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Sleep Meditation

Whether you are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, meditation can be a very useful addition to your bedtime routine and help to end those nights of tossing and turning. If all you want is a good night's sleep (and you've tried all the tricks to get to sleep), don't give up! Sleep Meditation may be just the answer you are looking for.

Here are a few of the ways that meditation can help you sleep:

  • - sleep meditation helps your body relax and reach REM sleep, by decreasing the production of blood lactate, the protein that causes stress, and is especially beneficial when practiced nightly (or daily if you’re a shift worker);
  • - it increases melatonin (the hormone responsible for restful sleep);
  • - meditation at bedtime lowers the production of cortisol, another stress hormone;
  • - it helps you to work through problems that may be keeping you awake by calming the hypothalamus (responsible for hormone production) thereby helping to eliminate disruptive emotions and thoughts;
  • - if your mind is foggy or racing as a result of depression or anxiety, meditation can help restore the neurotransmitters that ward off depression and help combat insomnia;
  • - meditation can help in coping with hot flashes (due to menopause or otherwise) as it has been shown to assist in reducing drastic changes in the body's temperature; and
  • - meditation has been shown to help improve circadian rhythms allowing you to sleep regardless of where in the world you find yourself. If you travel for work and aren’t sleeping due to jet lag, this can be very beneficial.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of meditation in ensuring a solid night's sleep. To find out more about sleep meditation, its benefits, and how to make it part of your night-time routine, please see our selection of articles below.

Articles About Using Meditation As A Sleep Aid:

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Sleep Meditation – Insomnia relief

Did you know that more than half of people over the age of 65 may have issues with sleep disturbance?

old woman reading a book

Insomnia can be related to a variety of things such as decreased activity during the day, the loss of a life partner, or stress and discomfort from various medical conditions. The consequences of insomnia can be severe and sometimes medical treatments used to rectify things can be expensive, inconvenient and have their own complications. We’re lucky that a simple, safe and inexpensive option is available to us all, meditation.

Do the following scenarios sound familiar? (If yes it may be time to consider sleep meditation)

Jean is in her 80’s and has trouble sleeping at night. She usually drifts off while reading but wakes in the early hours of the morning and finds it impossible to sleep from then on. Following this, she suffers from sleepiness during the day, resulting in napping, which then creates a vicious cycle in terms of getting a good night’s sleep the following night. She and her husband, Charles, live in a granny flat attached to her daughter’s house because they find it a little difficult to manage on their own nowadays.

Jean finds that using meditation and focusing on her breath when she experiences sleeplessness allows her to relax deeply. This, in turn, sets up a positive cycle where she relaxes so deeply that she easily drifts back into the soothing, peaceful embrace of sleep and awakens refreshed and alert the next morning. She finds that even though she may still nap a little during the day, the quality of her sleep has improved greatly.

Jean’s daughter and caregiver, Rhonda is divorced, works full time and cares for her own family of teenagers as well. She’s absolutely exhausted at the end of the day. Even though she’s incredibly tired, she finds it difficult to sleep at night because of thoughts whirring through her brain about what she needs to do the next day and worrying about her parents. She tosses and turns until she falls into a fitful sleep, waking at the smallest sound before falling back to sleep again.

Like Jean, Rhonda finds that when she consciously focuses on her breath and lets go of the things that distract her from that focus, she’s able to remain more present and mindful. As a result she can draw her attention back to her breath more easily when thoughts start to intrude, which has the benefit of inducing a deep state of relaxation. From there, Rhonda can easily slide into a restful, deep slumber during the night which enables her to be far more productive and less stressed the next day. woman asleep

By meditating on a regular basis, sleep patterns can be improved, accompanied by all of the benefits that come with a night spent comfortably in the land of Nod. The body’s capacity to restore itself is enhanced and immune function is strengthened. We feel more alert and ‘with it’ after a good night’s sleep because the body has depleted itself of adenosine, which is the substance responsible for making us feel sleepy. In addition our memories become sharper and our ability to focus is increased once we’ve had a night of restful, relaxing sleep.

Formal scientific studies of the benefits of meditation on sleep patterns support the positive examples presented in the scenarios above. A 6 week study of adults over the age of 55 found that meditation was at least as effective as other treatments aimed at improving sleep. In fact, it was found that the sleep scores of meditating participants improved much more than those who undertook sleep education as an alternative. The study, reported by David S Black and others in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, concluded that meditation was effective as a short term approach to improving sleeping patterns. While more research is needed into the long term effects, the results also showed no negative effects from participating in meditation with the aim of better quality sleep.

If you’re one of those who tosses and turns at night, lamenting the futility of counting sheep and staring at the ceiling trying to will your eyes to close, make a promise to yourself now to investigate sleep meditation. It’s far easier than you might think, there’s nothing to lose and all of the benefits of a great night’s sleep to gain.

My wish for you is that as a result of practicing sleep meditation, you obtain the absolute bliss of a wonderful night’s slumber. Sweet dreams!

Source: http://www.livescience.com/49828-mindfulness-meditation-sleep-older-adults.html

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Overcoming Common Meditation Problems

Tips for Overcoming Meditation Problems

man with insomniaMeditation is like any practice. It comes easy to some but not to everyone. Just like you would need to practice a sport in order to master it, meditation also needs to be practiced and perfected before it becomes second nature.

At Totally Meditation we often see people who have difficulties learning meditation for sleep (or meditation in general). Here are some of the common problems with tips for overcoming them:

1. Not being able to lie still:
If your mind is racing with thoughts, lying still in bed may be the farthest thing from your mind. You might feel more like pacing the room or running up and down the stairs instead to tire yourself out. If being restless is keeping you from your sleep meditation, break being still into bite sized chunks of time instead. Keep your first few sessions of meditation short and don’t put pressure on yourself to meditate the “right” way or to accomplish anything profound during the meditation. You don’t need to have a “lightbulb” moment, or solve all your day’s problems that instant. You just need to be able to calm and still your mind so you can relax and get some sleep.

2. Being afraid of where your mind might go while you meditate:
It’s possible that either subconsciously or consciously you are afraid that meditating will bring up negative emotions or unpleasant thoughts. To combat this, rather than fearing these thoughts and emotions, try practicing non-judgement. See the thoughts as neither good nor bad, they are just thoughts, being objective about them helps to neutralize the emotions that you may normally attach to the thought.

One technique you can use is to visualize the thoughts as bubbles getting smaller and smaller until they are gone. By facing the fear of the “what-ifs” you can conquer them.

3. Too much to think about:
Writing the thoughts down before you meditate can help. Write them down on paper so your mind doesn’t feel it has to keep repeating them. After you have written out a short list of the things that are going around in your mind, tell yourself “I can look at this tomorrow when I am not tired and can think more clearly”. In essence this gives you permission to take a break from them.

4. Afraid of loosing track of time:
If you are concerned about falling into a time warp of either spending too much or too little time, handle that concern by setting a quiet timer to remind you when it’s time to come back to the real world. Doing so will give you control over how long you are “gone” and give you one less thing to think about 🙂

5. A secret disbelief that meditation will work for you:
You may have told yourself that meditation just isn’t for you because you are too restless or because you’ve heard others say it didn’t work for them so you wonder if it will work for you, and so on. Rather than letting these questioning thoughts run the show, examine the reasoning behind them. Why do you think it might not work? Have you given it a chance? (Remember practice makes “perfect”.)

Allowing yourself the opportunity to form an unbiased opinion about the practice enables you to change your perspective about meditation, and open up to it’s benefits. You’ll also allow yourself to be open to an important concept of meditation: to accept what you don’t know, what you can’t control, or don’t understand.

So the next time you find yourself struggling when you’d rather be sleeping, remember that struggle can be overcome as long as you understand it.

To your inner peace – Anna

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Bye Bye Sheep – An Intro to Sleep Meditation

13620135_8d8dd8cfaa_o (1)We’ve all been there – tossing and turning late at night, trying to get some much needed rest but it’s nearly impossible. If you’ve counted sheet into the millions, had a glass of warm milk, or read a novel from front to back, and you’re STILL wide awake, chances are you might need a meditation for sleep. Sleep mediation works by slowing down, or even quieting altogether, the worrisome or stressful thoughts that come into our brain at 1AM, 3AM, 5AM…you get the picture.

Whether you regularly have insomnia, or can’t sleep due to stress, anxiety, illness, or the like, sleep meditation will help you to settle in for a great night’s sleep. Sleep – it’s something so simple but so crucial to our overall physical and mental health. Studies have shown that sleeplessness can lead not only to tiredness, lack of energy, and concentration, but also to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure and obesity. According to the National Sleep Foundation “there is a wealth of research indicating that people with insomnia have poorer overall health, more work absenteeism, and a higher incidence of depression”. Coronary heart disease occurs more often in those suffering from insomnia as well.

So how do you start using sleep mediation? First off, it’s important to understand the role that mindfulness mediation plays in sleep meditation. Rather than being reactive to the thought process that is keeping you awake you need to instead be aware of it and understand it. For example, if you are thinking about your performance review at work the next day and focusing only on how badly it could go, you won’t sleep. However, if you think about it and accept that it could go either way (good or bad), then chances are greater you will be able to fall asleep. It’s important to start any sleep meditation practice being mindful of what is keeping you asleep.

Sleep meditation works by relaxing the body and elevating its levels of serotonin which in turn lowers anxiety and stress, as well as your blood pressure. Whereas some people can’t sleep because of stress, some can’t sleep because of pain (i.e. a bad back, sciatica, etc.). When your blood pressure is lower, it reduces throbbing and swelling, common triggers for pain. By being mindful, you will also teach your brain to accept the pain, and not challenge it.

One of the most common techniques for sleep mediation is called mindful breathing which brings attention to the natural flow of the breath and helps channel the mind into the breathing process rather than on disruptive thoughts. It can be carried out alongside music or visual imagery, both of which help to transport you to a more relaxing atmosphere. As you are transported to this relaxing atmosphere, wherever that may be, use whichever breathing that feels most natural to help the intrusive thoughts disappear and a sense of calmness to spread through you.

Sleep meditation can also take the form of a “body scan”. No, it’s doesn’t mean you need to rush out to get a MRI. Rather, you replace the focus on breathing with an awareness of the sensations in your body. Your attention is gradually directed to every part of your part, starting at your head, and ending with your toes. You continue focusing on the sensations in your body until you start to feel “heavy” and fall into sleep.

These are just a few of the ways you can incorporate sleep meditation into your bedtime routine. For more information about sleep meditation and the benefits it holds for you, please contact us. We’re here to help!

To a restful night – Anna

References:

“Meditation for Sleep.” Headspace. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <https://www.headspace.com/sleep-meditation>.

MARSHALL, STEPHANIE. “Help Me To Sleep | Advices For Getting Better Sleep.” Help Me To Sleep Org. 1 June 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://helpmetosleep.org/food/mindfulness-meditation-techniques-help-sleep/>.

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Download this Relaxation Meditation – mp3 to Reduce Stress

Hello!

man listening to meditationI would like to introduce my first relaxation mp3 to you.

The purpose of this free mp3 is to help you learn a simple and effective method for reducing physical tension, and at the same time reduce stress. I sometimes use a version of this progressive muscle relaxation technique to help me sleep when I have insomnia.

I hope you find this technique as useful as I do!

Disclaimer – this is my first audio recording so I am giving it away free until I get the process perfected, then I will likely record a longer version, put it up for sale and remove this free version from the site, so if you like it please download it now 🙂

To download it to your own computer right click on the link below and choose where on your computer you would like to save it.

I would love to get your feedback about this mp3! Could you please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think of it? (the comment shows up after it is approved, I do that to reduce spam)

totallymeditation_relaxation_meditation_1

To your health!