Brain Sleep Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kosuke Michibata; hereinafter "Brain Sleep") has partnered with LAVA International Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takahiko Sumi; hereinafter "LAVA"), which operates over 440 hot yoga studios nationwide under the corporate philosophy of "Bringing happiness to as many people as possible through yoga." Together, they have developed "Blissful Sleep Yoga*1," a program to improve sleep quality, and conducted a study (hereinafter "this initiative") to verify its effects on sleep improvement. The study confirmed that "Blissful Sleep Yoga" contributes to improving sleep quality, including increasing deep sleep during the "golden 90 minutes." *1 "Blissful Sleep Yoga" is currently trademark pending with LAVA. LAVA x Brain Sleep: Background to Program Development Sleep, which accounts for a significant portion of our lives, is not merely a period of rest; it is a crucial time for maintaining our lives, promoting metabolism, consolidating memories, and regulating hormone balance. However, Japan is known to have the shortest sleep duration among OECD member countries, and this trend is decreasing year by year. Therefore, with the desire to enrich lives by improving the quality of sleep, which occupies a substantial part of life, this initiative was undertaken with LAVA, whose philosophy is "Bringing happiness to as many people as possible through yoga." What is "Blissful Sleep Yoga"? "Blissful Sleep Yoga" is a yoga program developed in collaboration with LAVA with the aim of improving sleep quality. Through yoga poses and breathing, it guides the brain and body to an ideal state for sleep. In this program, the focus is on two key points to achieve "good quality sleep": "smooth sleep onset" and "deep sleep." For the first point, "smooth sleep onset," the program minimizes movements that awaken the brain and incorporates breathing techniques that promote the parasympathetic nervous system for relaxation, as well as poses that emphasize a "monotonous state." For the second point, "deep sleep," regulating breathing during sleep is crucial. This program uniquely incorporates many poses that focus on "creating a posture for sleep," "securing the airway," and "adjusting tongue position." This not only deepens breathing and facilitates sleep but also is expected to help prevent brain arousal caused by sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and snoring. Comment from Breathing Consultant / Program Development Advisor Takashi Onuki What I prioritized most in this project was "exhaling completely." By exhaling, we not only brought the body into a state where the parasympathetic nervous system was dominant, which is optimal for sleep, but also allowed the diaphragm to relax, enabling it to focus on breathing during sleep. As a result, we were able to create a state where the entire body didn't have to be tense. I am very pleased that the program has become one where participants can subjectively feel the effects, such as an improved quality of the "golden 90 minutes." Takashi Onuki Representative of BP&CO. (https://bpandco.net) Breathing Consultant / Board of Certification certified Athletic Trainer (BOC-ATC) Specially Appointed Researcher, Sports Medicine Department, Health and Sports Science Course, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Authored "Kihon no Kokyu: If your diaphragm moves properly, your body will move efficiently!" (Toyo Shuppan), among others. ■Summary of Verification Results Brain Sleep conducted a study to verify the effectiveness of the developed "Blissful Sleep Yoga" program in improving sleep. [Subjects] 13 male and female participants aged 20-50s [Verification Items] To evaluate the sleep state of the subjects in this verification, electroencephalogram (EEG) and activity levels were measured as objective indicators, and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used for subjective evaluation. [Verification Overview] [Consideration of Results] The results of the above verification revealed that yoga itself, regardless of type, contributes to improving sleep indicators such as "sleep latency*2," "wake after sleep onset (WASO) duration and frequency*3," and "sleep efficiency*4." Furthermore, it is suggested that "Blissful Sleep Yoga," specifically designed to improve sleep quality, may contribute more to sleep quality improvement compared to regular yoga*5. A notable finding from this study is that "Blissful Sleep Yoga" significantly increased the duration of deep sleep (non-REM sleep stage 3 (hereinafter "NREM3")) during the first sleep cycle for individuals with sleep problems, compared to when they did not exercise. Since no significant difference was observed with regular yoga, it can be said that "Blissful Sleep Yoga" is suggested to contribute more to improving sleep quality compared to regular yoga. Additionally, "yoga itself" showed significant results in terms of "sleep latency," "WASO duration and frequency," and "sleep efficiency," confirming its contribution to sleep improvement. Furthermore, in addition to objective sleep data, subjective evaluations by participants also showed that "Blissful Sleep Yoga" received higher scores than regular yoga for questions related to "feeling of deep sleep" and "feeling refreshed upon waking," confirming that participants subjectively experienced improved sleep quality with "Blissful Sleep Yoga." *2 Sleep latency: Time taken from lying down to falling asleep *3 Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO) duration/frequency: The duration and number of times awake between falling asleep and the final awakening the next morning (sleep duration). *4 Sleep efficiency: The ratio of sleep time to time in bed. *5 Regular Yoga: In this study, "Yoga Basic" provided by LAVA was used as regular yoga. The main findings of this study are as follows. Please refer to the Appendix for details. ① Yoga (regular yoga, blissful sleep yoga) significantly improved sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO) duration and frequency, and sleep efficiency. ② Blissful Sleep Yoga significantly increased the duration of the deepest sleep stage (NREM3) in the first cycle for individuals with sleep problems. ③ Blissful Sleep Yoga showed a higher potential for improving sleep latency, sleep onset latency, and sleep efficiency compared to regular yoga. ed ④ Blissful Sleep Yoga received higher scores than regular yoga for questions such as "ease of falling asleep" and "feeling refreshed upon waking." Exercise is known to be effective in improving sleep quality, and this study has confirmed the effect of yoga itself on sleep through data. Furthermore, it is suggested that "Blissful Sleep Yoga" may contribute more to improving sleep quality compared to regular yoga, which is interesting data. In particular, the increase in the duration of the deepest sleep in the first cycle is a noteworthy point. Although this study was conducted over a period of one week, continuous exercise, including yoga, leads to further improvements in sleep quality, so it is very important to practice continuously within one's comfortable limits to achieve high-quality sleep. We hope that the yoga program supervised this time will be utilized by many more people and contribute to solving the serious sleep problems facing Japan. Hot Yoga Studio LAVA 'Uchi Yoga+' "Blissful Sleep Yoga," developed this time, will be available on LAVA's online yoga service "Uchi Yoga+" starting December 1st (Wednesday). An online yoga service provided by Hot Yoga Studio LAVA using Zoom. 22 to 26 group lessons are streamed daily. Among these, 16 to 20 live lessons include special workshops by top instructors in addition to the programs offered in studios. You can easily enjoy yoga from the comfort of your home. ・URL: https://yoga-lava.com/uchiyoga/ LAVA International Co., Ltd. (https://lava-intl.co.jp/) "LAVA" is Japan's largest hot yoga studio chain with over 440 locations nationwide. Over 2 million people have experienced our services, and we have achieved "No.1 in overall customer satisfaction for fitness clubs*6." With over 3,000 yoga instructors, LAVA offers high-quality lessons and programs tailored to Japanese body types and constitutions, providing optimal temperature and humidity for perspiration, leading to a clear body and mind. In addition to hot yoga programs, we offer over 40 types of programs, including room temperature yoga lessons and floating yoga. LAVA is committed to providing high-quality lessons and heartfelt service with the desire to "bring happiness to as many people as possible through yoga." *6 According to e-Quore research: October 2020 ・Hot Yoga Studio LAVA Official Website: https://yoga-lava.com/ Established: December 1990 Representative: Takahiko Sumi, Representative Director Head Office Location: 1-2-3 Kitaaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Appendix: Detailed Verification Results The verification results for each item are as follows: [Activity Measurement] Both types of yoga were confirmed to significantly improve sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO) duration and frequency, and sleep efficiency compared to not exercising. However, no difference in sleep effects was observed between the types of yoga. Furthermore, an analysis limited to participants who answered in the pre-survey that they were not satisfied with their usual sleep showed no significant difference or tendency when comparing "no exercise" with "regular yoga" for sleep latency, sleep onset latency, and sleep efficiency. In contrast, significant differences and tendencies were confirmed for "Blissful Sleep Yoga." [EEG Measurement] EEG measurement results for the first sleep cycle of subjects who reported dissatisfaction with their usual sleep showed a tendency for the overall duration of the first cycle to increase with yoga. Furthermore, "Blissful Sleep Yoga" was confirmed to significantly increase the duration of NREM3 sleep in the first cycle. [VAS Evaluation] In the subjective VAS evaluation, significant differences were observed between no exercise and "Blissful Sleep Yoga" for items such as "ease of falling asleep," "relaxation level," "feeling refreshed upon waking," "reduction in fatigue," and "vitality upon waking," whereas no difference was found between no exercise and regular yoga. Additionally, in the post-survey, more participants reported "Blissful Sleep Yoga" to be superior to regular yoga for all questions related to sleep. [(Reference) Sleep Deviation Score] The sleep deviation score measured before and after this study improved by 4.9 points, from 47.5 before the study to 52.4 after the study. Notably, two components of the sleep deviation score, "daytime sleepiness" and "work style/stress," showed characteristic improvements, suggesting that continuous yoga practice during the study period contributed to these improvements. What is the Sleep Deviation Score®? When evaluating sleep, attention is often focused solely on simple quantitative data such as sleep duration. However, Brain Sleep believes it is crucial to evaluate sleep from a more multi-faceted and comprehensive perspective. Therefore, we created a set of questions to quantify the subjective evaluation of sleep from a broad viewpoint, including self-reported symptoms related to sleep and sleep habits. Furthermore, by quantifying this as a "deviation score," a concept familiar to Japanese people, we built a system that allows for understanding the relative sleep state within the entire Japanese population. This is the "Sleep Deviation Score®." Currently, we are developing the "Sleep Deviation Score for Biz" corporate health management service in partnership with NTT East. This service visualizes the "engagement" with the company based on employees' "sleep" and, by comparing it with the national sleep deviation score, allows companies to discover new issues that may not have surfaced on their own, thereby improving presenteeism. URL: https://brain-sleep.com/sleep-deviation/
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