A simple rub of the wrist can whisk you away to the land of nod in just a few seconds. It’s an acupressure point called heart 7, located on the wrist crease, that is touted for its many benefits, helping with insomnia being foremost. Also known as shamen or the ‘spirit gate’ in traditional Chinese medicine, stroking this pressure point is a quick, do-it-yourself method to calm those nerves and put yourself into a deep slumber.
Try this. Settle into bed at night, and hold out your wrist in front of you. Do not stretch your arm or strain your shoulder. Be as relaxed as possible. Now locate the heart 7 points in the area between your ring and little finger. Rub the point, while gently applying the pressure for about 60 seconds. Repeat the same on the other wrist. At the end of it, you should feel drowsy. Stimulating this point is not just sleep-inducing, but also an effective tool to ease symptoms of anxiety, alcohol or nicotine withdrawal, in addition to reducing chest pain,” says Delhi-based reflexologist Dr Sudhir Misra.
Applying pressure on the heart at 7 points can also clear up emotional blockages, according to Yuan’s source point pressure, a type of treatment based on an understanding that the body’s primordial chi pools (or vital life force in Chinese medicine) are the wellspring of all kinds of health—mental, physical, emotional and psychological. “Rubbing the point releases pent-up energy in the form of toxic stress, helping you calm down and fall asleep faster. Therefore, the next time you feel worried or agitated, stimulate this point. It improves blood flow to the prefrontal cortex of the brain, thus lowering anxiety, and improving mood,” says Misra. To expedite the process of bringing on sleep through the heart 7 points, the following precursory steps may help:
✥ Practise gentle yoga before you hit the sack. Some postures that may help you sleep faster (and those that can be performed on the bed) are supine half-bow, wide-knee child’s pose, reclining bound angle and legs-up-the-wall pose.
✥ Use the 4-7-8 breathing method. Place the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth and exhale through your mouth, making a whoosh sound. Now close your mouth and inhale through your nose counting to four. Hold for seven seconds. Exhale, making the whooshing sound again, counting till eight. Repeat five times.
✥ Spend a mindful minute with yourself before you retire for the day. As you lie down on your bed, scan your body and see where you might be holding tension. Release the tightness on the count of three. Before you know it, you would have dozed off.