Stress, mood and sleep
Sleep problems, and what happens before bed
Yoga appears among the exercise approaches examined for insomnia, and the useful part is what it does to the state you arrive at the pillow in.
What it is
Most persistent sleep difficulty is a problem of arousal rather than of tiredness. The body arrives at bedtime still in a state of readiness, and sleep requires the opposite. That is why people can be exhausted and still not sleep, and why the hours before bed usually matter more than anything done in bed. Once broken sleep has been going on for a while, worry about sleep becomes part of what maintains it.
How it behaves day to day
Difficulty falling asleep, waking in the early hours, or sleep that runs its full length without being restorative. It usually gets worse under stress and better on holiday, which is itself a clue about the mechanism.
What tends to feed it
- Screens and work in the hour before bed
- Caffeine later in the day than you think
- Lying awake in bed for long stretches, which strengthens the association
- Catching up with long lie-ins, which shifts the rhythm further
What the research recommends
A network meta-analysis of randomised trials published up to April 2025 examined exercise approaches for insomnia and included yoga among the interventions studied, alongside tai chi, walking and jogging. A scoping review of chronic yoga interventions in people with sleep disorders covers the same ground in more detail. Sleep also improves as a secondary outcome in trials aimed at anxiety: a randomised controlled trial in generalised anxiety disorder compared cognitive behavioural therapy, kundalini yoga and stress education, measuring sleep quality directly, in a population where sleep disturbance affects around two-thirds of people. It is worth being straight about the strength of this: cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia remains the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia, and movement and breath work sit alongside it rather than replacing it.
Sources
- 1Exercise for insomnia, network meta-analysis (reported by BMJ Group, 2025)
Yoga, tai chi, walking and jogging were among the exercise approaches examined for insomnia in a network meta-analysis of randomised trials.
- 2The effect of chronic yoga interventions on sleep quality in people with sleep disorders, scoping review
Reviews the evidence for sustained yoga practice on sleep quality in people with diagnosed sleep disorders.
- 3Jacoby et al., effect of CBT and yoga for generalised anxiety disorder on sleep quality, randomised controlled trial (Journal of Sleep Research, 2024)
A randomised trial comparing cognitive behavioural therapy, kundalini yoga and stress education, with sleep quality measured directly.
Where Vinys is different
- Vinys treats a sleep session as an arousal problem, so the content is weighted towards breath and supported positions rather than towards tiring you out.
- Sessions are short, which is what makes an evening practice survive contact with real evenings.
- The session adapts to a day that has already been difficult, instead of asking for the same effort regardless.
- Vinys does not claim to treat insomnia. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is the first-line treatment, and this sits alongside it.
- Where yoga meets physiotherapy: the physical work happens earlier in the day, and the evening session is built differently on purpose.
A short session to try
- 1
Extended exhale breathing · 4 minutes
The most direct way to lower arousal, which is the thing standing between tired and asleep.
- 2
Supine twist with a pillow between the knees · 60 seconds each side
Fully supported, so the body is not being asked to hold anything.
- 3
Supported fish · 2 to 3 minutes
Opens the chest without effort, and lets the breath slow on its own.
- 4
Alternate nostril breathing · 3 minutes
A settled ending, and one of the practices most often used in this literature.
Do this before bed rather than in bed. Keeping the bed for sleep is one of the more reliable pieces of sleep advice there is.
Movements often used for this
Breath · 180 to 300 seconds
Extended Exhale Breathing
Longer exhales deeply activate your body's calming response, reducing physiological arousal and pain sensitivity: particularly helpful for highly irritable or sensitive conditions.
Spinal Mobility · 60 to 180 seconds
Supine Twist: Pillow Between Knees
A pillow between your knees controls the rotation depth, providing gentle spinal mobility while keeping your pelvis well-aligned and your lower back comfortable.
Restorative · 120 to 240 seconds
Supported Fish
A supported backbend over a bolster that passively opens your chest and thoracic spine, improving posture and breathing capacity while deeply calming your nervous system.
Breath · 180 to 300 seconds
Nadi Shodhana: Alternate Nostril Breathing
Alternate nostril breathing supports balance between the two sides of your nervous system, improving concentration and promoting a calm, centred state.
Breath · 60 to 75 seconds
Arriving with the Breath
A gentle, guided arrival that simply invites you to notice your breath without changing it: the calmest possible way to begin.
Restorative · 120 to 180 seconds
Banana Pose
A deeply restorative supine side-body stretch that releases tension along your entire lateral line, from your outer hip through your side ribs and waist.
Breath · 180 to 300 seconds
Bhramari: Humming Bee Breath
The gentle vibration of humming during exhale stimulates your vagus nerve, creating a powerful calming effect that reduces stress and soothes your nervous system.
Restorative · 120 to 240 seconds
Butterfly
A gentle, grounding pose that opens your inner thighs and deep hip rotators with minimal joint loading, allowing long passive holds that gradually release fascial tension.
Restorative · 60 to 300 seconds
Child's Pose: Chair Facing Back
A fully seated rest: sit facing the back of a chair, fold forward, and rest your arms and forehead on the backrest. No floor needed; all the calming benefits of Child's Pose from a chair.
Restorative · 120 to 180 seconds
Deer Pose
An asymmetrical seated pose that simultaneously works internal and external hip rotation, improving the balanced rotational mobility your pelvis needs for comfortable movement.
Breath · 180 to 300 seconds
Diaphragmatic Breathing: Dirga Pranayama
Slow belly breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, helping to reduce pain sensitivity and calm your body before or after movement.
Restorative · 120 to 180 seconds
Dragonfly
A wide-legged seated stretch that targets your inner thigh and adductor muscles, providing a deep and sustained release that improves hip abduction range over time.
Sessions for this lean on the breath and restorative families in the library. These are the ones most likely to appear, not a prescription: your own session is built from your answers on the day.
Common questions
Is exercise before bed a bad idea?
Vigorous exercise late can be unhelpful for some people. A short breath-led session is a different thing, and is built to lower arousal rather than raise it.
Will this fix my insomnia?
No, and it does not claim to. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia.
What if I wake in the night?
The breath practices are available then too, and are usually a better option than lying awake watching the clock.
See a doctor if you snore heavily and wake unrefreshed, stop breathing in your sleep, fall asleep during the day without meaning to, or if low mood is travelling with the sleep problem.
Also called insomnia, poor sleep, trouble sleeping, waking at night. Movements are drawn from the clinically authored Vinys library, and the guidance above is sourced to the publications listed. This page is general movement information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. How the method works.