Stretching and yoga before bed
Ten quiet minutes of stretching and slow breathing can help you switch from training mode to sleep. These routines are gentle, need no equipment and suit runners, cyclists and lifters.
Guides
- Stretches before bed: a calm 10-minute routine, step by stepGentle stretches before bed, held for 30 to 60 seconds with slow breathing, can help you relax and may make it easier to fall asleep. There is no strong research on stretching alone and sleep, but meta-analyses of yoga, muscle relaxation and slow breathing, which share the same calm, low-effort approach, show modest improvements in self-rated sleep quality.6 min read, 8 sources
- Yoga for sleep: a gentle bedtime sequence for runners and cyclistsYoga for sleep works best as a slow, quiet practice: gentle floor poses held for about a minute with long exhales, followed by a few minutes of guided relaxation such as yoga nidra. Meta-analyses of randomized trials show that regular yoga improves self-rated sleep quality, with small to moderate effects and mostly low-certainty evidence.7 min read, 8 sources