Difficulty falling asleep, insomnia, nocturnal awakenings… Some people's nights are anything but a long calm river. One of the first factors? The stress. It can be linked to professional life, to major upheavals in personal life, to family and/or love tensions, to illness, or quite simply to the great whirlwind of a too frantic daily life.

Under stress, levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) skyrocket, resulting in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and the release of glucose into the blood - nothing that would make the body and the mind to go to sleep to start a good night's sleep.

How to get quality sleep?

For quality sleep, the INSV (National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance) recommends starting with:

• Go to bed and get up at regular times. Even on weekends, as far as possible, to synchronize your sleep-wake rhythm and avoid delays (excluding trips abroad)
• Adopt a dynamic alarm clock: forget the snooze button (the worst way to start your day stressed because each alarm clock is a new stress for the body). Open the curtains to awaken your spirit with natural light (at least, in the summer), stretch and prepare yourself a full breakfast like the hemp vegetable bowl recipe concocted by the chef of Persil & Mimosa.
• Plan one or more micro-naps during the day. It was one of the tips of Jean-Pascal Barraque, player in the XV of France, in an episode of HO KALM. 5 to 20 minutes are enough to gain energy from morning to night, and fall asleep like a baby.
• Avoid stimulants at the end of the day: coffee, tea, vitamin C… For a deeper sleep, and less nocturnal awakenings. This also applies to nicotine (stimulant), and alcohol (instead, test the CBD and fresh fruit cocktail).

This technique involves scanning your body, focusing on each part, even the smallest (an eyelash, a particular toe). It's very easy: simply "scan" your body from top to bottom, in detail, then from bottom to top, concentrating only on the specific body parts you're interested in. By clearing away distracting thoughts, this anatomical awareness allows for deep physical relaxation and can be done without any training, at any time of day! It's actually one of the techniques used in HoomBook, the audiobook (without electromagnetic waves) that's full of sound-based relaxation exercises for better sleep. Along the same lines, we also recommend visualization and mental imagery , similar to self-hypnosis. These exercises stimulate the resources of the mind and imagination to enhance relaxation. Simply think of positive moments (real, imagined, or projected): your next vacation, your last birthday, a family lunch…

Developed by American physician Edmund Jacobson in 1920, this technique promotes muscle relaxation through exercises consisting of contracting and then relaxing the muscles to relieve tension. Much like the body scan method, tense muscle groups (shoulders, arms, hands, legs, feet, pelvic region, neck, face) for 5 seconds, then release. Result: total relaxation!

With over 40.000 neurons and a network of neurotransmitters, the heart communicates with the brain. And it is exactly for this reason that in a state of stress, the latter beats faster. To slow down and refocus (and therefore sleep better), cardiac coherence exercises can be an excellent solution.

The concept ? Control your breathing with a series of short inhales and exhales to balance your heart rate. To start, we recommend the 365 rule: 3 times a day, 6 breaths per minute for 5 minutes! Inhale 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds slowly.

The good idea: Test this type of exercise to the rhythm of music from a homebook. Let go immediately!

If, despite these rituals, stress continues to plague your mind, try the exercises below. No screens, no electromagnetic waves. Just you, your cozy bed, and your thoughts. And a few drops of CBD to calm you and maximize the effects of the exercises. (Learn all about the benefits of CBD for sleep here).

Just 10 minutes of meditation a day could have a beneficial impact on stress and negative thoughts, according to a study in Consciousness and Cognition.

According to Eugénie Lambert Bucksein, founder of the first meditation studio in France, Bloom, and our meditation expert on the HO KALM podcast, not only does meditation help to overcome stress, but also to regulate emotions and boost memory. Why ? Because meditating activates the parasympathetic system which operates on issues of balance, relaxation or digestion.

Exercise :

STOP, by Elisha Goldstein, advised by Anne-Gabrielle Saint-Joigny in our major stress study (release scheduled for September 2022).

In a seated or lying position:
> S: Stop, to mark a pause. Thinking of nothing, and inducing a break before the previous activity.
> T: the breathing time. Focus on your breathing, inhale and exhale deeply 3 times.
> O: openness, observation of our sensations, thoughts, emotions. Detect all the sensations in our body at the present moment.
> P: a total presence in the experience, we welcome what is there and we see how best to meet our needs. Whatever maybe, you'll already be sleeping.