything but sex or sleep, light candles, take supplements, blah, blah, blah—does that stuff even work?—and nothing at all about addressing the root causes of insomnia. And I thought, really I could do a lot better than that. So here goes:

Five Tips for Better Sleep

1. Reduce your overall stress levels. Because insomnia is often caused by chronic stress, regularly practicing conscious relaxation or calming yoga poses can help prevent the busy mind and over-stimulated nervous system that is keeping you awake at night. See The Relaxation Response and Yoga, Yoga for Insomnia: Part 1 and Conscious Relaxation vs. Sleep for information. 

2. Plan your day. What you do in the hours before bed can affect your state when you get into bed. So schedule your stimulating activities, including aerobic exercise and strong yoga practices, such as flow practices, standing poses and backbends, for earlier in the day. (Of course, you don’t want to be watching an action film in the late evening, either.) Start to wind down before bed with calming practices, such as restorative yoga or meditating, so you’re in a relaxed state when you get into bed. See Day to Night for information.

3. Get comfortable. Physical pain or discomfort can keep you awake, so think about your sleeping position the same way you would about a yoga pose. Use “props” in bed, such as extra pillows, towels, and so on, to help get more comfortable. If you are having back problems, sleeping on your tummy can overarch your lower back, exacerbating back problems. You could try placing a folded blanket or towel under your lower abdomen to see if that helps, or, even better, sleep on your back instead with a pillow under your knees. If you’re having neck problems, sleep on your side or back, rather than on your tummy. If you try sleeping on your side and find that your knees press together uncomfortably, place a pillow between your knees. If nocturnal leg cramps are keeping you awake, stretch your legs before bed (see Nocturnal Leg Cramps and Yoga). 

4. Practice yoga in bed. Sometimes just getting into bed—even if you’ve been relaxing beforehand—can trigger worries about your life or fear about falling asleep. Instead of letting your mind race, try your favorite relaxation practice while you’re falling asleep (in this case, it’s okay if you fall asleep while you’re relaxing) You could practice a guided relaxation or yoga nidra (by listening to an audio recording or just talking yourself through it) or even do a restorative yoga pose, such as Child’s pose, with a mental focus to calm yourself down. See Yoga You Can Do in Bed and Yoga Tricks for Better Sleep for information.

5. Work with your breath. One of the easiest things you can do to calm yourself before you fall asleep or if you wake up in the middle of the night is to work with your breath. This moves your mind away from your worries onto a neutral subject and triggers the Relaxation Response, which will help you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply. You can either practice simple breath awareness or work on gently lengthening your exhalation (see Yoga for Better Sleep). If you have trouble breathing because you have a cold or allergies, try working with a mantra (a phrase you repeat to yourself) of any kind instead. 

Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook 

Read More

Sleep: A Pillar of Life

by Ram

Siesta by John Singer Sargent

According to the Ayurveda philosophy, there are three supports or pillars of life. Sleep is one of the pillars, with the other two being good digestion and sexual restraint. These pillars endow the body with strength, complexion and healthy growth that can continue until the full span of life, provided the individual does not indulge in activities that are detrimental to health. According to the Charaka Samhita, a foundational Ayurvedic text:

“Happiness, misery, nourishment, emaciation, strength, weakness, virility, sterility, knowledge, ignorance, life and death -- all these occur depending on proper or improper sleep.”

Proper sleep and rest is essential for the well-being of any individual. The body utilizes the sleep time to repair itself of any damage sustained during the waking hours. Sleep helps us thrive by contributing to a healthy immune system and balance our appetites by helping to regulate the levels of hormones that play a role in hunger and satiety. So when we’re sleep-deprived, we may feel the need to eat more, which can lead to weight gain. A good night sleep enhances the same positive feelings and states of being that we achieve through our yoga practice. Good sleeping habit plays a direct role in how full, energetic and successful our lives can be. There's no question that we feel better after a good night's rest. It seems that, if we want to live to our full potential, we must approach sleep as a personal practice.

According to the Harvard Women’s health watch, there are six primary reasons to have sufficient sleep:

• Sleep helps the brain sustain and preserve new information to memory; people who have a good sleep after learning a task do better on tests later
• Sleep deprivation triggers weight gain
• Sleep deficits contribute to accidents, falls and traffic mishaps
• Sleep deprivation triggers emotional disturbances
• Sleep disorders can be a cause of hypertension and irregular heartbeat
• Sleep deprivation lowers immunity making the individual more susceptible to degenerative diseases or infections

How sleep is beneficial and how we are affected by sleep is of great interest to sleep researchers. In a landmark study, scientists discovered that during sleep the brain clears out harmful toxins thereby reducing the risk of several brain diseases. Nina elaborated on this study in one of her previous posts Sleep, Alzheimer’s Disease and Yoga.

In another recent study, a group of researchers from the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory of Chicago showed that good sleep is the antidote to fear. In experiments involving 15 normal human subjects, the researchers demonstrated that specific fear memories of human beings were wiped out during the slow-wave sleep. The complicated small sample study involved exposing the human subjects to two fear contextual cues: pictures of faces accompanied by an electric shock (to generate a fear response) and specific aromas associated with the faces.  All test subjects learned to fear the faces and the aromas that came with an electric shock. The subjects were asked to sleep and all the subjects were exposed again to the specific smells associated with the fear when they entered the slow-wave sleep cycle. Interestingly, the fear response to the specific odor had significantly waned in the slow-wave sleep cycle, suggesting the importance of sleep as a therapy to boost fear extinction memory.

In addition to supporting the Ayurvedic concept of sleep being one of the pillars of life, the above-mentioned research studies appear to offer a reasonable explanation of the need to have good and timely sleep. Proper sleep contributes to psychological health and well-being. However, most of us will encounter sleep disturbances throughout the course of our lives. In fact, one out of three people will experience sleep disturbances at some point in their lives. Sleep disturbances do not allow the proper repair of injuries making the tissues more susceptible to further injuries. This leads to the body breaking down. Sleep deprivation/disturbance is also a major source of stress among adults. A mere week of unrest or sleep deprivation can cause severe mood disturbances, depression and emotional upheaval. In a multicenter, randomized controlled trial for sleep quality among cancer survivors, a yoga program consisting of breathing exercises (pranayama), 16 gentle hatha and restorative yoga postures (asanas), and meditation was found to be a useful treatment for improving sleep quality and reducing sleep medication use among cancer survivors. Yoga participants demonstrated (a) greater improvements in sleep quality, quantity and efficiency, and daytime dysfunction and (b) decreased intake of sleep medication.

For more on yoga programs for sleep disturbances check Nina’s articles on these specific topics, including Day to Night: Yoga for Better Sleep. I hope after reading this article you will appreciate the importance of good sleep. Remember, good sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, and if you are experiencing sleep problems there is quite a price to pay.  I am reminded of Mahatma Gandhi’s quote from one of his speeches:

“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” 

Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook

Read More

Sleep, Alzheimer's Disease and Yoga

by Nina

Sun Behind Clouds by Melina Meza

One of the worst fears I think we all share about getting older is of developing dementia. Just recently I had a long phone conversation with a woman who is trying to deal with a mother in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, and it was just so sad. I had some advice for her, but no solutions, of course. Then I heard a news piece on NPR “Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep”  that gave me  glimmer of hope.

Scientists have been trying to figure out the purpose of sleep for a very long time. A recent study “Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain”  published in Science Magazine, proposed a fascinating new theory. The team of researchers from the University of Rochester discovered that while the brain sleeps it clears out harmful toxins, a process that may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. According to the NPR interview, during sleep, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain increases dramatically, washing away harmful waste proteins that build up between brain cells during waking hours. Professor of Neurosurgery and an author of the study, Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, said, "It's like a dishwasher."

The waste proteins getting washed away during sleep are toxic to brain cells, which could explain why we don't think clearly after a sleepless night and why a prolonged lack of sleep can actually kill an animal or a person. The results appear to offer the best explanation yet of why animals and people need sleep.

“Thus, the restorative function of sleep may be a consequence of the enhanced removal of potentially neurotoxic waste products that accumulate in the awake central nervous system.” Lulu Xie, et al.

Alzheimer's Disease researchers say this research could help explain a number of recent findings related to sleep and AD. Dr. Randall Bateman, Professor of Neurology  at Washington University said this about beta amyloid, which is the main component of certain deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

"Beta amyloid concentrations continue to increase while a person is awake. And then after people go to sleep that concentration of beta amyloid decreases. This report provides a beautiful mechanism by which this may be happening.”

The team of scientists discovered the cleaning process while studying the brains of sleeping mice. Dr. Nedergaard said that during sleep the system that circulates cerebrospinal fluid through the brain and nervous system was "pumping fluid into the brain and removing fluid from the brain in a very rapid pace.” When the mice went to sleep, their brain cells actually shrank, making it easier for the fluid to circulate. But when the mice woke up, their brain cells enlarged again and the flow between cells slowed dramatically.

The researchers speculated that the reason the brain doesn’t do this cleaning all the time is because the cleaning uses a lot of energy, and it’s probably not possible for the brain both to clean itself and at the same time be aware of its surroundings, talk, move, and so on. So getting enough sleep—which we already know is vital for our physical and mental health—may be one key to preventing Alzheimer’s Disease as you age.

But what does all this have to do with yoga? Well, if you’re having trouble sleeping, yoga can help with that. Because insomnia is so often related to stress, yoga’s stress management techniques can help you quiet your nervous system so you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more soundly. For  information on how yoga can help you sleep better, see Yoga for Insomnia, Part 1, Day to Night: Yoga for Better Sleep, and Five Tips for Better Sleep. The Supported Inverted poses I wrote about recently (see All About Supported Inversions) are poses that I've found particularly helpful.

We’re so careful here at YFHA not to make any false promises and of course as this research is new, we can’t promise that getting enough sleep will definitely make a difference for you. But encouraging you to get a good night’s sleep can’t be harmful in any way, and if this gives you more motivation to practice stress management techniques, which are helpful for preventing a whole host of health problems, we’re doing you a favor. And if you'd like to add an additional practices to encourage brain health, start meditating on a regular basis (see Meditation and Brain Strength) and keep practicing your yoga asanas (see Yoga for Brain Health?). 

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect

Read More

Yoga for Better Sleep: Workshop and Tip

by Nina

Cairns by Nina Zolotow

I don’t teach workshops very often, but when I do, I focus on topics I really care about. My upcoming workshop on Saturday April 6th, 2-5pm at Brentwood Yoga Center focuses on one of my favorite topics: Yoga for Better Sleep. (to register, go to http://brentwoodyogacenter.com/workshops ) This is topic is dear to my heart because, well, it’s something I have to practice myself on a regular basis. Even small amounts of stress can disrupt my ability to fall sleep or to sleep soundly (interestingly, that’s something that seems to run in my family). Fortunately I’ve learned a number of techniques both for reducing my stress levels in general and for lulling myself to sleep while I’m in bed. And my feeling about teaching these techniques to others is that if I’ve helped just one person to achieve better sleep, than I’ve been successful!

I’ve written about this topic in general on the blog (see Day to Night and Yoga for Insomnia, Part 1). But the other night as I was lying in bed not sleeping, I realized that if I had to choose one single technique above all the others, it would be the breath practice I turn to almost automatically these days. And I decided then and there I wanted to share it with you all.

For most of us, what is happening when we’re lying in bed sleepless is that our minds are churning, thinking about the day’s events, ruminating about the past or worrying about the future, which stimulates our nervous systems. Turning our minds to a neutral focus, such as the breath, allows us to let go—at least temporarily—of those disturbing thoughts and helps calm the nervous system, switching on the relaxation response. And in my case, after 10 to 20 minutes of breath practice, I almost always end up drifting back to sleep.

Start by practicing simple breath awareness. This means focusing your mind on how your breath moves in your body, perhaps on how your belly rises and falls with your breath or, if it’s easier, how your chest moves with your breath. You could also focus on the more subtle sensations, such as the feeling of your breath moving in and out or your nostrils or, if you prefer, the sound your breath makes in your body. I actually like to lie on my back with my hands on my  belly because that makes it very easy for me to feel the movement in my abdomen.

For some of you, this simple practice may be enough. For myself, I like to use a more structured technique of extending my exhalation. Extending the exhalation in particular helps calm the nervous system (your heart rate slows on your exhalation) but I also find it engages my mind more completely. To do this, when you reach the end of your exhalation, simply add a beat or two—without straining—before turning on to your inhalation. Keep it relaxed and easy. And if the practice aggravates you, simply return to your natural breath.

If at any point you realize your attention has wandered from your breath (it will, of course), simply—and without self judgment—bring your attention back to your breath.

I confess that, in addition to all that, I also count my breaths. I got the idea from Baxter who showed me a technique using your fingers that he learned when he studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Madiram. This really helps me keep my mind engaged, and when I start to really lose track of where I am, that’s when I’m starting to fall asleep. However, this may be, well, too anal for you. (Hey, I’m just trying to be honest about what I really do—and what really works for me.) Basically, you need to experiment and see what works for you. Maybe you’ll even come up with new variations. If whatever you are doing is working, then it’s right for you.

You can do this breath practice every night when you get into bed or just on those nights when you start to realize—it sometimes takes a while catch yourself—that you’re having trouble falling asleep or are wide awake in the middle of the night.

I have more tricks up my sleeve and hope to share them with some of you in person at my April workshop, but in the meantime, if I help just one person.....

Read More

Day to Night: Yoga for Better Sleep

by Nina

Buddha in My Garden by Michele Macartney-Filgate

This morning I was talking with Bonnie Maeda, RN and Shari Ser, PT about the workshop we’re going to be teaching on yoga for sleep disorders at the Berkeley Yoga Room, Saturday, June 16, from 2 to 5 (see here for registration information). When I described my 24-hour approach to practicing yoga for better sleep to them, they were very enthusiastic. So I'm going to share it with you today.

Yes, yoga in general is relaxing, but some poses are more relaxing than others while some poses and practices are actually quite stimulating. So if you’re having trouble sleeping, I recommend you plan out your day regarding which poses you do when. I mean, if you’ve been suffering from insomnia, you wouldn’t drink a double espresso right before bed, would you? Standing poses, backbends and vinyasa flows can be almost as stimulating, so a strong practice including those poses done just before bed can keep you awake (trust me, I've tried it). But those poses help keep you strong and flexible, as well as reducing stress by releasing physical tension from your body, so you wouldn’t want to eliminate those poses entirely from your practice. On the other hand, there are relaxing practices you can do right in bed either before sleep or in the middle of the night that will help you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply. Here's how to plan out your day:

Day Time
Getting exercise is important for improving your sleep. So during the day, walk, run, swim, cycle, or do a strong yoga practice that includes forceful, stimulating poses, including standing poses, backbends, twists, and/or Sun Salutations and vinyasa flows.

Early Evening
After work or in the early evening, if you’re up for practicing, it’s best to do poses and practices that calm your nervous system, such as forward bends, inverted poses, and restorative yoga. Meditation, Relaxation pose with a mental focus, and yoga nidra (yogic sleep) are also good stress reducers. If you want to use a guided relaxation, see the Relaxation Tracks tab on at the top of the blog. From this point on it’s best to avoid the simulating poses and practices.

Before Bed
Turn off the TV early or put your book down, and take some time before you get into bed for conscious relaxation. Switching your nervous system from fight or flight to relaxation mode before getting into bed will help you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply. Supported inverted poses, such as Legs Up the Wall pose, Easy Inverted pose (see here), and Bridge pose with straight legs, will calm your nervous system. Some people also like to meditate or practice seated breath awareness before getting into bed.

In Bed
For people suffering from insomnia, just getting into bed can trigger a new bout of stress. If you find your thoughts are racing and you are worrying about falling asleep, you can practice a body scan (Relaxation pose with a mental focus), where you conscious relax various parts of your body. Or you can work with your breath, either practicing general breath awareness or any form of pranayama that lengthens or emphasizes the exhalation. Practicing conscious relaxation before falling asleep will help you sleep more deeply. See my post Yoga You Can Do In Bed for more information on yoga you can do before falling asleep.

In the Middle of the Night
All of us insomniacs are familiar with the terrible moment in the middle of the night when we realize we’re wide awake and the possibility of returning to sleep feels hopeless. However, the worst thing you can do is lie there worrying about not falling back to sleep. Instead, return to the same practices you do before falling asleep, such as Relaxation pose with a mental focus, breath awareness, or extending the exhalation. Although it takes some discipline to focus on these practices (for some reason, worrying seems so much easier in the middle of the night), many people, including me, find that 10 to 20 minutes of practice allows us to fall back into a deep sleep.

Some practitioners I know do soothing poses in the middle of the night, such as supported forward beds (in bed with pillows) or even Legs Up the Wall pose. You can try this if seems appealing; just make sure you move slowly, stay warm, and keep the lights as low as possible. You could even play a guided relaxation track at this point. Again, see my post Yoga You Can Do In Bed for more information.

Morning
Good morning! I hope you slept better last night. Now, if you feel like gently stimulating your nervous system by moving with your breath, doing a few standing poses, or even doing a full yoga practice, go for it!

Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook 

Read More

Three Happy Endings: Yoga for Better Sleep

by Nina

My friend Liz has a chronic disease but she takes great care of herself. She eats a healthy diet, and, when she is up to it, takes long walks and yoga classes at her neighborhood yoga studio. Because she has sleep problems, she recently decided to start practicing yoga at home as well, after she comes home at night. “It works!” she told me happily. “I sleep like a baby after doing yoga.” Today I decided to ask her what kind of yoga she does, and she said something very interesting. “It depends on what time I get home.” She went on to explain, “If I get home around 6:00 pm, I’ll do some flow yoga, with poses like Warrior 1, 2, and 3, and Half Moon pose. But If can’t practice until 8:00 or 8:30, that’s counter productive.”

“That makes perfect sense to me,” I said.

“Really?” Liz looked intrigued.

“Yes,” I explained. “Standing poses and vinyasa yoga are stimulating to your nervous system. When you stand up, your blood pressure has to rise to keep the blood pumping up toward your head. So if you do stimulating poses too close to bedtime, it’s going to be hard to go to sleep soon afterward. It’s like drinking a cup of coffee too late in the day.” Then I asked her what kind of poses she does if she can’t practice until 8:00 or 8:30.”

“Legs Up the Wall pose,” she replied. “And Shoulderstand and Plow pose. I also like to do that restorative yoga pose where you lie back on a bolster with your knees apart and the soles of your feet touching.”

“That’s perfect!” I said. “The first three are inverted poses, which automatically trigger the relaxation response. These are exactly the poses that are best to do right before bed to help you to sleep better. And that restorative pose is Supta Baddha Konasana or Reclined Bound Angle Pose, and it’s one of the most soothing and relaxing restorative poses.”

Flowers in the Shade by Brad Gibson

I went on to tell her that this is exactly the way I teach yoga for better sleep. It is important to get exercise during the day, but any vigorous exercise, including yoga, too late in the day can be over stimulating. So if you are having sleep problems, this is something you should consider when you are planning your day. Do your vigorous exercise, including standing poses, flow yoga, and backbends, earlier in the day. And try doing inverted poses, forward bends, or restorative yoga in the evening before bed to see if they help improve your sleep.

There’s no hard and fast rules, however. Liz discovered the best times for herself to practice vigorous versus relaxing yoga by experimenting. And the only way for you to find out the best times for yourself is by going through a similar process. However, I can tell you that if you take a nighttime yoga class and have difficulty sleeping afterward, when you come home, instead of getting right into bed, try practicing your favorite calming pose first and see if that helps.

Liz improving her sleep by practicing yoga at home is just one of the happy endings to this story. The second happy ending is that she made her home yoga practice her own by experimenting, observing, and coming up with her own yoga solutions that suited her particular needs and concerns. That, I told her, is advanced practice.

The third happy ending is that I asked Liz for her permission to write about her today, and she said yes. Thanks, Liz!

Read More

Conscious Relaxation vs. Sleep

by Nina

Naushon Meadow by Brad Gibson

Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night with your heart racing, short of breath, mouth dry, and thoughts racing? Maybe you just had a nightmare. Or maybe your mind was spinning, worrying about some difficulty at home or at work, or even about a disaster somewhere else in the world. Then you know intuitively that sleep is not necessarily “relaxing.”

Dr. Herbert Bensen, who originally discovered the relaxation response (see here for information), tells us that sleep, although necessary for our physical and emotional wellbeing, is a very different state than conscious relaxation. He identified the following four basic differences:

1. Dreams can actually cause stress through nightmares and anxiety dreams. During conscious relaxation on the other hand, your production of stress hormones gradually decreases, and other symptoms of stress, including both the physical and emotional sensations, subside. 
2. During conscious relaxation, oxygen consumption decreases 10 to 20 percent during the first 3 minutes of practice while during sleep it decreases only 8 percent after about 4 or 5 hours. This reduced need for oxygen reflects the fact that during conscious relaxation your body is in rest and digest mode, not in stress mode where you are preparing to run or fight. 
3. During conscious relaxation, there is a marked decrease in blood lactate, a substance associated with anxiety attacks. Blood-lactate levels fall rapidly within the first 10 minutes of conscious relaxation, while sleep has no effect on blood-lactate levels. As you relax, your thoughts stop racing and your mind quiets while your body is resting and digesting. 
4. Alpha waves (slow brain waves) increase in intensity and frequency during conscious relaxation, but are not commonly found during sleep. Dr. Roger Cole, a sleep researcher and long-time yoga teacher, says that during rest or meditation our brain waves may slow to the alpha rhythm (8-12 cycles per second), during which we remain quietly aware of ourselves and our surroundings, without a lot of self-directed mental processing. Sometimes they may slow even further to the theta rhythm (4-7 cycles per second), during which we may get a “floating” feeling, dreamlike mental imagery, and withdrawal from the outside world. There is still much that is unknown about these unique states, but what is known is that regular practice of conscious relaxation helps foster ongoing feelings of serenity, contentment, and even happiness. 

Now you can see why taking a nap or sleeping in on Sunday morning just won’t produce the same results as yoga. On the other hand, practicing conscious relaxation on a regular basis will not only provide you with immediate relief, it can also reduce your overall stress levels, so you can maintain your health and face the difficulties that life presents with greater equanimity. To be honest, I don’t practice conscious relaxation just because I’m hoping that it will reduce my chances of getting heart disease or having a stroke in the future (although that’s definitely a bonus), I do it because it makes my life better, right here, right now.

Furthermore, as anti-intuitive as it might seem, relaxing while you are awake can even help you sleep better. When you are under great stress, it is difficult to fall asleep. Or, if you can fall asleep (because you are so tired) you often can’t stay asleep. To sleep well, your nervous system needs to be relaxed (if you are in a state of stress, you will be wakeful and alert, watching for danger) and your mind needs to be quiet (if your thoughts are racing, reviewing the past or worrying about the future, you will have a hard time settling down). But conscious relaxation, especially practiced before bed, will relax your nervous system and quiet your mind. And any of the methods I listed in my Monday post will produce these results. See here for further information.

Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook

Read More