Yoga guide
Yoga can help you sleep a little better, mostly in how well you feel you slept, and a slow wind-down before bed is a good habit. But it doesn't cure insomnia: in the largest trial in people with insomnia, yoga helped about half as much as CBT for insomnia (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I), the talking therapy that is the first treatment. If you've had trouble sleeping for months, see a GP, and use yoga alongside.
This guide explains what the trials show for yoga and sleep, how big the effects are, when to do yoga and what kind, why bedtime yoga for insomnia belongs on a mat rather than in bed, which breathing and relaxation to use, and when poor sleep needs a doctor, with a free 20-minute bedtime class. Our yoga for anxiety and sleep guide covers anxiety and stress.
In 19 trials of 1,832 women with sleep problems, yoga improved sleep quality scores by about 1.2 points on a 21-point scale. Across 86 exercise trials, yoga improved self-rated sleep against no exercise, as other types of exercise did.
For insomnia that lasts 3 months or more, every guideline we read puts CBT for insomnia first: a talking therapy, face to face or online, that a GP can refer you for. Yoga goes alongside it, not instead.
In about 740 cancer survivors with insomnia (the YOCAS-II trial), insomnia severity fell 3.6 points with 4 weeks of yoga and 7.2 points with 8 weeks of CBT-I. These results are on the trial registry and in a conference abstract; no journal paper has appeared.
In 240 women, 3 months of yoga did no better for sleep than time-matched general exercise, and in 226 people with generalised anxiety disorder, sleep improved no more with yoga than with stress education. Any regular exercise you'll keep doing helps.
The NHS says relax for at least an hour before bed and don't exercise in the 4 hours before. Part of CBT-I is keeping the bed for sleep and sex, so with insomnia, do the wind-down on a mat and go to bed when sleepy (our reading of the CBT-I rules).
Loud snoring with pauses in your breathing and always feeling very tired can be sleep apnoea. Trouble sleeping for months, or that makes it hard to cope, needs a GP, and insomnia goes with a higher chance of depression later.
"Insomnia means you regularly have problems sleeping." It's short-term if it lasts under 3 months and long-term if it lasts 3 months or longer. Trials use a stricter definition: trouble getting to sleep, staying asleep or waking early, with effects in the day, on at least 3 nights a week for at least 3 months. The NHS lists stress, anxiety or depression among the commonest causes, with shift work, noise, an uncomfortable bed, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, jet lag and medicines.
In England, insomnia symptoms rose from 35.0% to 38.6% of adults between 1993 and 2007, and diagnoses from 3.1% to 5.8%. In UK Biobank, 29% said they had insomnia symptoms, but only 6% had them recorded by their GP.
The NHS says adults need 7 to 9 hours on average, and US sleep experts say 7 or more, with differences between people. Not everyone needs 8 hours.
"Non-depressed people with insomnia have a twofold risk to develop depression, compared to people with no sleep difficulties." Sleep problems affect about 65% of people with generalised anxiety disorder. Our yoga for anxiety and sleep guide covers anxiety, stress and panic.
The trials tested whole programmes, not single poses: gentle hatha and restorative postures with breathing and meditation (the YOCAS programme was 75 minutes twice a week for 4 weeks), Kundalini yoga practised daily at home, or classes plus daily home practice. Yoga nidra is a guided lying relaxation; our yoga nidra guide covers it.
Most yoga trials measured the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI, a questionnaire scored 0 to 21), not the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI, scored 0 to 28) or sleep measured by a wrist device or an overnight study. Questionnaire results tend to be bigger and less certain, because people know which group they're in.
A talking therapy, typically 4 to 8 sessions, that combines education about sleep with changing the habits and thoughts that keep you awake. It includes stimulus control: "(a) go to bed only when sleepy; (b) get out of bed when unable to sleep; (c) use the bed/bedroom for sleep and sex only". It also includes sleep restriction therapy.
Source 4
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine strongly recommends it; the American College of Physicians calls it "the initial treatment for chronic insomnia disorder"; the European guideline gives it its top grade, with exercise only as an add-on; and NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) says "CBTi is the standard first treatment". NICE recommends a digital CBT-I programme in primary care, and a medicine only after CBT-I has been tried or isn't available.
In 20 trials of 1,162 adults, face-to-face CBT-I helped people fall asleep about 19 minutes sooner and spend 26 minutes less awake in the night, and the changes lasted; it added little total sleep at first. A review of 87 trials found the largest effects on insomnia severity. Not everyone responds: "A quarter of patients treated with CBT-I do not respond sufficiently."
In the UK, see a GP: they may refer you for CBT face to face or online, and NICE recommends a digital programme in primary care. GPs now rarely prescribe sleeping pills. In the US, ask your doctor about CBT for insomnia, which the American College of Physicians recommends for all adults with chronic insomnia.
Alongside CBT-I, not instead. The European guideline says exercise "may be useful as adjunct therapies to cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia", and in the one large trial that compared them, yoga did less. A 2025 Cochrane review of CBT-I in people with cancer counts that trial from its unpublished data.
In 19 trials of 1,832 women with sleep problems, yoga improved sleep quality scores by about 1.2 points on the 21-point PSQI. Every trial had a high or unclear risk of bias, and smaller trials more often found an effect. Across 86 exercise trials (7,276 adults, not chosen for insomnia), yoga improved sleep quality against no exercise but ranked last of six exercise types, with no significant differences between the types; another network of 27 trials ranked Pilates first.
In the same review, three trials found no effect of yoga on insomnia severity, and there was no effect on sleep measured by a wrist device. In 186 midlife women, sleep on wrist devices didn't change with yoga. Across exercise trials in insomnia, self-rated sleep improved more than measured sleep.
In about 740 cancer survivors who met the criteria for insomnia, insomnia severity fell 3.61 points with 4 weeks of yoga (75 minutes twice a week), 7.22 with 8 weeks of CBT-I and 2.19 with health education. Yoga was 3.52 points behind CBT-I, well past the margin the trial set for calling them equal, and still 2.78 points behind at 6 months, though it beat health education. Fewer people dropped out of yoga (16% against 30% for CBT-I).
The results come from the trial registry and a conference abstract; no journal paper has appeared, and a 2025 Cochrane review counts it from unpublished data.
In 249 women, 12 weeks of yoga lowered insomnia severity by about 1.3 points more than usual activity, with no change on wrist devices. Across four trials in 546 women, CBT-I cut insomnia severity by 5.2 points, while yoga's fall was small.
NICE suggests menopause-specific CBT for sleep problems that come with hot flushes and night sweats, and the NHS lists yoga, tai chi or meditation among relaxing things to try. Our yoga for menopause guide covers it.
In 410 survivors with disturbed sleep (not diagnosed insomnia), 4 weeks of yoga improved sleep quality by 0.79 points more than usual care, and people in the yoga group cut their sleeping tablet use by 21% a week. Across 25 trials in people with cancer, walking improved sleep problems more than yoga.
In a network of 35 trials in older adults, yoga wasn't among the exercise types that beat usual care; in 45 studies of sleep problems, yoga improved sleep quality scores, but only meditation beat sleep hygiene education. The older adults' insomnia trial that is often quoted gives no sample size in its summary and doesn't say it was randomised.
Kundalini yoga beat sleep hygiene advice in 44 people, but the authors chose sleep hygiene as a weak comparison, the lead author taught both groups, sleep was self-reported, and they say the effects are "likely overestimates". Other insomnia trials had 44 postmenopausal women across three groups, or no comparison group at all (20 and 21 people who finished).
In 240 women with bladder leaks, 3 months of yoga didn't improve sleep more than time-matched general exercise (a 0.29-point difference). In 226 people with generalised anxiety disorder, sleep improved no more with yoga than with stress education.
A 2026 network of 22 insomnia trials (1,348 people) estimated that yoga added 111 minutes of total sleep against usual care. But it was "all based on sleep diary data", the number of yoga trials behind it isn't given in what we could read, and 68% of the trials had some concerns about bias. Trials that measured sleep with devices found nothing like it.
Across 24 trials (1,591 people with insomnia), physical activity improved self-rated sleep, with low certainty. Over 6 months or more, exercise and CBT-I both helped, CBT-I more. In 200 adults over 50, tai chi was worse than CBT-I at 3 months but as good at 15 months. Our searches found no such trial of yoga outside cancer.
In the 19-trial review, yoga "was not associated with any serious adverse events", though only 2 trials reported on safety. YOCAS-II listed 3 serious adverse events with yoga and 1 with CBT-I, with no clear link to the programmes. NCCIH (the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health) says "Serious injuries are rare."
Relax for at least an hour before bed, exercise regularly during the day, and "do not exercise at least 4 hours before bed". Only go to bed when you're sleepy.
Source 3
In 23 studies, a single evening session didn't harm sleep in healthy people, but vigorous exercise ending an hour or less before bed might. In 4 million nights of wearable data from 14,689 people, exercise ending 4 or more hours before sleep showed no link with sleep.
A 2026 review found no clear overall advantage for morning over evening exercise. The one trial of morning against evening yoga compared 6 am with 6 pm in students, lost 48% of the morning group, and didn't test yoga at bedtime.
Slow, low-effort poses and breathing count as relaxing, not as the exercise the NHS means. Keep flowing, strong or hot yoga for earlier in the day (as our Pilates for sleep and yoga for anxiety and sleep guides say).
A 10 to 20 minute wind-down of gentle poses, mostly lying, with slow breathing and no breath holds, in the hour before bed. Our 20-minute bedtime class puts them in order. The order is our own, built from the NHS and sleep medicine advice on relaxation; no trial has tested it.
Part of CBT-I is to use "the bed/bedroom for sleep and sex only" and go to bed only when sleepy. So if you have insomnia, do the wind-down on a mat, rug or chair, then get into bed (our editorial reading). If you sleep well and just want to relax, the lying moves are fine on a firm bed.
NHS Every Mind Matters suggests: "if you're still awake after around 20 minutes, get up and sit somewhere comfortable. Try a relaxing activity like gentle yoga, reading a book or listening to quiet music." Go back to bed when you feel sleepy. Keeping the light low is our suggestion.
Source 12
Our searches found no trial of a single pose, or of yoga done in bed, for sleep; the trials tested whole programmes. Choose the poses you find restful. Our restorative yoga guide covers supported poses.
Source 48
The NHS breathing exercise has you breathe in and out steadily, counting from 1 to 5 if that helps, for at least 5 minutes, with no holds, and says "You can do it standing up, sitting in a chair that supports your back, or lying on a bed or yoga mat on the floor." The studies are tiny: in 14 people with insomnia, 20 minutes of slow breathing before bed helped them fall asleep in a sleep lab, but in 20 young adults slow breathing had no clear effect on sleep.
Sleep doctors suggest relaxation therapy, such as slow abdominal breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and meditation, for chronic insomnia. It's a conditional recommendation, based on low-quality evidence.
Source 4
Its sleep evidence is very low certainty: 2 small trials for each sleep outcome, neither significant. In 41 people with chronic insomnia, yoga nidra and CBT-I both improved diary sleep, but the trial was too small to compare them. Our yoga nidra guide has a script.
Across 18 trials (1,654 people), mindfulness meditation improved sleep quality more than general comparison activities, but not more than specific sleep treatments.
Source 54
The holds aren't needed. In 84 students, breathing at 6 breaths a minute raised heart rate variability more than 4-7-8 or box breathing, and the authors say those two "have little empirical support". Our searches found no trial of 4-7-8 breathing in insomnia.
Slow breathing: "At least 5 minutes, done regularly as part of your daily routine" (from the move page's dose); at bedtime, 2 minutes, in for about 4 and out for about 6, no holds (our bedtime Pilates class). Breath reach: 5 breaths, arms floating up as you breathe in and down on a longer breath out (our yoga for stress class). Alternate nostril breathing, optional: "3 to 5 minutes of slow rounds, once or twice a day" (from the move page's dose); skip it with a blocked nose. No sleep trial has tested it.
Cat-cow: 6 slow rounds. Child's pose: 1 minute, knees wide, a cushion under your chest (both from our after-shift yoga for nurses class). Reclined figure four: 45 seconds each side, holding behind the thigh (our yoga for restless legs class). Lying twist: 45 seconds each side, a cushion under the top knee (our yoga for stress class). Happy baby: 45 seconds (our bedtime stretch routine), holding behind your thighs if your knees object. Reclining bound angle: 2 minutes, a cushion under each thigh (our bedtime Pilates class). Legs up the wall: 2 minutes, with your hips on the floor and your head on a folded blanket if you have glaucoma or high blood pressure that isn't controlled (our yoga for stress class). Supported bridge, optional: 2 minutes, a firm cushion under your sacrum, not your lower back (our yoga for nurses class). Corpse pose: 3 to 5 minutes, breathing slowly (our bedtime Pilates class); with insomnia, get into bed only once you feel sleepy.
3D demoCat-cowBeginner · No equipment
3D demoChild's Pose (Balasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoReclined figure four (eye of the needle, Sucirandhrasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSupine spinal twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoHappy baby pose (Ananda Balasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoReclining bound angle pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)Beginner · Firm cushion
3D demoLegs up the wall (Viparita Karani)Beginner · A wall
3D demoSupported bridge pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)Beginner · Firm cushion
3D demoCorpse pose (Savasana)Beginner · No equipmentEarlier in the day, regular exercise helps self-rated sleep. Sun salutation A: 3 slow rounds. Chair pose: 2 holds of 5 breaths. Warrior II: 5 breaths each side. Tree pose: 3 to 5 breaths each side, fingertips on a wall (all from our yoga for stress class).
A short version of steps 3 and 4 of the yoga nidra script on our yoga nidra guide (Satyananda's method, with trauma-informed choices), as that guide suggests for 10 minutes. Relaxation is a conditional treatment for chronic insomnia in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine guideline; yoga nidra's sleep evidence is very low certainty.
See the movement on the 3D figure: Corpse pose (Savasana)
Our 20-minute bedtime class is slow breathing with no holds, a few gentle movements, lying stretches and a long rest, done on a mat. We built it from the NHS and sleep medicine advice on relaxation; no trial has tested it. The restorative sequence is the long version, the after-shift class suits shift workers, the stress class suits an early evening, and the restless legs class has an evening routine. The beginners' and vinyasa classes are for daytime exercise.
A 20-minute bedtime yoga class on the mat: slow breathing with no holds, a few gentle movements, lying stretches and a long rest before bed.
20 minBeginner9 movesFirm cushion, wallA 45-minute restorative yoga sequence: five fully supported poses held for 4 to 10 minutes each, with slow breathing and a long final rest.
45 minBeginner6 movesFirm cushion, wallA 20-minute after-shift yoga class for nurses: legs up, a gentle lower back, supported restorative poses and slow breathing to wind down for sleep.
20 minBeginner11 movesWall, firm cushionA slow 15-minute Pilates wind-down for the last hour before bed: slow breathing, small lying moves and a few minutes of stillness, with no effort or holds.
15 minBeginner9 movesFirm cushionTwenty minutes of yoga for stressful days: the NHS breathing exercise, neck, shoulder and spine moves, standing poses that warm you up, then a slow wind-down.
20 minBeginner13 movesWallA gentle 30-minute evening yoga class for restless legs: breathing, easy standing poses, calf, thigh and hip stretches, and a 10-minute rest.
30 minBeginner15 movesWall, firm cushionA 25-minute gentle yoga class for complete beginners and over-50s: slow breathing, a warm-up, supported standing poses, floor poses and a closing rest.
25 minBeginner14 movesNo equipmentA 30-minute beginners' vinyasa flow: sun salutations, lunges, standing poses, balances and backbends, moving with the breath at a slow pace, then a rest.
30 minBeginner16 movesNo equipmentFor regular activity during the day.
Your first four weeks: two, then three short strength sessions a week at home plus walks, building gently to a full routine.
2 training days20 minBeginner6 days a weekA free 8-week walking plan for beginners: build to 150 minutes of brisk walking a week, with intervals, hills and two short strength sessions.
6 training days40 minBeginnerWith glaucoma or high blood pressure that isn't controlled, keep your hips on the floor and your head on a folded blanket, as our yoga for stress class says. In later pregnancy, prop your upper body up or skip it.
In corpse pose, happy baby and reclining bound angle, prop yourself up on cushions or lie on your side, as those poses' pages say. Our yoga in pregnancy guide covers the changes.
None are needed. NCCIH advises beginners to avoid forceful breathing, and the 4-7-8 and box breathing pages describe light-headedness from the holds.
Source 43
The sleep guideline notes that stimulus control "may need to be adapted for safety in some patient populations, such as those at high risk for falls". Our suggestion: put a light on, sit on the edge of the bed for a moment before you stand, and do the breathing in a chair rather than on the floor.
Source 4
Try our evening yoga for restless legs class; our yoga for restless legs guide covers the condition.
If lying still brings up distressing thoughts or panic, open your eyes, sit up and breathe slowly; if slow breathing makes you dizzy or tingly, make the breaths smaller (our advice).
Our yoga nidra and yoga for PTSD guides have more choices.
A bad night or a bad week is common and usually passes. These are the site's lines for when sleep needs a GP, driving, low mood and urgent help, word for word, plus our yoga lines. This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999.
The NHS says: "GPs now rarely prescribe sleeping pills to treat insomnia. Sleeping pills can have serious side effects and you can become dependent on them."
Source 3
Don't drive when you feel sleepy. With confirmed sleep apnoea and excessive sleepiness, you must not drive until it's under control.
If you are thinking about suicide or can't keep yourself safe, call 999 or go to A&E. For urgent help, call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time, or in England call 111 and select the mental health option. In the US, call or text 988.
Our yoga for depression and yoga for anxiety and sleep guides cover low mood and worry.
Call 999 if:
A joint pain that is sharp, gets worse during a session, lingers into the next day or changes how you move is a reason to use an easier version, and to see a GP or physiotherapist if it keeps happening (the rule in our plans). Muscle soreness for a day or two after something new is normal. In a hot class, stop if you feel dizzy, sick or unwell; our hot yoga guide lists the signs of heat illness.
You can say no to any hands-on adjustment, and a teacher registered with Yoga Alliance must get your explicit consent each time.
With glaucoma, or high blood pressure that isn't under control, skip headstands, shoulder stands and long head-down holds. With osteoporosis, swap deep forward folds for a flat-back hinge from the hips, and twist smoothly. In pregnancy, our yoga in pregnancy guide covers the changes. NCCIH advises beginners to avoid headstands, shoulder stands, the lotus position and forceful breathing.
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
Not shown. In the largest trial in diagnosed insomnia, yoga lowered insomnia severity about half as much as CBT-I, and across trials yoga improved self-rated sleep quality a little but not insomnia severity. Every guideline puts CBT-I first.
That figure came from sleep diaries against usual care, from an unknown number of yoga trials, most of which had some concerns about bias. Sleep measured by devices didn't change in yoga trials.
No trial has tested a single pose, such as legs up the wall or child's pose; the trials tested whole programmes.
Source 48
No trial has tested it. With insomnia, stimulus control asks you to keep the bed for sleep and sex. If you sleep well and just want to relax, gentle lying poses on a firm bed are fine (our reading, as our Pilates for sleep guide says).
Evening exercise doesn't harm sleep in general, but vigorous exercise ending within about an hour of bed may. With insomnia, follow the NHS and finish exercise at least 4 hours before bed.
There's no trial in insomnia, and researchers say it has "little empirical support".
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests not using sleep hygiene on its own as a treatment for chronic insomnia.
Source 4
Adults need 7 to 9 hours on average, and needs vary from person to person.
The claim rests on 4 yoga trials, none in people with insomnia, and the review lists the yoga's intensity as not reported.
Source 66
Its sleep evidence is very low certainty. Our yoga nidra guide covers this myth.
Source 52
It can help a little, mostly with how well you feel you sleep, and it's generally safe. In the largest trial in people with insomnia, yoga helped about half as much as CBT for insomnia, which is the first treatment. Use yoga alongside CBT-I, not instead.
Regular exercise of any kind, yoga included, improves self-rated sleep quality, and yoga isn't better than other exercise. Choose what you'll keep doing, and do the harder sessions earlier in the day.
Slow, gentle poses, mostly lying, with slow breathing and no breath holds; our 20-minute bedtime class puts them in order. Keep strong, flowing or hot yoga for earlier in the day.
If you sleep well, gentle lying poses on a firm bed are fine. If you have insomnia, CBT-I advice is to keep the bed for sleep and sex, so wind down on a mat, then go to bed when you feel sleepy.
The NHS suggests getting up after about 20 minutes and doing something relaxing, such as gentle yoga, reading or quiet music. Go back to bed when you feel sleepy; keeping the light low is our suggestion.
That figure came from sleep diaries against usual care, from an unknown number of small yoga trials. Trials that measured sleep with a device found no such gain.
No. In about 740 cancer survivors with insomnia, insomnia scores fell 3.6 points with yoga and 7.2 with CBT-I. In the UK, a GP can refer you for CBT-I face to face or through an online programme.
Yoga can ease anxiety a little, and our yoga for anxiety and sleep guide covers that. For sleep in people with generalised anxiety disorder, yoga did no better than stress education in a trial of 226 people, and CBT-I still comes first for insomnia.
Slow breathing with no holds, such as the NHS exercise of breathing in and out steadily for at least 5 minutes. Relaxation is a recognised treatment for insomnia, though the evidence is low quality, and 4-7-8 breathing has no trial in insomnia.
Small trials suggest it might, but the evidence is very low certainty. Our yoga nidra guide has a script.
Not usually, but vigorous exercise close to bedtime may delay sleep. If you have insomnia, the NHS advises no exercise in the 4 hours before bed; gentle bedtime yoga counts as relaxing.
If changing your habits hasn't helped, you've had trouble sleeping for months, or it's affecting your daily life; and if you snore loudly with pauses in your breathing or always feel very tired. The exact lines are on this page.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition such as glaucoma, high blood pressure or osteoporosis, or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
