Tag: physical health

Woman doing a yoga pose outside
18 Sep

Morning or Night: What’s the Best Time to Do Yoga?

Yoga is all about bringing balance to your life and promoting physical and mental wellbeing through strength, flexibility and breath exercises.

If you’ve just started yoga, or you’re looking to enhance your yoga experience, you may be wondering the best time to practice your poses.

The simplest answer is: whenever is best for you!

Ultimately, yoga is designed to help you clear your mind, so it makes sense to do yoga when it best suits you. Avoid feeling stressed by trying to cram a yoga session when you don’t have time, just because it’s the morning!

Woman doing a backbend

Differences in Yoga Poses

However, it also depends on the type of routine you do. Some poses are energising, while others are calming, so there may be particular yoga routines you follow in the morning that you wouldn’t do in the evening.

For example, backbends and sun salutations are energising and invigorating – perfect for morning routines, but probably not what you’re after for the evening when you need calm before bedtime.

Instead, in the evening, you probably want forward bends to calm, as well as twisting poses to help relieve tensions that have built throughout the day.

Woman practising a yoga pose

Practising Yoga in the Morning

If you’re a morning person, or you tend to have a few moments of peace to yourself in the mornings, then it makes sense to enjoy yoga at this time. A morning routine can help you clear your mind and awaken your body for the day ahead.

A key benefit to morning yoga is that an early morning session can help to refresh the body if you tend to feel stiff after waking up. Doing yoga first thing also offers the additional benefit of an empty stomach – no one wants to be twisting their body round or lying tummy-down on the floor after a meal!

Another argument in favour of morning yoga is that not only does it set the tone for your day, but it can also ensure that you get it done! If you decide to do an evening routine, then it can be tempting to push it back or let other chores and activities get in the way of your relaxation time.

Finally, some choose to enjoy yoga in the morning because it tends to be cooler then. By doing yoga in the morning, you may be able to work out for longer, as you may not get as hot.

Woman doing a twist yoga pose

Practising Yoga in the Evening

If you use yoga as a way to help you unwind and relax, then it might make more sense for you to practice it in the evening before bedtime, as a way to settle your body and mind ready for sleep.

By enjoying yoga in the evening, you are giving yourself time to free your mind from the stresses of the day, making drifting off to sleep a little easier!

If you often find falling asleep difficult, then there are other supplementary things you can try to help you relax in the evenings, such as CBD oil. This can also be useful to help soothe sore muscles if you find you’ve stretched yourself too much trying a new yoga pose!

Practising yoga in the evening has additional benefits, too. If you find yourself rushed in the morning trying to fit in a routine before work or school, then the evening may provide you with more free time.

A further benefit of evening yoga is its ability to help break ‘bad’ habits. If you are prone to sitting in front of the television and snacking all night, then breaking this time up with a yoga routine can help to promote healthier choices in your lifestyle.

Person meditating on a yoga mat

Same Time Every Day?

When it comes to yoga, consistency is important, but it generally refers to consistently practising each day, rather than at a set time. As long as you get a chance to enjoy yoga each day, the exact time shouldn’t matter.

It is more important that the time you set out for yoga won’t leave you feeling rushed, stressed or overly tired, as trying to cram a routine for the sake of it may cause you to lose enthusiasm or abandon yoga.

As such, you can even practise in the mornings some days and in the evenings on others, if that works best for you.

When do you find is best to practise yoga? If you have tips for finding the right time to do yoga and making space in your day, then leave us a comment on our social media channels!

A man looking stressed
21 Jul

Sleep and Stress: Why are They Linked?

The NHS website advises that adults should aim for eight hours of sleep per night. Of course, how much sleep is needed will vary on the individual. However, working out how much sleep your body and mind require to feel sufficiently rested is vital to your overall mental and physical health.

A whole host of reasons can cause lack of sleep, a prevalent one being stress. The connection between lack of sleep and stress is a strong one, and poor sleep can also affect your levels of stress, creating a cycle of one impacting the other.

A woman sat at laptop with head in hands

Why Does Stress Exist?

So what is stress and how do you know if it is impacting your life?

Stress originates from a fight or flight response that humans have used to survive from potential danger throughout our evolution.

The fight or flight response radically increases the autonomic nervous system to produce hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline. The growth of these hormones causes the heart rate to increase to ensure enough blood reaches the vital organs, ready for action.

However, despite a decrease in these threats over time, this response remains, meaning that stress can prevail in less dangerous situations such as work, family or social interactions.

How to Identify Stress

Stress can affect people in a multitude of ways and can produce various mental and physical conditions depending on each person. These could include things such as a loss of appetite, eczema and being unable to sleep, as well as anxiety, racing thoughts and the inability to relax.

Most people will feel stress from time to time, and this cannot be helped. However, if this is how you feel the majority of the time you are awake, this is a cause for concern. An accumulation of stress can have a long term negative impact on your body and mind.

A white clock

The Cycle of Stress and Sleep

The web between body and mind is a complex one, and often when one is affected, so is the other. This strongly applies in the link between stress and sleep as one can impact the other.

For example, stress can cause you to lie awake at night, worrying about the preceding morning. In turn, the lack of sleep the next day will only enhance these feelings of anxiety about the future as your body and brain have not been able to sufficiently rest.

How Does Stress Cause A Lack of Sleep?

Stress reduces the quality of sleep as well as the length of a deep slumber. In extreme cases, stress can cause sleep deprivation through the intense level of alertness, meaning winding down to sleep can be prolonged. Troubling and racing thoughts can often overwhelm the individual and keep them awake with no solution of soothing their worried state.

If you are concerned that you may be suffering from a sleep disorder, you can read further information here.

How Does A Lack of Sleep Cause Stress?

As mentioned, an inadequate amount of sleep can cause you to feel an increased level of stress. Feeling tired can change the way you perceive situations and therefore have lasting impacts on you and those around you, which only elevates feelings of uncertainty and pressure.

Many mental health charities, including Mind.org, emphasise the importance of gaining enough sleep to reduce levels of stress.

The Importance of Maintaining Healthy Levels of Stress

With the potential of stress preventing reasonable levels of sleep and vice versa, knowing how to keep control of your levels of stress is integral to ensuring you are happy and healthy.

A white bath

Improving Your Lifestyle

If you can reduce your levels of stress in the evening, this could have a significant impact on how quickly and how well you fall asleep. Establishing a relaxing bedtime routine is integral to winding down stress levels and preparing your body for sleep.

This could include a comforting hot drink, a warm bath, reading a book or listening to a podcast. Using meditation can also support you to let go of stressful thoughts and can be used throughout the day to keep on top of stress levels.

Taking CBD oil for sleep can support you in feeling more relaxed, which in turn, will help you to fall asleep. For more information about taking CBD oil, discover more about what happens when you first take CBD oil.

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If you cannot improve your levels of sleep, it is vital you seek out the support of a medical practitioner who will be able to help you further.

Ensuring you are acquiring a sufficient amount of high-quality sleep is integral to your overall mental and physical health. By reducing stress levels, you can improve your sleep, and by ensuring you have enough sleep, you can gain a healthier perspective of stressful situations.