One indicator of your sleep quality is how quickly you can get your resting heart rate to drop to its lowest point. Doing stressful things in the hours leading up to bed, feeling insecure, or drinking caffeine too late in the day can prevent you from reaching a slower resting heart rate.
For example, I personally know that if I reach my resting heart rate (usually around 43 or 44 BPM) before 12 AM, I’ll have a better night of sleep. If my heart rate doesn’t get to 44 BPM until 4 AM, or worse, doesn’t get there at all, then I know my sleep quality wasn’t as good as it should have been, and that my recovery is not as complete as it could be.
One thing you can do to help your resting heart rate reach its lowest bpm more quickly earlier in the night is through self-myofascial release. In the context of improving your sleep, the goal here isn’t necessarily to release any muscle knots, but it can be a by-product. Your goal with this is to focus on deep breathing while releasing tension from specific areas, notably your hips and shoulders, as this is where we tend to “hold” the most stress.
Spend anywhere from 2-10 minutes on this, and try to do at least 30 or 60 minutes before you go to sleep. You want to have a nice period of relaxation before you go to sleep, and this serves as a really nice transition to help get from running around the house finishing your to-do list to relaxing and getting ready for a great night of sleep.
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