Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Treating Insomnia with Yoga & Meditation

A study being presented today at SLEEP 2009 in Seattle, Wash., reports that an effective treatment for insomnia may be “Kriya Yoga.” This is a type of meditation that combines different yoga techniques.

The small pilot study involved 11 adults with chronic primary insomnia. They were between the ages of 25 and 45 years. Seven of them practiced Kriya Yoga for two months; four of them only received health education that included tips to improve their
sleep hygiene.

Results show that there were significant improvements for members of the meditation group. They fell asleep faster and slept longer. They spent less time awake in bed during the night. Their sleep efficiency and sleep quality improved. They even had fewer symptoms of depression. Only total sleep time improved for the control group.

“Results of the study show that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night,” study author Ramadevi Gourineni told the AASM.

Learn about
cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia on SleepEducation.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment