Ever feel like you’re exhausted, craving a good night sleep, but your mind just won’t shut off? Maybe it’s your financial situation, or that presentation at work tomorrow, or that disagreement with a friend that’s replaying on repeat. Worrying thoughts can quickly snowball to become overwhelming, keeping us in an alert state, far away from the peacefulness needed to fall asleep.
If that’s how you feel, you’re not alone. A recent study conducted in 2023 by the Mental Health Foundation showed that 60% of UK adults experienced anxiety that interfered with their lives in the previous two weeks. Yes, that’s huge!
What I can share from personal experience as someone who used to be a big worrier, is that worrying never brought me any solutions or resolutions. It just made me feel terrible: countless sleepless nights, stomach tied up in knots, feeling irritable and constantly on edge. So if you think, like I used to, that worrying is a way to stay in control by considering all potential outcomes of a situation or problem, let me invite you to reconsider that belief by looking at what happens at a physiological level when we overly worry.
How worrying affects our bodies and minds
A study by Borkovec et al. published in the Behaviour Research and Therapy journal looked at the impact of worrying thoughts on our bodies and minds. At an emotional level, the study define worry as a feeling of anxiety, tension and apprehension associated with the mind wandering in the possibilities of the future, and all the terrible things that may happen. But what is interesting is that as a result we become less aware of the physical signals sent by our bodies. Let me explain that one a bit further.
When we worry, it might take us more time to realise that we are hungry and need to eat, or use the bathroom, or that we need to rest. The reason is that our brain processes what we imagine or envision and the information we receive from our five senses in the same way. So if you imagine catastrophes coming your way, your body will react as if you were living these situations. For instance your muscles might tense, or your stomach might become upset. In other words you feel stressed, raising your system to a state of alertness and resulting in a disconnection between body, mind and emotions.
What's the impact of worrying on our lives?
The impact of our worries goes far beyond affecting our inner world. Indeed, the Borkovec et al. study showed that it has a broader resonance on our lives. People who tend to worry regularly experience significantly higher anxiety, depression and hostility compared to people who tend not to worry. That migh translate into having difficulties to relax, or developing a more negative perspective on life.
What’s more, worrying alters our capacity to focus as our attention is hijacked by negative thoughts that are hard to control. Meaning that this might affect how you perform at work or the quality of your relationships with family and friends.
The last interesting finding from that study is that when you start worrying, it is very hard to stop: the further you go down that route, the harder it is to come back. That explains why when time comes to sleep, when all is quiet and there is nothing left to do but to relax, a motorway opens for our worries to take control.
Key takeaways
- Many people experience worrying thoughts which affects their lives. If that’s how you feel, you are not alone.
- Worrying has an impact on our inner world:
- the mind is stuck in the future imagining what might happen;
- imagining stressful situations results in our body reacting in the same way as if we were living these situations;
- as we experience stress from what might happen, we become less able to relax.
- Worrying also impacts our outer world:
- our ability to focus is diminished as negative thoughts disturb our concentration;
- the more we worry, the harder it is to stop which interfere with our day to day.
- There are effective ways to manage worrying thoughts, the yoga bedtime routine below will help with that.
Yoga bedtime routine to ease yourself into sleep when you are worried
This 15-minute yoga sequence has been designed to anchor your mind back to the present moment so that you can leave your worries aside to get a good night sleep.
Through this short sequence we'll first start by moving our legs to release the excess energy while activating our core to build stability in the body before moving towards grounding and relaxing poses that will set you off to sleep.
Equipment
1. Tree (Vriksasana)
Duration: hold for 1min on each side.
Modifications: several options are available which can be combined:
- place the foot on the inner calf,
- place one or both hands on a wall for more stability,
- keep your torso upright,
- keep your hands on your waist.
Getting into the pose
1. Stand at the top of the mat, feet parallel and hip distance apart.
2. Transfer your body weight onto your right foot.
3. Place your left foot on your inner groin or calf (use your hand to help it there if needed).
4. Place your hands on the waist or extend the arms up.
5. If you feel stable enough, side bend to the right.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Press down through your right big toe.
2. Press your left foot into your right leg and right leg into left foot.
3. Lengthen up the spine.
4. Maintain a long and smooth breath throughout.
Transition
After 1min, release your hands and foot down. Take a few breath before moving to the other side.
2. Extended side angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana)
Modifications: Place your forearm on the thigh or use a block under your bottom hand.
Getting into the pose
1. Standing at the top of the mat, take a big step back with your right foot and rotate it to a 90° angle, heel down. Both heels should be in line.
2. Bend deeply onto your left knee. Adjust the distance between your feet so that your left knee stays above the ankle.
3. Place your left forearm on left thigh. Alternatively you can place your left hand on the floor outside your foot.
4. Extend your right arm up and over your ear.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Draw your feet toward one another.
2. Press down through left forearm/hand to lift your left side up.
3. Focus on long and deep breaths.
Transition
After 1min, bring your chest upright and straighten your front knee to step towards the front of the mat. Take a few breaths before moving to the other side.
3. Side plank variation (Vasisthasana)
Duration: 5 reps each side.
Modifications: slide the bottom foot on the floor rather than lifting the leg up. If that's too intense, you can also go for this other modification instead.
Getting into the pose
1. Come to all fours, shoulders over wrists and hips over knees.
2. Extend your left leg back and lower the heel to the floor.
3. Rotate the chest up as you extend the left arm towards the ceiling.
4. Press down through your right hand and outer edge of the left foot to slide the right leg forward.
5. Keeping the right leg extended, bend and straighten the knee 5 times.
6. Optional - Perform the same knee action with the right leg off the floor.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Grip the right fingertips onto the mat.
2. Press down through right hand and outer edge of left foot to keep the pelvis lifted.
3. Breathe deeply and smoothly throughout.
Transition
After 5 reps, bend the right knee and carefully release it onto the floor. Release left hand and foot down to come to all fours. Take a few breaths before moving to the other side.
4. Low lunge variation (Anjaneyasana)
Modifications: place the hands either side your front foot to facilitate the knee bending action. Use a cushion or pillow under your knee to alleviate discomfort.
Getting into the pose
1. From all fours, step your right foot in between your hands. Adjust your foot forward so that the ankle is just under the knee.
2. Press down through your feet to lift your chest upright and place your hands on the waist.
3. Bend and extend the left knee 5 times.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Draw right foot and left knee towards one another to keep both legs active.
2. Press your hands down to lengthen the spine up.
3. Breathe with awareness to maintain even inhalations and exhalations.
Transition
After 5 reps, release your hands either side of your front foot and step back to all fours. Take a few breaths before repeating on the other side.
5. Seated twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
Modifications: keep your bottom leg extended. Sit on a pillow to keep both sitting bones on the floor.
Getting into the pose
1. Come sitting, both legs extended in front of you.
2. Bring the right knee to your chest and cross your right foot over the left thigh.
3. Option - bend your left knee to bring the heel close to the right buttock.
4. Place the right hand behind you and rotate your chest to the right.
5. Hug your right knee with your left hand.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Press down through both sitting bones to lengthen the spine.
2. Relax your arms and shoulders while engaging the abdominals.
3. Keep your chin in line with the breastbone.
4. Lengthen both inbreath and outbreath.
Transition
After 1min, rotate the chest back to the centre and release the legs. Take a few breaths before moving to the other side.
6. Revolved head to knee (Parivrtta Janu sirsasana)
Modifications: keep the knee of the extended leg bent if the stretch is too intense.
Getting into the pose
1. In a seated position, open the legs wide.
2. Bring the right heel towards your groin.
3. Place your left hand on the floor inside your left leg and extend your right arm up.
4. As you exhale side bend to the left.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Draw the left heel towards your knee.
2. Press down through your left hand to lift the left side up.
3. Rotate the chest up towards the ceiling.
4. Focus on maintaining a long and calm breath.
Transition
After 2min, bring the chest upright and extend the right leg. Take a few breath before moving to the other side.
7. Seated forward bend (Paschimottanasana)
Modifications: place a pillow under your knees if the stretch is too intense. I also recommend placing a pillow on your legs to rest your chest and fully relax your upper body.
Getting into the pose
1. From a seated position, extend both legs forward. Maintain a bent in the knees if the stretch at the back of the legs is too intense.
2. Inhale to lift the arms up and lengthen the spine.
3. As you exhale fold your chest over your legs and let your hands rest on the floor either side.
Actions to maintain in the pose
1. Draw both heels towards the knees.
2. Relax the upper body completely.
3. Slow your breath down.
Transition
After 3min, press your hands down to lift your chest upright. You are now ready for a good night sleep!
FAQs
How yoga helps dealing with worrying thoughts?
What happens when we worry is that our mind starts going through all the not so great things that may happen which triggers a stress response, leaving us unable to reconnect to the present moment.
Yoga through movement, breathing and meditation practices provides a variety of tools to bring the mind back to the present moment while promoting a deep sense of relaxation.
If you wonder how, try this yoga sequence to let go of your worries are drift off to sleep.
