Dr Oz: Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR): Melatonin Sleep Remedy

Dr Oz PMR: Melatonin Alternative

Dr Oz and his guest, sleep expert Dr Michael Breus, explained how Melatonin could actually be harmful to your sleep. Instead of relying on an overdose of this supplement, how else can you get a restful night’s sleep? They suggested PMR, or Progressive Muscle Relaxation.

Dr Oz: Progressive Muscle Relaxation Download

Dr Breus explained that the name is self-explanatory. But first, you have to tense your muscles before you can relax them. April from earlier in the show was lying on a bed, connected to an EEG measuring her brain waves.

The audience got to participate in the PMR exercise by uncrossing the legs and taking a few deep breaths, with their eyes closed. He had everyone breathe in for four seconds, then out for four seconds. Even Dr Oz was playing along, eyes closed.

Dr Oz: PMR Exercise

Here are the steps for PMR:

• Work from head to toe
• Tense muscles for 5 seconds at a time
• Release the muscles and relax

To target the muscles in your forehead, you are supposed to squint (with your eyes still closed). Dr Breus then had the audience move on to shrugging and relaxing their shoulders. Later, they worked on making fists to tighten and relax the muscles in the hands. It did sound quiet and peaceful in the studio. I probably would have had trouble not falling asleep if I’d been in the audience.

Dr Oz: PMR Brain Activity

Dr Oz looked at April’s EEG results, finding that she was tense during the beginning of the exercise, but as it went on, her brain waves actually calmed down. April seemed very relaxed by the exercise.

Dr Oz: PMR Download

The doctors agreed that this was the safest, most natural way to help yourself calm down and get to sleep at night. Dr Breus made some sleep recordings available to work you through the steps on Dr Oz’s official website.

You can also tweet your questions for Dr Breus on Twitter using the hashtag #SleepDoctor.