Good Morning America recently shared some tips from their senior health and medical editor about how to get a good night’s sleep. The advice started out rather typically – establish a bedtime routine and try to sleep in a dark and quiet room. When we get to page 2 though, we see something that may be helpful.
Many insomniacs lie awake simply because they keep checking whether they’re awake or asleep – one way of breaking this cycle is through relaxation exercises.
The article recommends progressive muscle relaxation whereby you relax one muscle at a time until your entire body is relaxed. You start with the face and contract then relax the muscles for a couple of seconds. You repeat this a few times before moving onto other muscle groups, usually in the following order: jaw and neck, upper arms, lower arms, fingers, chest, abdomen, buttocks, thighs, calves and feet. The entire process should take around 45 minutes.
We’d be interested to know if any readers have tried a technique similar to this and whether it worked for them. The theory behind it seems sound to us – but we know that insomnia is rarely cured so easily.
Our comments form is below, as usual.
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I’ve always done it the other way around, starting with the feet. Relaxing my head muscles is always the hardest for me. Problem is, I get just so far in before I get an adrenalin spike and get back to where I started. Repetitions never seemed to help, darn it, just make me more irritable.
Thanks for your comment – have you tried any other relaxation exercises or techniques that were more effective?
I regret I haven’t found one that works, or works consistently.
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