If you’re having trouble falling asleep, a physical therapist has shared some medication-free tricks to help you get a good night’s sleep.
Dr. Dan, who regularly posts his tips and tricks on TikTok, shared these handy tips in a new video, adding that you don’t even need to get out of bed to manipulate your body for restful sleep.
He New York-based physical therapist He first suggested trying progressive muscle relaxation.
“You may know it as squeezing your muscles as hard as you can until you can finally shut them down and relax them,” he said.
He explained the process and told people to start by lying down and squeezing their chest muscles as hard as they could and holding the position for about two or three seconds.
Dr. Dan, a New York physical therapist, first suggested trying progressive muscle relaxation
“Keep going down until you’re done with your legs, and then squeeze all your muscles at once,” he instructed.
“Before you know it, you feel relaxed and ready to sleep.”
The second tip was just a general stretch.
“Stretching is a quick and easy way to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the nervous system that allows you to feel relaxed,” he advised.
“Pick four or five of your favorite stretches, hold each for 15 to 20 seconds, and repeat for two to three sets.”
The physical therapist reminded people to “remember to focus on your breathing” while stretching.
He also said people should perform the movements in a slow and controlled manner.
“(Then) it gets you to the point where you can fall asleep,” Dr. Dan said.
The expert also suggested performing general stretches, holding each position for 15 to 20 seconds.
The third and final trick is for those who have difficulty falling asleep because they feel nervous and restless.
“You have a lot of nerves in your legs, and by gliding them, you can get them to calm down and relax,” he explained.
“We’ll start with the largest nerve, the sciatic nerve,” he said, as he lay on his back with one leg extended and holding the other in an L shape with his hands.
‘Hold your leg with both hands while keeping your toe pointing towards your face and slowly extend your knee until you feel a gentle stretch in the back of your leg.
“Repeat this 15 times on each side.”
The last stretch he suggested was to lie face down and stretch the largest nerve in the front of your leg: the femoral nerve.
“Bend your knee and lift yourself up to the ceiling,” he said. “Also repeat this 15 times.”
In September, a study suggested that people who struggle to get any sleep should try a banana smoothie before bed to get some rest.
The researchers found that those who struggled to fall asleep fell asleep faster and slept longer if they consumed both foods late in the night.
Eating a banana dramatically reduced the time it took insomniacs to fall asleep, from an average of two hours to 36 minutes.
The research, published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed 21 people with insomnia as just over half ate a whole banana and a small cup of milk every night for six weeks, and the other half tried to sleep as normal. habit.