Ever make the effort to get to bed at a decent hour only to experience a war of attrition with the clock on your nightstand? Its numbers silently tick away while you attempt to quell jumpy legs and a racing mind that pauses only to calculate how many hours you might still get if only you’d just fall asleep already.
If you’re (literally) tired of flicking off the lights and hoping for the best, try incorporating this quick series of stretches into your pre-bedtime routine. Stretching can help release muscle tension and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the branch of the nervous system that slows the heart rate and cues the body to relax.
You can do all of these pajama-friendly stretches in less than 10 minutes (a tiny investment for a solid eight hours of shut-eye).