Yoga at bedtime can help you fall asleep faster and sleep better. Trudy, a registered yoga teacher and fellow Physical Therapist, stops by to show me a therapeutic yoga bedtime routine.
Therapeutic yoga focuses on gentle yoga or modification poses with breathing techniques. Trudy is not only a friend and mentor, but she is also from Canada! So if you are a Canadian viewer, make sure to give her a shout-out in the comments. And Canadian or not, make sure you visit Trudy’s website!
When trying to get a good night’s sleep, you want to do stretches and exercises that don’t wake up your spine, so try not to extend your back or open up your chest area before going to sleep.
A piriformis stretch is a great way to help relax the glute area and relax the lower body.
Next, is a double knee to chest stretch. Make sure everything is in alignment, and that you are not getting any pinching in the front of your hips.
Finally, legs up the wall helps with lymphatic drainage. This is a great way to relax the whole body and help with sleep.
When glutes are weak or not working properly, other muscles overcompensate, which can lead to discomfort, dysfunction and even injury. Here are some more reasons strong glutes are important.
This real-time therapeutic yoga routine features easy stretches that can help relax & relieve stress and anxiety throughout the body. It can also help decrease tightness in the muscles and improve overall flexibility.
Vagus nerve stimulation uses gentle electrical impulses to stimulate the vagus nerve. The vagus nerves control our parasympathetic system (resting and digesting) by sending signals to the brain to release calming neurotransmitters.
Finding the perfect mattress can be difficult. Some people like firm mattresses, some like soft mattresses, and some like them in between. Since people often ask me what mattress I sleep on, here's a 1 year follow-up to the Back Science Mattress I currently sleep on.
Hot & cold therapy can help the healing process during an injury, and it can also help reduce acute and chronic pain. But which one should you use? Here are some general rules for using hot verses cold.
These moderate core strengthening exercises are a progression from my beginner core exercises, and these intermediate core exercises are a great next step once the beginner ones become too easy.
Breathing exercises can be a great way to help relieve stress and anxiety. This video focuses on two relaxing breathing techniques: Square breathing (aka box breathing, 4x4 breathing, 4-part breath, etc.) and Pursed breathing.
Tension headaches can cause a lot of pain. Stress is a common cause of tension headaches. Relaxing the muscles around the neck and shoulder area can help decrease the pain caused by tension headaches.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, better known as BPPV, can literally stop you in your tracks. Make sure you are properly diagnosed with BPPV before trying these because vertigo symptoms can be an indication of something more serious.
