Prescribing yoga before medication for sleep disorders?
As we age, sleep changes and may become more elusive. And sleep is mission critical for our mind/body health and longevity. Personally, as I have gotten older, I’ve kind of become obsessed with sleep, wanting to make sure that I get enough that includes adequate REM and deep sleep. I recently started to wear the Oura Ring to track my sleep and learn what I might be able to change in order to improve my sleep scores. I also read any new research that comes along related to sleep, including the benefits of it, the impact of the lack of it, and what life style changes support better sleep. So, I always get excited to see how such research continues to validate my own personal experience as it relates to the connection between yoga and sleep.
When working with clients and I learn about their struggles with their mental health, I explore their experiences with sleep, including perceptions and barriers to quality sleep. It is important to know that our sleep patterns do change as we age and the days of sleeping “soundly” for 8 hours as a child are behind us. Our circadian rhythms shift, leading to feeling sleepy earlier and going to bed earlier. It can also result in more difficulty staying asleep through the night. Hormonal changes, such as a reduction in melatonin that regulates sleep, can impact our sleep. Data shows that there is a change in our sleep architecture as we age, including spending less time in deep, restorative sleep stages and sleep becomes lighter and more fragmented, with more awakenings throughout the night. Knowing this information is important so we don’t develop thoughts like “I had a lousy night sleep.” just because we woke up several times throughout the night. These thoughts, when repeated, tend to become beliefs that incorrectly inform your mind/body health status. The best indicator of a good night’s sleep is not based upon how many hours of “solid sleep” you get, but instead waking up feeling refreshed and ready to start your day and not relying on caffeine to stay awake during the day.
Dealing with medical conditions, such as pain and urinary problems, can impact our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep as well. If you are taking prescription medications for chronic medical conditions, these medications can impact the quality of your sleep too. Changes in our activity level, diet and social habits as we move into the later stages of life can also impact our sleep. So, when we take a look at the broader view of sleep, we might feel like there is not a lot we can do to improve our sleep. But wait! Knowing that lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise, and social interactions, have up to an 80% impact on our health and longevity, we do have the opportunity to make such changes.
The benefits of a yoga practice at any age has been shown to have many positive impacts on our mind/body health. And, as the number of people aged 65 and older increases, there are more yoga teachers and classes focused on this population, making gentle yoga and chair yoga options more available than ever. So no need to twist yourself into a pretzel or flip upside down to integrate the practice into your life and reap the benefits from it.
Research continues to show the many benefits of yoga. Specifically, how it improves sleep quality in the elderly, including improvements in sleep disturbance, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and overall sleep quality. If you would like to read more on the recent research into the beneficial effects of yoga on sleep quality in the elderly, click the link below:
