Can Yoga Help Improve Sleep?
It's 3 a.m. and you're wide awake. With each passing minute, it seems less likely you'll fall asleep before your alarm rings in just a few hours. Although you're bound to be exhausted in the morning, fatigue isn't the only drawback of insomnia. Lack of sleep may begin to affect your health and mood. Luckily, yoga can help you battle sleep issues and get the rest you need.
Yoga Sleep Benefits
Enrolling in a yoga class is an excellent way to tackle insomnia. According to a review published in BMJ Journals in 2025, yoga can increase total sleep time, may improve sleep efficiency, reduce wake after sleep onset, and decrease sleep onset latency. (Sleep onset latency measures how much time it takes you to fall asleep.) Yoga could help you sleep better by:
Enhancing Relaxation
Do you have trouble winding down at the end of a busy day? If you're still obsessing about your work day or worrying about that funny noise coming from the pipes, falling asleep may be almost impossible. Practicing yoga resets your nervous system and helps your body enter rest mode.
Looking for a relaxing pose before bedtime? Try the child's pose. Start on all fours on the floor, then sit back on your heels. Move your upper body toward the floor, resting your forehead on the floor if possible. (You can use a cushion or bolster if your forehead doesn't quite reach the floor.) Extend your hands in front of you or place them by your sides. As you breathe in and out slowly, you'll begin to feel the calming effects of this pose.
Easing Stress
Stress activates your body's fight-or-flight response. During times of stress, your body increases production of cortisol, a hormone that helps you handle challenges by tackling them head-on or running away from danger. Normally, your cortisol level drops once the stressful situation is over. If you're frequently stressed, your cortisol level may remain high. High cortisol levels can affect sleep and lead to chronic sleep issues.
Practicing hatha yoga significantly reduced stress and stress reactivity in people who completed eight weeks of yoga, according to a research study published in Acta Psychologica in 2023.
Relaxing Tight Muscles
It's much easier to fall asleep if your muscles are loose and comfortable. Yoga is ideal for improving flexibility and keeping your muscles loose. Poses gently stretch and strengthen muscles for maximum flexibility, while yogic breathing centers your mind and helps you deepen and maintain poses.
Calming Restless Legs
If restless leg syndrome (RLS) symptoms interferes with your sleep, yoga offers an effective antidote to this uncomfortable problem. Research study participants with RLS who completed 12 weeks of yoga had a greater improvement in symptom severity and sleep quality compared to participants who watched an educational film on RLS. The research study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in 2020.
Relieving Pain
Do muscle aches or headaches interfere with your sleep? In addition to relaxing tight muscles that can cause aching muscles and throbbing headaches, yoga also offers a natural pain-relief benefit. Performing yoga poses prompts your body to release hormones called endorphins and serotonin. These hormones reduce pain and help you feel relaxed and calm.
Research participants who participated in yoga had significantly less pain than those who only received standard medical care, according to a 2022 research study published in Frontiers in Pain Research.
Increasing Melatonin Production
You may struggle to fall asleep if your melatonin level is too low. The hormone helps control the sleep/wake cycle and naturally increases in the evening. High cortisol levels can affect your body's ability to produce enough melatonin. Fortunately, practicing yoga naturally reduces cortisol.
Looking for an alternative to counting sheep? Yoga could relieve your sleep problems naturally. Get in touch with us for information about our yoga classes.
Sources:
BMJ Journals: BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine: Effects of Various Exercise Interventions in Insomnia Patients: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis, 7/15/2025
https://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2025/07/09/bmjebm-2024-113512
Acta Psychologica: The Influence of Hatha Yoga on Stress, Anxiety, and Suppression: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 11/2023
Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine: Effects of a 12-Week Yoga Versus a 12-Week Educational Film Intervention on Symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome and Related Outcomes: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial, 1/15/2020
https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8134
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823002512
Frontiers in Pain Research: Objective Evidence for Chronic Back Pain Relief by Medical Yoga Therapy, 12/23/2022
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpain.2022.1060685/full
American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Survey Shows 12% of Americans Have Been Diagnosed with Chronic Insomnia, 6/14/2024
https://aasm.org/survey-shows-12-of-americans-have-been-diagnosed-with-chronic-insomnia/