Somatic exercises for sleep

Somatic exercises are slow, deliberate movements done with attention on what you feel rather than on form. For sleep they work by unloading tension your body is holding without asking you, which is what keeps you alert in a dark room at midnight. Three to twelve minutes is enough.

How they differ from stretching

A stretch pulls a muscle to its end range. A somatic exercise asks a muscle to let go of a contraction it has been quietly maintaining. That is why they look like almost nothing from outside and feel like a lot from inside, and why holding a hamstring stretch for forty seconds does not help you sleep while two minutes of shaking often does.

Seven that work, shortest first

1. Jaw and tongue release, 1 minute. Let the teeth come apart, tongue heavy on the floor of the mouth. Most people hold the whole evening here without noticing.
2. Shoulder rolls with a full out breath, 2 minutes. Slow, backwards, one roll per breath out. Small and unimpressive and it works.
3. Shaking, 2 to 3 minutes. Stand, knees soft, bounce lightly, let hands and shoulders go loose. This is the one for wound up and flat at the same time, when a calming practice will not touch it.
4. Humming out breath, 3 minutes. Mouth closed, low note, to the end of every breath. Technically breathing, but it lands in the body the same way.
5. Legs up a wall, 3 to 5 minutes. Lie down, legs resting up the wall, arms out. Requires nothing of you, which is the point on the days you have nothing.
6. Constructive rest, 5 minutes. On your back, knees bent, feet flat, hands on the ribs. Do not hold the knees together, let them fall where they want. The lower back unloads on its own.
7. Body scan, 6 minutes. Head to feet, noticing without fixing. The noticing is what releases it. Trying to relax a part usually tightens it.

Which one tonight

Tight and racing: humming, then the long out breath. Tight and empty: shake first, then breathe, because a calming practice on top of stuck tension does not get through. Slept badly and running on nothing: body scan or legs up the wall, nothing standing. Ordinary evening: long out breath and legs up the wall.

This is the whole reason we built the picking into an app rather than writing a longer list. The list is not the hard part. Choosing from it at eleven at night, tired, is the hard part.

Where else to find them

Free and genuinely good: Insight Timer has a large somatic section, YouTube has channels covering all seven of these, and Workout for Weirdos is a paid app with a big somatic library. All of them are libraries. If browsing at night works for you, use them and save your money.

Wind Down Daily is for people it does not work for. Three taps before bed, one practice that same evening, around twelve minutes, with one line on why that one. Five days free, then twenty nine dollars once or twelve dollars a month.

More on this

• What a Somatic Workout Is, and One to Do Tonight

  A direct explanation of what a somatic workout is, a twelve minute evening sequence with counts and timings, and what to skip before bed.

• Somatic Release Exercises That Work at Night

  Five somatic release exercises to do before bed, with positions, counts and timings, plus what to skip and honest free alternatives.

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Sleep, Step by Step

  How to do progressive muscle relaxation in bed in about twelve minutes, the exact sequence, common mistakes, and honest free alternatives.

• Yoga Nidra for Sleep: How to Actually Use It in Bed

  How to use yoga nidra to fall asleep, which length and position work, what to skip, and honest free alternatives including Insight Timer and YouTube.

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