Can Yoga Improve a Woman's Sleep?

This meta-analysis focused specifically on women, pooling nineteen randomised trials of yoga in those struggling with sleep. Overall, yoga produced a small but significant improvement in sleep quality, a welcome finding given how disproportionately sleep problems affect women, particularly around midlife and menopause. The picture is honest rather than glowing, though: when the analysis narrowed to women with diagnosed insomnia, yoga showed no clear advantage, suggesting it is better suited to easing general restlessness and poor-quality sleep than to treating a formal insomnia disorder. The trials also varied in style and length. Read fairly, it positions yoga as a gentle sleep aid rather than a clinical insomnia treatment. For a woman whose nights have become lighter and less restorative, the kind of creeping sleep erosion that arrives with hormonal change and a busy mind, it suggests a regular practice may genuinely help her settle, while being clear that entrenched insomnia may need more targeted support.