Improve your quality of sleep
Yoga for Rest.
…and to ensure you don't throw an almond latte at Karen from HR in reactivity!
Yoga is a fantastic form of exercise, and if you are looking to strengthen your muscles, improve your flexibility and wow people at parties with your headstands you should keep showing up to class, as these three outcomes are inevitable. And yes, your short, lunch break meditations are no doubt the only reason you haven’t thrown an almond latte at Karen from HR.
But physical prowess and inner calm are not the only benefits of regular yoga and meditation, you can also use these practices to help with rest and recovery.
Perhaps you love lifting weights and are looking to smash your PBs. Or, you may have recently injured yourself and are undertaking physical therapy to regain your range of movement. Whatever the reason, you should look at incorporating yoga and meditation into your schedule in order to aid rest and recovery.
Yoga and meditation can:
- Increase quality of sleep
- Aid in pain management
- Lengthen muscles for mobility
- Improve blood flow
- Reduce stress
- Strengthen mindset
Meditation practices are proven to help stress management, and regularly using visualization as a tool in meditation can help in recovering mobility after an accident.
Yoga and meditation can increase the quality of sleep – by up to 60%.
Sleep is crucial for recovery, and both yoga and meditation can increase the quality of sleep – by up to 60%. A good night’s sleep doesn’t just mean that you aren’t immediately reaching for a cup of coffee when you get out of bed, deep sleep actually causes hormonal changes that can relax the muscles and fight inflammation. Cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, decreases during a restful sleep- and this allows the body to produce the human growth hormone (HGH), which is necessary to repair muscles.
You should incorporate yoga and meditation into your routine if you find that you are:
- Stressed
- Participating in regular high impact activities
- Recovering from an injury
- Looking to lose weight, or
- Looking to increase muscle mass
Choose restorative poses, and focus on your breathing, and you’ll find that you not only fall asleep faster and have a more restful night’s sleep, you’ll also be fresh and ready for a life’s challenges.
