We often hear that yoga can have a positive impact on sleep, but we rarely think of how sleep can impact yoga. As we’ve been barreling toward the December holidays, I had to do what yoga has taught me to do best: stop and notice.

My wise therapist

It seems that no matter how far in advance I prepare for this time of year, I’m always busy right up until the end. There are essays to grade, there’s panic-sewing to do, and I have boxes to package and ship. I know I’m not alone in this. The pressure is very real (even without holidays), and it impacts many of us during this Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day stretch.

My therapist used to tell me, “When we stress, we regress.” Stress a person out, and all their toxic habits and demons start waking up. I’ve been mindful of my eating disorder, and so far, I’m doing all the care that I need for that. I do have another tendency that crops up when I feel the fleetingness of time, and you might have this one too: I like to burn the candle at both ends.

The yoga canary

A few weeks ago, I noticed that it was getting harder for me to roll out my mat. I like to engage in the physical part of practice first thing in the morning. Each day, it became a little more onerous to take my mat from one room to another. I made excuses. “Ah, I need coffee first. My stomach is full, so I need to wait. I’ve got too much to do.” There were a few times I kicked the can so far down the road that it was practically in the next county before asana happened.

Even more alarming was that the practice I love started to feel… bad. My limbs were heavy and stiff. We love that energy we feel when things are going well with practice, but sometimes your yoga feels less than stellar, and that tells you something about yourself too.

If the asana limb of your practice becomes unusually difficult for you, it’s not a signal to heap judgment on yourself. This is your practice letting you know that you might need to turn to another limb of yoga to identify the source of imbalance. When I want to find out what’s knocked me off my axis, I head straight for the niyama, svadhyaya (self-study).

Serendipity and svadhyaya

Just as I noticed that something wasn’t quite right, I was also listening to an audiobook called Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, PhD. It was like some part of me already knew what the problem was. It didn’t take too much self-reflection to identify that my imbalance had to do with my sleep habits, which suffered from the aforementioned burning the candle at both ends.

We’re supposed to sleep for 1/3 of our lives because it is vital to our health. Proper sleep helps us regulate our emotions and encode memories. We’re less stressed, more efficient, and more resilient when we are well-rested. Sleep helps us heal. Poor quality of sleep contributes to cognitive decline and increases the production of stress hormones such as cortisol, which can wreak havoc on our system when produced in overabundance. Adult humans need 8 hours of sleep every night, and older adults still need that much sleep, despite what pop culture tells us. I didn’t make any of this up. It’s science, and if you’re interested, I’d highly recommend checking out this book. (There are 30 physical copies, 5 eBooks, and 2 audiobook copies in the San Diego Library system.)

Look in the mirror

Listening to the book made svadhyaya a lot easier. My sleep hygiene was mediocre at best. The great news is that once I was able to notice the problem, I was empowered to do something about it.

I can’t dispense medical advice because that’s outside my scope of practice as an RYT-200. I can encourage self-inquiry. Here are some things I considered when I was reflecting on sleep practices.

Is the mattress comfortable?
Is the room cool enough? A bedroom around 65 degrees enables the body temperature to drop to the appropriate level during rest.
Are you looking at screens before (or while you’re in) bed? Blue-light emitting devices disrupt your body’s ability to signal that it’s bedtime.
Is the room dark enough? Even a small amount of lux can disrupt the body’s ability to sleep.
Are you waking up and going to bed at the same time? There’s no such thing as making up a sleep deficit on the weekend. Regulating your rest times will improve your sleep.
Do you have a wind-down routine? I set an alarm for this. After the alarm, I have one hour to complete any pre-bedtime tasks, journal, read, meditate, etc. I switch to warmer lighting rather than bright overheads at this time. No screens allowed!
Do you give yourself eight hours of sleep opportunity? If it takes you 30 minutes to zonk out, you need to schedule 8.5 hours for sleep.
If you wake up at night, do you stay in bed? The book recommends that if you’re awakened and have trouble falling back to sleep, it’s better to do a quiet activity in another room until the urge to sleep returns. This minimizes anxiety and trains your mind to associate the bed with sleep instead of stress.
Do you have a clock visible from where you sleep? If so, it’s recommended to move it so that you focus less on what time it is and more on catching those ZZ’s.

Big changes from small adjustments

I made a few of the changes based on the self-reflection questions above, and it has impacted my yoga practice. I’ve noticed that I have the motivation to get right to it, which is how I feel when my system is in balance. When I have sufficient rest, my mind wanders less, which makes it easier for me to focus on my movement and meditate. Other than the mattress that I broke down and bought (long overdue, my friends!), the other items cost me nothing to implement. I’m actually more productive even though I’m awake for less time. Although productivity isn’t the end all be all, my yoga makes me cognizant of my time on earth. I must use all of it well.

I understand that some folks work the night shift. Some people have infants that wake them up. Maybe you have a health condition such as long COVID or sleep apnea, and this impacts your sleep. It may not be possible for everyone to do all these things at once. You may be in a season in your life where it’s just not happening, but maybe one or two things on the list are within your grasp. Maybe you try everything you can, and you still feel sluggish. If that’s the case, it might be time to talk to medical professionals (physical-health and/or mental-health-focused depending on your needs) so that they can provide you with personalized, science-backed assistance to help you sleep.

Rest well, my friends

After using yoga to explore my own behaviors and mindsets around sleep, I can say for sure that this is a consequential endeavor. When things aren’t adding up in practice, sometimes the explanation is so simple that it’s easy to miss. I encourage you to take care of yourself with even more tenderness when you’re under stress.

Breathe well, be well, and if at all possible, sleep well. That’s my wish for you.