Monday, February 9, 2009

Wiggling Your toes to Sleep

© Linnea. Image from BigStockPhoto.com

I guess I thought I had heard it all when a reporter from Woman's World called up. She asked if we had an supporting evidence that wiggling your toes can help you fall to sleep. I had to reply we didn't but a quick Google and there is a study on wiggling the toes, children and sleep.

The more we talked the more I realized that I just hadn't thought of it. I always talk about the toes and their importance. I encouraged people to rotate, pull, stretch and rub them because they have weak little muscles that will strengthen with some attention. But wiggle?

I do other things to promote sleep at night like use a foot roller just before bed. And I have to say that our regime of walking on cobblestone mats has had a profound effect on my sleep patterns once I get to sleep. But that is the trick- letting go of the day and just falling off to sleep.

I decide to be my own guinea pig and try wiggling my toes prior to sleep. For me it does seem to work. Even if I wake up at night I start wiggling my toes again and away I go. Fascinating.

And it really makes my feet feel good. In helping the writer with the article I explain that every muscles in the foot is involved with the toes. So by wiggling your toes you are relaxing the whole foot. but better yet relaxing your feet causes not only a relaxation response in the foot but it soon spreads to the rest of the body. Before you know it you are in a deep sleep.

Give it a try tonight. Wiggle your toes for about a minute or so. If you like it do it some more. I like to wiggle both left and right together but there are no hard and fast toe wiggling rules. Just repeat it as desired.

Let me know what you think. Does wiggling your toes help you to sleep?

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com
http://www.dk.com/reflexology

8 comments:

Cherie Zamazing said...

Wow! I thought I was the only one who wiggled my toes to get to sleep... I thought it was just in my head, but if ever i cant sleep, i just wiggle my toes and i drift off!

debra hoffman said...

when I was a child I had to rock myself to sleep. Now at 50 I do not have to rock but I do HAVE to wiggle my toes to fall asleep. If I can't I feel like my body is going to explode

jdsr4c said...

I am an extremely light sleeper, and move around a ton in my sleep. I find this very fascinating because I always wiggle my toes before I fall asleep almost to where it is involuntary. I am 23 years old and have been doing this for awhile unknowing that it had any sort of effect on me falling asleep.

Food Cure Queen said...

I wiggle my toes before bed too. Didn't realize It was helping me fall asleep. It drives my wife crazy but I can't help it.
I am glad I am not alone.

Anonymous said...

Oh my i have just been made aware that at night while resting on the sofa or in bed im constantly moving my feet and i didnt even know it.now i do! But why?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I wiggle my toes, then I put one foot under my other knee and using the foot that's under I move my entire leg... Sometimes I rub my feet together, sometimes I only rub one foot against the other. It just depends on my position (I normally sleep on my tummy) to be honest I think it's because my mum used to rock me to sleep until I was like 5 or 6 and I just kept it up... The easiest place I fall asleep is in the car or a bus because of the constant movement

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