HOW MEDITATION CAN HELP YOU SLEEP

Meditation is a well-known process for achieving relaxation. It’s no surprise then, that regular meditation can bring a vast range of benefits to boost your overall health and well-being. As those who suffer from insomnia know, a lack of sleep can affect you mentally and physically. One advantage of learning to meditate is that it can help you to sleep better. If you’re wondering just how meditation can help you sleep, here are a few surprising insights.

Mindfulness meditation

There is actually more than one technique when it comes to meditating. For preventing a lack of sleep, mindfulness meditation has been found to fight insomnia and improve one’s ability to drift off. Mindfulness meditation is effective in training your daily thoughts to focus on the present, instead of the past or future. It also aids your breathing too.

A study into sleep

A study by Stanford Medical Centre investigated the effects of a six week mindfulness program. The results demonstrated that those suffering from insomnia went to sleep twice as quickly as before, when they meditated. Furthermore, the participants were still benefiting from meditation twelve months after the study.

A study by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, which involved their own sleep therapy program with meditation, signified that 58% of 102 participants noted considerable improvements, with 91% of participants reducing or stopping any medication.

How does meditation work to aid sleep?

Meditation is an effective method for calming your thoughts. A lot of sleep problems stem from an overactive mind, which might include worrying about something, or just pondering certain aspects in your mind. Meditating is a great way to balance your mind to ensure that your thoughts don’t spiral out of control.

When you first start to meditate, you’ll probably notice that focusing your mind is a challenging process. However, learning meditation will collate your thoughts, ensuring that you concentrate on the present, rather than your past or future.

Via meditation, you will able to control your breathing, so that your blood pressure lowers, blood flow increases and your mind begins to calm. Meditation also helps to reduce the production of the stress hormone cortisol. When we feel stressed, our anxiety tends to rise and we struggle to sleep as a result. Thus, reducing our stress levels is just one factor that can aid a good night’s sleep.

Meditation reflects the brains activity during the initial stage of rest, which is ultimately how it is so effective in encouraging sleep. The art of meditation also works on the body as well as the mind, so you feel physically stronger and have a clearer thought process.

To meditate before bed, you can follow these steps:

- Find a quiet and comfortable place to sit or lie down.

- Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.

- Choose a type of meditation that suits your needs and preferences.

- Follow the instructions or focus on your chosen object of attention.

- If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the present moment.

- Continue for as long as you like, or until you feel sleepy.

- When you are ready, end the meditation and go to sleep.

Depending on the style of meditation suited to you, you can partake in regular meditation or use a guided process. For beginners, the use of a guide is valuable as you can use audio, such as This brainwave meditation program to assist in learning how to successfully meditate. However, remember that regular meditation will allow you to experience maximum benefits to help you get a better night’s sleep.

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