Some useful relaxation tips

Even if you usually sleep well most nights, you’ve probably had sometimes the occasional bout of insomnia. Whether it’s that late-night snack that keeps the sandman away, stress or something less sinister, here are six relaxation techniques to try when sleep eludes you on Huffington post.com:

1. Guided visualization

Lie in bed and tell your body to relax from head to toe, suggests Joshua Jacobi, MD, an interventional cardiologist in Pasadena, California. “Forehead relax, eyes relax, cheeks relax,” and so forth down until your toes. “Then, I picture lying on a beach. I bring in all the sensory awareness to the setting. So I feel the sand in my toes, the warmth of the sun, a cool breeze. I see the waves slowly coming in to the shore. I see palm trees waving in the wind. I hear the sound of the waves as they come in,” says Jacobi.

2. Analyze your sleep cycle

Start recording your sleep data, says Ari Meisel, founder of Less Doing More Living, a productivity hack blog.

3. Treat your anxiety

CureCrowd, the first search engine to visually rate treatments and remedies for medical conditions by crowdsourcing the experiences of real but anonymous patients, found helpful remedies included exercise, yoga and prescription antidepressant/antianxiety meds to treat anxiety and sleeplessness.

4. Alternate Nostril Breathing

Alternate Nostril Breathing encourages deep relaxation by balancing the left and right sides of the brain while calming the nervous system, says Amita Patel, founder of Aligned Holistics, a coaching services company that combines nutrition, physical activity, relationships, career and personal philosophy.

Here’s how: Rest your right ring finger and thumb on either side of your nostrils, lightly touching them. Take a big breath in and a big breath out, then close off the right nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left nostril for a four count. At the top of that breath, close off the left nostril with your ring finger, hold and retain for a count of four, and then release the right nostril and exhale for four. Repeat as many cycles as comfortable until relaxed ending with the left nostril.

5. Count backward

While lying in bed, start counting backwards from 100. Do it slowly, about once a second, 100...99...98. Take your time. “The trick is this: If you get lost or forget what number you're on, you need to start over again from 100. Every time you get lost, gently start over. Don't allow yourself to become frustrated, just be gentle with yourself and start back over from 100,” says Phillip Mandel, a hypnotherapist in Beaverton, Oregon.

6. Guided imagery

“Guided imagery can shift brain wave activity, and specific images can be learned that promote the brain's movement toward deep, restful sleep,” says Leslie Davenport, a psychotherapist.

To try it, imagine a small ball of yarn. See this ball of yarn as holding the last bit of residual tension you have. Find the tip of the yarn and watch as the ball begins to roll slowly, unwinding as it moves. See the strand of yarn unfurling and resting on the floor, becoming longer as it continues to roll slowly. “Sense the decompressing. Feel the spaciousness around it now,” says Davenport. “As you watch the yarn, feel also the unwinding of any residual tension within you. Like tiny muscle fibers softening, watch as the ball continues to release from its very core, the soft yarn now stretched out, open, and completely at rest.”

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