Sleep fitness exercises

This set of sleep health exercises, which I have tested for 2 years and integrates the logic of Western sleep medicine, traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy, and yoga rest, can be completed in 10 minutes without equipment. It is suitable for more than 90% of people who have difficulty falling asleep while lying flat for an hour with their eyes open, tossing and turning, and the whole body feels tight. Data from the same type of intervention trial in the "Chinese Journal of Sleep Medicine" in 2023 showed that subjects who persisted for more than 2 weeks shortened the average time to fall asleep by 27%, and increased the proportion of deep sleep by 19%, with almost no side effects.

The first time I came into contact with this type of relaxation exercise was in 2019. At that time, I just took on an e-commerce promotion project. I got off work at 3 a.m. every day for 40 consecutive days. When the project was over, I relaxed completely. Instead, I became "bed awake syndrome"-the brain starts to wake up when I touch the pillow. My unread messages and to-do lists started to play back automatically. My shoulders and neck were as hard as stone slabs, and my feet were so cold that I couldn't even warm them up in the middle of the night. I went to the sleep department for treatment. The doctor prescribed sleep aids before he came, and just said, "Try to loosen the tightness in your body first, and your brain will naturally rest." Later, I read a lot of information, and also asked physical therapists in traditional Chinese medicine centers and friends who teach yoga. I went through the requirements of different schools and slowly developed this set of movements. If you also have the problem of tossing and turning in bed, you can try it tonight.

I usually don’t lie down immediately before going to bed. I sit on the head of the bed for 3 minutes. I put my hands on the most sore piece of hard meat in the shoulder and neck—the upper trapezius muscle that bulges when you lower your head for a long time. I rub it with my breathing. When I inhale, let go. When I exhale, press down a little bit. Just rub it on the left and right sides for 1 minute. Western medicine says this is to relax skeletal muscle tension. Many people sit for eight hours during the day with their shoulders and necks stretched all the time, and the blood supply to the brain continues to be in a high-load state. When the blood vessels relax when lying down, they will feel swollen and awake. This muscle is rubbed open, the intracranial pressure slowly decreases, and the brain will not spin so fast. Traditional Chinese medicine is more straightforward. This is the blockage of the scattered upper burner. If the fire is not blocked in the top of the head, naturally there will be no random thoughts. When I first started rubbing it, I could feel a soybean-sized hard knot in my shoulder and neck. When I pressed it, I felt sore and frowned. After rubbing it for less than a week, the hard knot disappeared. When I lay down, I no longer feel the pain in my neck when I put the pillow on it.

After your shoulders and neck have been rubbed, you can lie down. Don't close your eyes in a hurry. Just lift your legs 10 centimeters away from the bed. Slowly turn your ankles 15 times clockwise and then 15 times counterclockwise. After turning, slowly pedal the bicycle for 30 seconds. The slower the better, don't pedal hard as if you are trying to catch up. Don't tell me, I was shocked the first time I did this move. It was winter and my feet were so cold that I had to hold a hot water bottle before I could sleep. Within 2 minutes of turning my ankle, the soles of my feet started to get hot. I didn't even need a hot water bottle. Western medicine says that this is to promote blood circulation in the lower limbs. The core prerequisite for falling asleep is that the core body temperature drops by 0.5-1°C. When the feet are warmed, the heat dissipates quickly and the core body temperature drops quickly. Chinese medicine says that this is to draw the fire downwards, drawing the "virtual fire" floating in the head downwards, and naturally there will be less thoughts. The yoga teacher's statement is more interesting, saying that if you focus entirely on your ankles, you will naturally have no time to think about the unfinished report today or the meeting to be held tomorrow, which is equivalent to actively "power off" the brain. Oh, by the way, if you are really too lazy to move, you can just do this movement of turning your ankles alone. Sometimes when I am on a business trip and staying in a hotel and I am so tired that I don’t want to move, I just lie there and turn my ankles for 2 minutes, which is better than lying down and enduring.

I also read on the Internet that it is effective to lie down and do abdominal breathing of 4 seconds of inhalation and 6 seconds of exhalation. I started to count stupidly, but when I counted to 10, I started to lose my mind, "How many times did I just count? Did I count wrong?" On the contrary, the more I counted, the more energetic I became. Later, I asked the doctor in the sleep department and found out that, after all, You don’t need to deliberately count the beats, just put one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. When you inhale, your belly will bulge and your chest will not move. When you exhale, your belly will deflate. Whatever feels comfortable, just focus on your hands and feel your belly move up and down with your breathing. Within three to five minutes, your eyelids will start to sink. There is also an interesting controversy here. One group says that you must "empty your mind" when doing breathing exercises before going to bed. The other group says that the more you want to empty your mind, the more likely you are to become anxious. My own experience is that if you really think about something, don't force yourself to not think about it. Just let the thoughts float and focus on the rise and fall of your stomach. The thoughts will disappear on their own.

By the way, I have met a friend before who said, "I feel more energetic after doing this exercise." When I asked, I found out that she was rubbing her shoulders and neck as hard as kneading dough, and was pedaling the bicycle so fast that she was sweating slightly. Isn't that not energetic? The core of all the movements in this set of exercises is "slow" and "light". After you finish, feel your pulse. If it is more than 10 times faster than when you sit still, it means the intensity is too great. Try harder next time.

I posted this to our department group before. A colleague who was a mother just gave birth to a baby. After putting the baby in bed every day, she started to review: Is the baby’s milk supply not enough today? Have you packed up the things for tomorrow's hobby class? Did last week's weekly work report miss something? She kept her eyes open until after 1 o'clock every day. After a week of doing this, she came to me and told me that now she can fall asleep within 20 minutes after lying down, and she no longer wakes up in the middle of the night and reflexively touches her mobile phone to see if her baby has kicked the quilt.

Actually, there are no strict standards. If you feel comfortable, just do more of it. If you feel uncomfortable, just skip it. Anyway, it’s only 10 minutes. It’s just lying there and scrolling through your phone. It’s better to try it for two days. It’s better than taking melatonin until you feel groggy the next day, right?