Learn to Calm Yourself

Stress can keep us up at night, but you can learn a simple vagus nerve technique to counter those feelings. The vagus nerve is the boss of your parasympathetic nervous system and has the opposite effect of the sympathetic nervous system's “fight or flight” response. In other words, it calms you down.

Just before bed, practice a vagus nerve exercise.

• Sit comfortably and turn your head gently to one side.
• Turn your eyes as far as you can in the same direction.
• Don’t force the action but continue stretching until you yawn, breathe deeply, or sigh.
• Repeat on the other side.

Chanting or humming has a similar calming effect on the vagus nerve as does deep, measured breathing. Try it tonight!