This week I will show you ear massage for insomnia.
Why is ear massage effective in helping you fall asleep? Studies show that when you warm up your extremities like hands and feet and ears, you can fall asleep better. Massage of course improves circulation and warms up the area. And your ears are much smaller than hands and feet, so it’s easier and faster to warm them up.
Also, ear massage stimulates the auricular branch of vagus nerve.
Vagus nerve makes up 75% of Parasympathetic Nervous System which is responsible for “rest and digest” relaxation state, as opposed to Sympathetic Nervous System which triggers fight-or-flight stressful state.
Vagus nerve is also 80-90% afferent meaning the signal is sent to the brain to activate the relaxation state. Babies are said to be self-soothing when they touch their ears before they fall asleep. Maybe they inherently know how to calm down. Parents may be able to help them fall asleep too by touching their ears as you can see in this baby sleep hack on TikTok.
If you have any ear issues or under a doctor’s care, please consult your doctor if this is appropriate for your conditions before you practice this.
In this video I’m going to use five for the numbers to repeat and number of seconds to hold but you are welcome to modify as you wish but I would do at least three times and three seconds to hold.
Put your ear between your index and middle fingers. Move the skin in the front and back of the ear in a circular motion five times in one direction. And five times in the other direction. Gently lift up the skin and hold for five seconds.
With your thumb and the side of the index finger, massage the outer rim from top to bottom five times. After the second pass you can see the circulation on my ears. If your ears stay red for a long time without a reason, you may have an issue so please go see your doctor.
Next, stretch the ears. Stretching the ears may alleviate headaches.
Gently pull the top to the ear diagonally upward for five seconds.
Gently pull the middle of the ear outward for five seconds.
Gently pull the earlobe diagonally downward for five seconds.
Put your fingers in your ears. I don’t think you can put your finger inside of the ear canal but stay outside of the ear canal. I sometimes just listen to my body working hard inside. Turn your fingers slowly inside the ears. I’m doing ten times because it feels good.
I seriously had a hard time making this video because I kept getting drowsy and could not focus. I even had to take a nap. I hope this will help you fall asleep too.
I also have an old old old video on the acupressure for insomnia and 4-7-8 breathing technique to calm down that you can try. I will put the links below.
Acupressure for Insomnia
Acupressure points for insomnia 2
Acupressure for Insomnia 3
4-7-8 Breathing Technique to Relax Fast and Fall Asleep
Besides beauty sleep, when you massage your ears, you are promoting the lymph drainage around your ears so you have the slimming and lifting up effect on your face.
And you’re stimulating more than 200 acupressure points just in the ears. I will cover specific points in another video.
And when you’re massaging your ears, you are indirectly massaging the entire body using reflexology. Ear reflexology maps the entire body in an upside down fetus position. So treat your ears like a tiny precious version of yourself.
Massage Monday #656 Ear Massage for Better Sleep http://bit.ly/mm-656