Here at the studio we really focus on rest. It’s a huge part of our lives that many of us take for granted or are even unable to do: sleep. For years many of us have been taught to hustle harder, do more, fit it all in, and I don’t know about you but the phrase “sleep when you’re dead” comes to my mind.
You don’t earn rest. You need it. Many times the only way we can actually get the results we are looking for is to do just that - LAY THE F*CK DOWN ALREADY.
Fun fact: the amount of sleep your body needs is called “sleep debt” and unlike Silicon Valley Bank, there aren’t bailouts or takeovers.
So what does sleep actually do for you, other than “waste time because you have 100 things in your to-do list,” here are 5 functions that can occur while you sleep:
- Moves your short term memory over to long term memory. This is brain processing, memory formation, and consolidation. I have personal experience with this one, tracking my sleep was actually one of the key factors in learning about my PTSD diagnosis.
- Energy conservation
- Tissue healing and growth
- Immune system function
- Creating new neural connections
If you aren’t getting good sleep there are a number of reasons this coud be happening, your body is complex and each individual differs from one another but there a few things you can do to help boost your sleep (along with yoga at YES, obviously….)
- Eat a whole-food nutrient dense well balanced diet.
- Use blackout curtains or drapes for your bedroom windows.
- Create a calm nighttime routine. Hot tip: if you’ve ever had a baby, it’s that whole thing all over again, but for you. Get some lavender spray, turn your phone off, do a sleep meditation, I mean why waste the white noise on the baby!?!?
- Try to go to bed at or around the same time each night.
- Wash your face before bed - this one is a great way to start to habit stack with your bedtime routine.
- Don’t just turn your phone off, but put it in another room if possible.
If you really struggle with sleep creating a practice of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) can actually help mimic one of the stages of sleep called deep sleep. While this practice does not and should not replace your current sleep routine, if you struggle with getting enough hours of sleep at night or you have a super stressful day practicing NSDR can be extremely beneficial.
So, not sure what practices you can incorporate? For starters….The Friday Clear or yoga nidra. These practices have been proven to help with not only managing sleep problems, but also memory retention, enhancing neuroplasticity, mental clarity, and cognitive function.
So, grab your yoga mat and head to YES! Also, if you keep going through The YES Life, we have a perfect new workshop that won’t bail you out of sleep, but will hopefully get you to relax.