Insomnia, Neurasthenia and Fatigue

In the previous chapter I discussed emotional stress ailments. In this one we are considering the physical results of stress, worry, and chronic fatigue. Perhaps the most common complaint of this modern age, together with constipation, which is discussed in the following chapter, is insomnia. It is the cause of more widespread misery than one could possibly imagine. There are many ways to combat insomnia but many people, far too many, rely on harmful and habit-forming sleeping drugs which may induce an unnatural sleep but which do not, and cannot, cure the trouble at the source. Indeed many people who have relied on them for years find that they are wholly unable to get a night’s sleep without them. Yes, insomnia is one of the scourges of our time but Yoga has a way with it, nature’s gentle and safe way.

The Yoga insomnia cure and its dangerous resulting nervous exhaustion is the natural one based on toning and relaxing the nerves, taking in more oxygen, and remaining immobile with the body inverted.

But first things first. How about some of the insomnia causes? What about the bed on which you sleep? Do you put up with just anything? Is it just a wooden frame, a mattress, and some pillows, sheets and blankets, or is it a supremely comfortable haven to which you can retire in blissful ease at the end of the day? No, I am not being fanciful. That bed on which you sleep may have more to do with your insomnia than you suspect. So let us consider it for a moment.

Have you sometimes suspected that your mattress was too soft and often wake up in the morning in a deep hollow with your mattress making ‘water-wings’ on either side of you? It is time, I fear, to think about replacing it with a firmer one. Expensive? Perhaps, but after all you spend just about a third of your life in bed and if that third is plagued with insomnia due to an over-soft or worn out mattress, is it not wise to consider spending a few dollars in order to improve your health, your spirits and your general well-being? Cheap at the price I would say.

And what about those mounds of bunchy pillows? Do these offenders grace your bed too? Send those packing with that soft mattress. It is essential in sleep that your spine should be held as naturally as possible. If you are lying in the hollow of a feather mattress with your head propped up on a mound of pillows, your poor spine is held in a highly unnatural position so, if you do succeed in getting to sleep, which is often unlikely, you will be sure to wake up with morning backache, a stiff neck, a feeling of not having slept at all, and possibly a headache to add to the general confusion. If you suffer from any form of persistent backache, one of the finest remedies I know, without doing another thing, is to buy a hard mattress. After you get used to sleeping on it, you would never look a feather mattress in the face again. Sleep with as few pillows as possible, one small, firmly packed one is adequate for most people’s needs. Why make your poor neck work hard while you are sleeping? What did it do to deserve that kind of punishment?

Next your clothing. It would seem unnecessary to mention this, but I am certain that far too many people wear too much clothing when they go to bed. Jumpers, cardigans, bed-jackets and socks are piled on over pajamas and nighties, and heads are tied up in all kinds of scarves. But why? In winter why not one warm, cozy nightie or a pair of pajamas, high necked and long sleeved, and in summer a wisp of nylon is all you need. Let your body b-r-e-a-t-h-e while you sleep. If you are cold, add more blankets but do not, please, choke yourself to death.

It is often said that for most people the best sleep is before midnight. I do not necessarily agree with this and would gladly trade four hours of really deep natural sleep for eight hours of tossing, fitful dozing which for many people passes for sleep. You can easily work out for yourself how many hours of sleep you need in order to work at your maximum efficiency the next day. And do not make the common mistake of imagining you need more sleep than you actually do. Eight hours is what most people take to mean a good night’s sleep but many people need only five or six, others need nine or ten. So make sure that you are not one of the former, as you may be getting your five or six hours of good sleep that you need and tossing about for the other two or three thinking that you suffer from insomnia. Do watch yourself carefully before you decide whether you need a cure for insomnia at all.

I find it restful to keep a book on my bedside table. No thrillers or ghost stories please. We are dealing with insomnia in this chapter and we cannot have you afraid to go to sleep being convinced that someone, or worst still SOMETHING has come to ‘get you’. There is some controversy about plants and flowers being left in bedrooms overnight. My advice is to remove them if you can, for the carbon dioxide they give off at night will not help you one bit in this battle against your insomnia. Do sleep in a well-ventilated room with at least one window open, and if possible the door as well. A stuffy, overheated bedroom causes more headaches and insomnia than can be estimated.

Finally, place your bed so that you sleep with your head to the north and your feet to the south, or if this is absolutely impossible, sleep with your head to the south and your feet to the north. What you must avoid, you see, is sleeping across, instead of parallel to, the magnetic force lines of the earth. If again you accuse me of being fanciful, I can only tell you that I have known many people who have cured their insomnia, and its resulting stress ailments, simply by altering the position of their bed so that they lie parallel to the magnetic force lines of the earth. If you are skeptical (and you are a chronic insomniac) why not try it? You may be agreeably surprised.

Having disposed of the questions of how, when, and where you sleep, what you wear and what you lie on, I will now show you some Yoga exercises which will help you if you make careful note of all I have just said. Yoga will help you if you meet it half-way. Unlike some of the chapters in this book in which I have described Yoga asanas or postures which require patient practice, all the exercises in this chapter are very simple to do, with the possible exception of THE SHOULDERSTAND or Sar-vangasana. This may be a little difficult for my older readers, so let us try this one first.

Sit down on the floor with your spine straight and your legs stretched before you, ankles together. Roll backwards until your head touches the floor and your legs swing over your head. Supporting your back with your two hands on either side of your spine, raise your legs to the vertical so that your toes are
pointing towards the ceiling and your body is resting on the back of your head, the nape of your neck, and your shoulders. Press your chin against your chest in the chin lock. I have demonstrated the SHOULDERSTAND in Figure 6.
Keep your body as straight as you can and hold yourself as still as possible. Resist the tendency to move your legs about in the air or to let your body sag at the waist. Close your eyes and breathe as deeply as you can. In the Shoulderstand, breathing cannot be too deep but it should be as regular as your restricted lungs allow.

At first, maintain the SHOULDERSTAND for only a few seconds but, as you gradually become used to this inverted posture, it can be held comfortably for several minutes. I suggest that you hold it for as long as you have the time but no more than ten to fifteen minutes. The main advantage of this valuable basic Yoga pose is that, by holding the body inverted in poised stillness even for a few minutes, the thyroid glands are affected and so produce a powerful effect on the entire organism. Also the blood flows to the head by its own weight instead of it having to be pumped upwards by the heart, so it not only gives the heart a respite from its ceaseless work but it also brings a flood of rich blood to the brain and so counteracts nervous fatigue, exhaustion, and other results of insomnia. But the benefits of the SHOULDERSTAND do not end there. Because it strengthens and tones the lower organs it is especially recommended for women after child-birth and those who suffer from menstrual pains.

A word of warning. If you suffer from any disorder of the thyroid gland or chronic sinusitis or nasal catarrh,do not attempt to perform the Shoulderstand.

The adventurous among you might like to try a more advanced form of this posture known as the SHOULDER BALANCE. In this, the body is held as in the Shoulderstand but the support of the arms is removed. The arms are placed alongside the body and you are then balancing on your shoulders, neck and the back of your head. The extra effort you have to employ to maintain the body in this position, with no support from your hands and arms, generally intensifies the effect of the posture. You will not be able to hold the SHOULDER BALANCE as candle-straight as the Shoulderstand but do the best you can and, above all, hold yourself still. Keep your eyes closed and your chin locked against your chest.

Another variation of the SHOULDERSTAND, slightly more difficult but less tricky than the Shoulder Balance, is to keep the arms and hands on the floor, either pointing the same way as your head or else extended at shoulder level while the body is inverted. Again the extra effort required to keep the body straight and still without supporting the back intensifies the benefits of the posture.

One of the chief beneficial effects of the SHOULDERSTAND lies in the reversal of the influence of gravity on the internal organs. Few people appreciate how great this influence is. The body fluids tend to flow downwards and the skeleton is also subjected to constant downward displacement, and likewise the internal organs.

People with jobs that entail long hours of standing are most subject to varicose veins in the legs and prolapse of the viscera. In hospitals, patients suffering from these and allied ailments are placed on tilted beds so that the legs are higher than the feet. This practice, a modification of the Yoga asana I have just described, is to check the downward drag of gravity.

Nervous fatigue is due not only to emotional stress but also to the fact that the muscles of your back have to work long and hard just to hold you up. By inverting your body there is an immediate relief from this strain and the overtired feeling dissolves into a pleasant feeling of relaxation. The SHOULDERSTAND therefore is an invaluable exercise not only for insomnia but for nervous fatigue and tired or swollen legs. As a prolonged Shoulderstand and, for some of my older readers, even a brief
one produces something of a strain and tension in the neck. The following exercise known as Sethu Bandhasana or the BRIDGE POSTURE will bring relief by relaxing the neck and at the same time exercising the muscles of the lower, middle, and upper back. It is fairly simple, if you go carefully. swollen legs.

The Bridge Posture
From the Shoulderstand, and keeping your knees straight, very slowly lower your legs until your feet are flat on the floor. Do not lower your body from the waist upwards and keep your hands supporting the back in the most comfortable position, which is usually on either side of the spine. Performed correctly, this exercise makes the body look like a graceful bridge. Hold it for as long as you comfortably can and then slowly, very slowly, lower your body and then your hands until you are lying flat. Remain relaxed for a few minutes and take a few, deep recovery breaths. The Shoulderstand should always be followed by the Bridge Posture.

Although the Shoulderstand is one of the easier Yoga asanas, I am aware that many of my readers will be either too ill or too stiff or maybe even too overweight to perform this posture at all. In that case, you will obtain many, though not all, of the benefits of the Shoulderstand by lying down on the floor in your bedroom with your feet up on the bed. Practice the relaxation exercise, Savasana, described in Chapter 2, with your feet above your head. Hold your body still and relaxed and try to calm your mind and clear away your mental and physical tensions. In cases of fatigue and insomnia you will find this practice of enormous help.

And now here is a very easy little ROCKING EXERCISE which will also help people suffering from insomnia. It can be performed as a preliminary exercise to the Shoulderstand, as I will explain presently, or else as an exercise just before you get into bed at night to help you sleep.

Rocking Exercises
Sit down on the floor, draw up your knees and place your fingers behind your knees as in Figure 7. Keep your head up and your back straight. Let your body roll backwards until the back of your head touches the floor and your legs swing over your face. Keep your knees straight. Rock yourself forwards again until you are in the starting position again.

Try this simple exercise a few times until you are able to control your movements. Remember to swing yourself back slowly so that your feet do not touch the floor behind your head. Use your hands to maintain your balance when you are perched on your seat and as your head goes down and your legs swing over. When you have gained some measure of control, do the ROCKING EXERCISE as a slow and continuous movement, to and fro about a dozen times. You will find it very bracing and fatigue will soon disappear. Like so many other Yoga asanas, it has the dual effect of producing energy in the body and at the same time calming the nerves. It is, therefore, beneficial both in cases of sleeplessness and of daytime fatigue.

Perform this exercise a dozen times and, as you swing your legs over for the last time, remove your hands from behind your knees and, supporting your back with them, rise into a SHOULDERSTAND. This is an excellent way of gathering momentum if you find it difficult to get into the Shoulderstand from the ordinary lying position. When you can perform the Rocking Exercise slowly and with absolute control, try then to match your breathing so that it is in rhythm with the to and fro movements of the exercise.

All Yoga exercises should be accompanied by either Yoga deep breathing or rhythmic breathing. Controlled breathing and stretching at the same time is the easiest method of quickly restoring freshness and vitality to a tired body. In particular the BACKWARD BEND calls into play not only the muscles of the back, torso and arms, but it also tones and refreshes the nerves and taxes the sense of balance, therefore, requiring a certain amount of concentration and discipline. There are many Yoga exercises which combine deep breathing with stretching and I will mention the most useful ones throughout this book. Here I choose the BACKWARD BEND for its particularly beneficial effects in the case of neurasthenia or nervous exhaustion.

Backward Bend
Stand with your feet wide apart and lace your fingers together and then turn them palms upwards. Slowly raise your arms above your head and at the same time bend backwards as far as you possibly can without overbalancing. I have demonstrated the correct movement in figure 8. Remember to let your head go back as far as you can and turn your eyes upwards so that you are looking in the direction that your head is pointing. This is more beneficial than keeping
them looking downwards, as it imparts a healthy exercise to the eyes. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat ad lib.

There is no special warning attached to the Backward Bend but, if you have a hernia, please go very carefully. Bending backwards could do more harm than good in your case. Do be careful not to overbalance as you lean backwards. This tendency can be avoided if you do not try to bend backwards to your utmost at first. Be content to go a little farther back each day you practice and you will soon gain control in this valuable exercise.

And now for another breathing exercise which will restore vitality when you find you are at your lowest ebb. Those of you who have any difficulty in performing Yoga asanas but nevertheless wish to study Yoga as a means of improving your general health, can, with impunity, practice and perfect all Yoga breathing exercises. This one, to give you new zest and vitality, is called the NERVE RECHARGING BREATH. All Yoga breathing exercises are variations of the COMPLETE BREATH which I described in Chapter Three, and while I shall in this book describe several of the variations, I stress that they should be done in conjunction with the various asanas. In choosing the NERVE RECHARGING BREATH for this chapter on insomnia and neurasthenia, I have borne in mind the fact that toning the nervous system and stretching the muscles and tendons is nature’s own way of combating these two disorders which are so intrinsically linked together.

Nerve Recharging Breath
Stand up straight, legs apart, hands at your sides. While inhaling deeply, raise your arms forward to shoulder height with your palms upwards. Complete your inhalation. Close both your fists and, while holding your breath, pull your hands back slowly until your fists are resting against your shoulders. When the impulse to exhale appears, do so and, at the same time, slowly unclench your hands and lower them to the starting position. Repeat this exercise two or three times and then relax for a few moments before you perform any other exercise.
The Nerve Recharging Breath strengthens the nervous system and helps to overcome nervous trembling of the hands. It is also said to be helpful to people who lack self-confidence. Yoga is nothing if not all encompassing!

Practice in turn each of the exercises I have described in this chapter and, after a surprisingly short time, you will experience a new feeling of relaxation and freedom from stress. When you get into bed at night, you will surprise yourself by sinking into a profound and delicious sleep.

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