Still awake?

Here's what you can do to help yourself :



How many times have we counted sheep to make us fall asleep while hearing dogs on the streets howling in the middle of the night? How many times did we actually succeed after counting 108 sheep jumping over the white wooden fence? 

That famous 'stay away from blue-light' theory also betrayed you.
You tried going to bed an hour after keeping your phone, laptop, pc away from you, so as to let sleep take over your eyes instead of the blue-light interrupting the process. You feel helpless and powerless as you find yourself existing at the mercy of sleep every single time unless you are dead tired. You wish you would be one of them who could sleep throughout the night, like your family, friends, neighbours and others you know, without any issue. 

Well, if you are willing to invest a little bit of time, and put a little bit of effort with patience, you can easily invite sleep to conclude your day. Just like you'd call a friend over phone and ask her to come over. The difference is just this. Your friend may refuse your invitation, whereas, sleep would never do such a thing!

Here, we have shared a simple starter technique for you to try and let sleep slip in:



       Note:

  1. While doing the following exercises, turn off the lights. If you have someone in your room who is in need of light, you can use any piece of cloth or an eye mask to cover your eyes.

  1. There is no hard and fast rule as to the exact number of times you need to breathe, in order to relax your mind and body systems, as we are all unique in our own little ways. You may modify the breathing intensity according to your capability, but, without changing the framework of the technique. For some, this technique may do wonders at one go, while for others, it may take a few days of practice during bedtime. 




       Step 1: 

  • Well, for this, you need to lie flat on your bed, in the supine position. Make sure your spine is lying flat.
  • Spread out your hands and legs just a little, as it helps your mind and body to relax, much like the 'Corpse Pose' in yoga, or 'Shavasana'. 

  • Close your eyes. 



      Step 2: 

  • As you settle in this position, take three long breaths; inhale fully and exhale fully, thrice.


       Step 3:

  • Now, inhale deep.. for a mental count of four ( 1.. 2.. 3.. 4). Observe, how with inhalation, your lungs inflate with air. Hold or pause your breath for a mental count of seven (1..2..3..4..5..6..7), and then exhale through your mouth for a count of eight (1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8). With exhalation, feel your mind and body releasing all the pressure and tension it had stored within till now. 
       
  • Relax deeper and deeper with each exhalation, keeping a mild focus on your breath.

  •  Repeat this step for five times or even more, until you feel all the stress and tension leaving your system, and you are completely calm and cool.     

         Step 4: 

  • There will come a time when you'd want to slow down your breathing intensity, or even, not breathe at all for 3 to 4 seconds. When this happens, you may then breathe in whichever way you want to ( slow and short breaths or with gaps or pauses in between two breath cycles, etc. ). Make sure you don't keep your breath on hold forcefully to see how long you can go, as this may build up new tension.

    Now in this state, loosen every part of your body. Shift your focus to each body part that is being relaxed. Start gradually by relaxing the muscles of your toes, then your feet, ankles, calf muscles, knees and so on along the spine, till you reach your nose, ears, eyes, forehead and it's back side, finally reaching the top of the head. Repeat the relaxation technique over and over as long as you can.

Gradually, you'll find yourself drifting off to sleep.

You may repeat the whole process from step one if you've been interrupted or disturbed mid-way.



But how is this breathing technique connected to sleep?

The first and foremost signal that your body waves to your brain as you lie down in supine position; with your spine lying even and flat on your bed is, "It's time to rest."

By deep breathing, the lack of oxygen in the blood is met, and as a result, the heart rate reduces to as low as 60 per minute, and sometimes even 40! 

As the oxygenated blood reaches the oxygen-deprived brain, the restlessness in your body and mind is put to rest. You feel calm and poised. Headaches reduce. 
The quality of your sleep increases and with daily practice, and nightmares also reduce by a slight percentage (there are other techniques and tricks that focus on reducing and eliminating nightmares as well). 

So why wait?

Try this tonight, and experience what a refreshing sleep feels like!