Hi I’m Michelle and my rare neurological condition causes me to have many sleepless nights and difficulties with quality and restorative sleep. If you see me during the day, walking or jogging with my dog, running errands, or out with my son, you probably have no idea that I haven’t had a decent nights rest in days or even weeks. Although my sleep is a high priority and even though I had the minimally invasive filum sectioning, sleep is still a difficult symptom that is both tricky and mysterious to deal with. If you are reading this regardless or having the same condition as I have and also have sleepless nights and difficulty sleeping as I do, perhaps these therapies can help. In the past, I have been prescribed medications for sleep but found they don’t actually target the root cause which I feel is a deep tension in the nervous system and body and thus, medications never ever worked and made me feel more drowsy in the mornings. What I’ve found and experimented with is when I consciously take out tension, with various techniques, my restorative sleep improves. The following is what I’ve learned and what helps me with get a better quality of sleep. I’m hoping these tips and tricks can work for you as well!
- Yin Yoga, this is the active practice of doing tension releasing poses that are generally longer than 1 minute. I have invested in a bolster and yoga blocks and rest my head and body on them while being mindful to release tension from the back of my head, neck and shoulders and I sometimes will couple it with deep breathing. I typically use YouTube videos and follow the following people:
See below
Jess Yoga, Jess Richburg
Boho Beautiful Yoga
Yoga with Bird
Tai Chi
this is a new modality for me which I’ve been experimenting with, I find the movements bring calming meditativeness to the body and nervous system and seems to help me with getting better sleep
I’ve discovered these video that have helped me with sleep:
~Adam, Begin with Breath Tai Chi
Breath Work Relaxation Techniques
Somatic Breathing
4-7-8 Breathing
This is the method of breathing in through your nose for 4 seconds. Hold for 7 seconds and breathing out through your mouth for 8 seconds to decrease anxiety and relax the nervous system.
Other Professionals that I occasionally see:
-Network Spinal Analysis Professional: This is a chiropractor who doesn’t do any manipulation on the body but uses energy to release tension, you can google to find a professional in your area.
-Acupuncture to release tension
-Osteopath to release specific tension from head, upper shoulders, back or anywhere else where tension is stored
-Naturopath for additional supplements to calm the nervous system
Sleep is so tricky for so many people and hope some of these modalities can help you!!
