HOT YOGA & DEEP SLEEP

What are the benefits of deep sleep?

Glucose metabolism in the brain increases during deep sleep, supporting short-term and long-term memory and overall learning.

Deep sleep is also when the pituitary gland secretes important hormones, like human growth hormone, leading to growth and development of the body.

Other benefits of deep sleep include:

• energy restoration

• cell regeneration

• increasing blood supply to muscles

• promoting growth and repair of tissues and bones

• strengthening the immune system

What happens when we don’t get enough deep sleep?

Deep sleep is responsible for helping process the information you encounter each day. Without enough, the brain can’t convert this information to your memory.

Not getting quality sleep is also linked to conditions, like:

• Alzheimer’s disease

• heart disease

• diabetes

• stroke

How do you know how much you’re getting?

If you wake up feeling exhausted, it may be a sign that you’re not getting enough deep sleep.

Tips for better sleep

Heat promotes sleep waves. For example, taking a hot bath or spending time in a sauna before bed or doing hot yoga, hot yin or hot restorative yoga help improve our sleep quality.

Getting enough sleep in general may also increase your deep sleep.

Here’s some tips:

• Put yourself on a bedtime schedule where you go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day.

• Practice Hot Yin Yoga or Hot Restorative Yoga is a good activity at the end of the day, just avoid working out in the hours before bedtime.

• Stick to water and fresh juices before bed. Caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine may make it harder to get a good night’s rest.

• Create a bedtime routine to unwind from the day, like reading a book or taking a bath.

• Banish bright lights and loud noises from your bedroom. Too much TV or computer time may make it hard to relax.

• Don’t lay in bed tossing and turning. Consider getting up and doing a light activity, like reading, until you’re tired again.

Hot Yin or Hot Yin&Yang is a gentle and restorative way to wind down our day. Researches show that over 55% of people who did hot yoga found that it helped them get better sleep. Over 85% said hot yoga helped reduce stress. You can use supportive props like bolsters and blocks to make poses comfortable so that you can stay in the pose for longer and continue to breathe.

Our breath is key to be able to relax in the hot yoga classes. Useing a gentle and calming yoga breath technique called Ujjayi Breath, also known as Ocean Breath or Victorious Breath. Inhale deeply through the nose. With your mouth closed, exhale through your nose while constricting the back of your throat as if you are saying "ha" but keep your mouth closed. This exhalation should sound like the waves of the ocean. Use this slow and steady breath to soothe yourself in each of these poses.

Practice these yoga poses in the warm or hot environment before bedtime late in the evening and stay in them about 3 to 5 minutes each. This Hot Yin practice can improve our sleeping.

Use your Ocean Breath in each pose, with the exception of Corpse Pose, where your breath returns to normal.

These following yoga poses help us to sleep better at the end of the day. The more that you practice these poses regularly, the more you likely you can get a good night’s rest.