Two weeks of 20-minute yoga nidra sessions improved volunteers’ sleep, memory, decision-making and thinking skills. This has been shown by a study published in the journal. PLOS ONE.
Active forms of yoga focus on various postures (asanas), breathing and muscle control. In contrast, yoga nidra does not require movement: it aims to achieve a state of conscious relaxation in a lying position.
In a new study, scientists from India used polysomnography, which allows a person to evaluate brain activity during different stages of sleep, their duration and frequency. After two weeks of yoga nidra, participants experienced a significant increase in sleep quality and the rate of delta waves in deep sleep. Previous studies have shown that it is associated with improved sleep quality, attention and memory. The new results confirmed these findings: Participants became faster at answering intelligence tests without losing accuracy. Their memory, abstract thinking and spatial learning abilities improved.
The authors believe their study is the first high-quality, objective evidence that yoga nidra improves sleep quality and brain function.
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