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| Hello everyone 
I'm new to this forum and to Bikram, so I'd appreciate any advice you can offer.
I have done a grand total of 3 Bikram classes, and I can feel a love affair blossoming
The only trouble is, I have the strangest sleep on the nights I do the class, and it doesn't seem to matter whether it's the 4pm, 6pm or 7:45pm class I attend. I've done plenty of yoga before, and have always had really restful, deep sleep on those nights, but with Bikram, I feel like I sort of doze all night, not really sleeping properly.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Many thanks. |
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| Love at first sight (I mean three) and loss of sleep. Just kidding.
From your statements, you are interested in comparitive research in your new style and your past. This should be done at least for one year to get some good knowledge.
Getting opinon from others will only confuse further and add to the amount of time needed to find this difference.
If the research finding is not important, I suggest: Doing exercise in NON Heated Room, because possibly that is the only difference.
Happy Holidays. |
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| I have done my first 10 classes in 18 days and I did notice if I did my class at 8 pm. I had trouble sleeping at night. The earlier classes gave me a restful sleep. Overall I feel much more energetic from Bikram. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
 
Location: Oregon | Jacqui, welcome!
For one, it's new. As Neel suggests, give it more time before you compare.
And two, it might not be about Yoga so much as it is about the strenuous nature of Bikrams. It might be affecting your biorhythms. From a personal point of view, as I age, exercise in the evenings can get me wound up. On the other hand, physical exercise is good for helping insomnia and depression. Both of which I've had, and Bikrams has helped.
So, you might try an am class. Or, give it a few more months. |
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| Welcome welcome!!
All SORTS of interesting unpredictable things will happen in your body when you're at the very beginning of your practice! Bikram classes do a lot for your energy levels and sleep/wake cycle, so I believe that fluctuations in sleeping patterns are very common, as well as changes in appetite and soreness in muscles you didn't know you had. ;) Since you're still brand new (a newborn really!) I'd agree that you shouldn't try to make ANY conclusions yet - just "go with it" for now and watch what happens. Right now you are changing your body's equilibrium drastically. In a couple weeks I bet your body will start to adapt and re-stabilize and then you can see what's going on. Your body's reaction to the practice can - and will - change a LOT over time. It's a fun ride. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
  
| Let me be the dissenting voice here. As someone who has had insomnia in the past, I value my sleep too much to give any of it up. Personally, I would eliminate anything from my life that compromised my ability to sleep well. However, as you see, Bikram can eventually help some people with sleep, so if you are willing to stick it out for awhile, go for it. But do let us know how it works out for you. It helps to have many people's experiences so that others can make informed choices. |
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| Jacqui, One of the sayings Bikram is fond of is that you never lose time by doing yoga. So the two hours minimum our practice takes out of our day is returned to us in other ways. We will probably be sick less, hurt less, and as you have found, we will probably require less sleep. Before I began doing yoga I would sleep 8 to 9 hours--if not interrupted--daily and feel fine. As my practice deepened that time gradually grew less and less until now my sleep pattern is 5.5 to 6 hours. For me to try to stretch that to 8 hours leaves me feeling pretty miserable. Recently I tried to match up with a partner's sleep schedule(she needed a minimum of 8 and preferred 9 hours) and ended up getting out of bed each morning before 4am. Great for her--I would go and get her coffee--not so great for me. Keeping to my schedule I fall asleep quickly and I seldom have the need for an alarm clock to wake up. I attribute this mostly to the improvement in the efficiency of my breathing and the resulting metabolic kick. I'd be surprised if this wasn't a result from the consistent practice in any lineage but I have heard it often with other "hot" pracctioners.
If you force yourself to bed whether you are tired or not, with the desire to get that magic number of hours, you will probably sleep restlessly. Bring the awareness that we work to bring to our yoga practice, home as well and tune into what your body needs--it may have changed. I don't know if you drink coffee or soda but I would also limit the use of caffiene, and especially later in the day(my cut off is 3pm.) I feel your body is waking up and may work into an acceptable sleep pattern soon. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 338
| In my experience, Bikram can precipitate insomnia. I handle it by just staying up and doing things.
I sometimes only get 4 or 5 hours of sleep if I have been doing Bikram daily. At times I take a sleeping pill, if I need to get up early. I try to do that only occasionally.
When I lessen by Bikram, my sleep patterns return to normal, which for me is about 7 to 9 hours a night. |
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| Personally, I do not believe sleeping 4 hours a night is good for you, and I do not believe Bikram is SO miraculous that it can curb the body's need for sleep. ALL organisms need adequate rest to repair. I'm not convinced any human being can thrive, long-term, on so little sleep. Bikram should give you more energy, and I could see if you were perpetually sluggish or finding that you need an unusually large amount of sleep that Bikram would also help that situation. But I would worry if doing Bikram caused me to regularly only get a few hours of sleep per night...maybe you feel fine, and like you are getting "more hours in the day" for awhile, but I think over a long period of time (years/decades), this will accumulate in your body with a negative effect.
The Bikram insomnia has actually never happened to me; but I think if it did, I'd try going to an earlier class. |
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| Thank you all for your replies to this, I'm sorry I haven't been back before now, troubles with my 'puter.
Anyway, I'm still doing Bikram, and still having trouble sleeping. That being said, I've probably only done 12ish classes in total, so still a novice. I really want this to work out, so I'll keep going for at least another month. I have two little children who would probably prefer not to have such a cranky Mama, so I feel owe it to them to go back to Iyengar if this doesn't work out.
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| Bikram definitely has affected my sleep patterns, and it seems to have to do with an overall increase in mental energy as a result of the practice. I sit zazen (meditate) daily and find that sitting close to when I want to go to sleep helps me even out and go to sleep more easily. I missed sitting the other night and tossed and turned for over an hour before I fell asleep.
Personally, I'm thrilled. I've struggled with raising my energy level for years, and nothing has affected it as suddenly and dramatically as Bikram. I still get just about the same amount of sleep as before, and what amount of sleep I'm not getting is balanced out with the overall increase of energy. |
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New User
Posts: 1
| I, too, am afflicted by restless nights after practicing Bikram. I did Bikram religiously for about 6 months, before an injury took me out of class. I just returned this week after a two-year hiatus. I took a 4 p.m. class, went to bed around 11 or 12, tossed and turned all night, and sweated terribly too! This made me recall that I always slept poorly (and sweatily) after Bikram. I used to take the 8 p.m. class, which might have explained the insomnia, but not after having the same effect after taking a class 4 hrs earlier. Despite the lack of sleep, I'm going back tonight, and plan to take melatonin afterward, in hopes that it allows me to rest. I'll report back if it's helpful! If not, I think I'll finish out my package and return to other forms of yoga, strength training and barre. |
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Member
Posts: 21
| Yep, me too. But if I am consistently practicing Im ok.
I do modified Bikram, so it's not as demanding.
I didn't do a class for about 10 days and went last night at 6pm. It felt amazing and was laying in bed until about 3 this morning in that sleepy but wired mode will my feet and hands hypersensitive. I woke up at 9 feeling like a truck ran over me, but that seems to be normal when I do a very strenuous class or haven't been for a long time. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 338
| i definitely need ot balance out my benefits from yoga with the zinged and insomniac state that sometimes comes on. It doesn't matter the time of day that i practice. If I am in a "zingy state, it can last for several days even without yoga. Eventually it ends. At other time, I can do yoga 3 times a week with no problem. I never experience those "zingy time" when I just practice yoga 2 times a week.So, I agree 4 hours of sleep a night, even though it can be fun, is not good for me long term. I am in control of how much yoga i do and I just have to be aware of my body. |
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Member
Posts: 13
| Bikram yoga is very easy to learn. I have no problem about bikrama yoga. I like to all types yoga. |
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New User
Posts: 2
| Thank you for information |
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Member
Posts: 13
| Hello all,
I feel lucky for being a member of this forum, Now a days Yoga is taking a good role in human life. By Yoga people can leave a healthy and peaceful life. |
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Bikram and sleep
