Improve sleep and memory with free 20 minute activity that can be done before bed

dailyrecord.co.uk:

If you struggle to sleep, doing 20 minutes of yoga before hitting the hay could lead to a better snooze.New research has found that yoga nidra, a less active and more mindful form of the exercise may also improve cognitive skills like learning and memory, even in beginners.

Findings support previous studies which link delta-wave sleep to improved sleep quality as well as better attention and brain function.Rather than focusing on physical movement including poses, breathwork and muscle control, this method involves lying down while being guided into a state of relaxed consciousness, Wales Online reports.Researchers at the Armed Forces Medical College in India found that participants who practiced yoga nidra for two weeks significantly improved sleep efficiency and delta-wave percentages seen in deep sleep.They also saw faster responses in all cognitive tests with no loss in accuracy and faster and more accurate responses in tasks including tests of working memory, abstraction, fear and anger recognition, and spatial learning and memory tasks.To get their results, published in PLOS ONE, the team took measurements from a group of novice practitioners before and after two weeks of yoga nidra practice.

This practice was carried out during the daytime using a 20-minute audio recording.Professor Karuna Datta said: “Yoga nidra is a low-cost and highly accessible activity from which many people might therefore benefit.

Yoga nidra practice improves sleep and makes brain processing faster. Accuracy also increased, especially with learning and memory-related tasks.”If you're interested in yoga nigra, there are plenty of free video tutorials on YouTube to guide you through at different levels. Don't miss the latest news from around