Working out before bed can help you sleep if you do it right as some workouts such as cardio exercises will raise your heart rate and getting your blood pumping is not ideal for bedtime.

A more gentle workout can prepare your body for sleep by cooling you down and loosening your muscles. 

The best workouts to do before bed include yoga, stretching, and relaxation exercises. Here are some workouts you can do before sleep.

Standing Forward Fold:

Standing forward fold is a gentle stretching pose common to Hatha and restorative yoga. These types of yoga encourage you to focus on your breath as you stretch, creating a meditative state that promotes relaxation and realignment of the skeletal muscles as these yoga practices improved sleep quality and daytime functioning while reducing mid-night awakenings.

Instructions:

• Stand tall with your feet about hip-width apart and your hands by your sides. Relax your shoulders.
• Using your abdominal muscles, slowly bend forward. Visualize bending one vertebra at a time.
• Keep bending forward until you reach a comfortable stretch. Then, let your arms and head dangle toward the floor, breathing deeply and slowly, in and out. If you can, touch the ground with your palms or fingers and hold for a few seconds.
• Keeping your abdominal muscles engaged, reverse and roll back up, again one vertebra at a time.

 

Planks:

Planks can improve your posture and spinal alignment by strengthening your core and the rest of your body. Planks are part mental, part physical. Performing this challenging stretch before bed can help you unwind by giving your mind a single thing to focus on.

Instructions:

• Get into a plank position. This can resemble the “up” position of a push-up, with your hands on the floor shoulder-width apart, and your legs and toes in a straight line behind you. For more intensity, you can lower onto your forearms.
• Roll your shoulders down and back, and maintain a straight line from your head to your heels. Activate your core and your glutes to prevent sagging and relieve stress from the lower back.
• Keep your breathing steady and hold for 30 to 60 seconds.

Glute Bridge:

Glute bridge is an Iyengar yoga pose that activates your core, back, and gluteal muscles in a low-impact way. Iyengar yoga has been shown to improve sleep quality and mood while reducing insomnia, anxiety, stress, and blood pressure,

Instructions:

• Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your arms by your side. Then, bend your knees until you can just barely touch your heels with the tips of your fingers.
• Inhale and slowly lift your hips until your knees form a straight line with your glutes.
• Pause at the top, and then slowly dip back down, keeping your hips an inch or so above the floor. Complete 15 to 30 repetitions.

Bird Dog:

The bird dog stretch strengthens your core and your back, promoting proper spinal alignment and a more comfortable night’s sleep.

Instructions:

• Form a tabletop position, with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees directly below your hips. Your back should be straight.
• Roll your shoulders down and back, and activate your core.
• Slowly straighten your right arm and left leg at the same time, while keeping your back straight and hips square to the floor. Once your leg and arm reach a parallel position to the floor, stop and hold for a few seconds.
• Slowly return to the tabletop position.
• Repeat with the opposite leg and arm (left arm and right leg). Repeat for 10 sets.

For more amazing workouts to do before bed, check out sleep.org

Published on HOLR Magazine.