The evening battle against sheeplessness
Do you know it too? At the end of the day, you’re exhausted and just let yourself fall into your bed. Actually, you should fall asleep immediately because of the effort, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. You torture yourself to sleep for hours and you are stressed. Often your limbs already feel heavy, but you are kept awake by your own thoughts. The main reasons for sleep disorders are psychological, such as anxiety and depression. Imagine that now it’s finally over.
Relaxed scene instead of counting sheep
A study at Oxford University found that when we count sheep or think about nothing in particular, we take longer to fall asleep than when we imagine a relaxing scene. Such relaxing scenes can be, for example, the mountains, a beach or a stream. To imagine them easily, you can use a simple trick. Music helps you visualize the places and experience them more intensely. Therefore, we recommend music to gently fall asleep.
90-minute sleep-in session
Now let’s put your newfound knowledge into action, and for that we’ll first show you how. There is a wide selection of music to fall asleep to on the internet. Ideally, this should not last longer than 90 minutes, because we are only in the sleep phase during these first 90 minutes. After that, we are in a different sleep phase and should not be disturbed by anything. Important: You should make sure that the medium through which you play the music really only plays the music to fall asleep and does not play another song. It could be very uncomfortable otherwise. A sudden party song could disturb your sleep and cause stress levels to rise. You don’t wish that on anyone.
Benefits of restful sleep
“Restful and adequate sleep is important,” grandma used to say back in the day. Yet many neglect this advice. “Time is money” counter some, but the assumption that you can save on sleep is wrong. There is no exact calculation of sleep time. However, the rule of thumb says that you will feel fit again after 7-8 hours.
More energy the next day
Once you have found the right rhythm with music to fall asleep, you start the day with energy gathered during sleep. As your body regenerates while you sleep, every fiber of your body feels ready to do great things every day.
Healthier with music to fall asleep to
While you sleep, your body is by no means at a standstill. Our nightly sleep phase is used by the body to renew cells, regulate metabolism, rebuild the immune system and process information in the brain. So inside you, the machinery is running at full speed. Imagine that this work step is missing in your body.
Younger by listening to music to fall asleep
Yes, you read that right. It is also possible to look younger through restful sleep. While it’s hard to push our birth date to a later date, we can make those around us believe that we are younger. Sleep helps us maintain our performance, which means it also inhibits the aging process. In addition, balanced sleep improves the appearance of the skin. This puts an end to wrinkles and skin blemishes.
Yoga Nidra as a supplement to sleep
During the research for this article, we came across the topic of “Yoga Nidra”, among other things, and in this context we were able to win over Nicola Rohner, one of the leading experts in this field, for a short statement. In her commentary she refers to the question: “Is Yoga Nidra a supplement to sleep?”
Yoga Nidra is a wonderful relaxation exercise and literally means “the conscious sleep”. The state of Yoga Nidra is significantly more restorative than deep sleep. The feeling in Yoga Nidra is the same feeling we have just before falling asleep. We consciously extend this phase further in the exercise. In the state of Yoga Nidra we are very receptive and close to our subconscious. This explains that we can dissolve deep-seated tensions on a physical, mental and emotional level completely unstrained. The phase before falling asleep is therefore not used as torture, as it is for many people, but constructively.
Other people who fall asleep quickly often go to bed totally exhausted and immediately fall into a deep sleep, which is also not healthy. This is because they miss out on valuable phases in which the body and mind prepare for deep sleep.
To come back to your question, Yoga Nidra is a supplement to sleep in that respect, yes. This exercise can make it easier to fall asleep and, most importantly, improve the quality of sleep. We clean up before sleep and do not take all the “thought garbage” and especially our worries and fears with us into sleep.
Due to the very high regenerative effect Yoga Nidra can also replace up to 4 hours of sleep. This benefit, however, should not be the main criterion, especially in our performance society, because then sleep would possibly be rationalized away in the sense of a misunderstood time management.
Babies with problems falling asleep
Music to fall asleep is also good for babies and toddlers, especially for desperate parents who need to ensure their loved ones fall asleep gently before worrying about their own bedtime routine. This way, you can also pay close attention to how long the music is playing. When turning off the music, we recommend that you don’t enter the room again and rather use the remote control to turn off the medium through which the music is playing.
Bonus tip: An evening ritual also helps you fall asleep healthily. Integrate listening to music at night into your routine at the end of the day, along with brushing your teeth and writing in your diary. Soon you’ll automate this routine and a restful and healthy sleep is assured.