Sleep Meditation: Secret to Better Sleep

What is sleep meditation?

Sleep meditation is designed as a guided or unguided experience to foster calm and balance before we go to bed. Keep in mind though, meditation is nothing that can be done in a rush or checked off your bedtime routine like brushing your teeth or washing your face. Meditation needs practice not just at night, but also during the day.

There are multiple courses on sleep meditation that recommend guided online classes during the day to learn how to calm down and to let thoughts pass. This is done in conjunction with a shorter sleep meditation just before bedtime.  It’s important to remember that when it comes to meditation, you should not put yourself under too much pressure and expect immediate results. Give yourself and your meditation practice at least 30 days to familiarize yourself with the new technique.

A study published in 2015 analyzed how mindfulness meditation affected 49 older adults with moderate sleep. A standardized mindful awareness practice (MAP) intervention and a sleep hygiene education (SHE) intervention was randomly assigned to the study participants. Participants with the MAP intervention showed significant improvement relative to those in the SHE group on the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, which is a metric used to assess sleep quality. The MAP group also showed significant improvement relative to the SHE group  on secondary health outcomes of symptoms related to insomnia, depression, and fatigue.

In fact, many styles of meditation can aid with insomnia and may even improve sleep quality in people who don't usually suffer with sleep problems. These improvements may be equivalent to those found with sleep medication or other well-established insomnia treatments in the long run. Meditation, like other sleep therapies, aims to relieve the pressure of falling asleep.

What happens to the body when you meditate?

Meditation lowers the heartrate by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system that stimulates the body’s flight-or-fight response. This encourages a slower breathing and hence facilitates falling asleep. Activating the parasympathetic nervous system also increases the level of the inhibitory neurotransmitter called GABA, which acts as the brain’s tranquilizer. This is because GABA reduces the neural excitability and increases slow theta brain waves (which are also present during deep sleep). This generates and strengthens the feeling of calm.

Deep relaxation brought about by meditation also helps counteract physical stress reactions like muscle tension and increased breathing as you learn to relax and control these reactions consciously. Meditation can also lower the release of stress chemicals like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol into the bloodstream.    Meditation has also been seen to enhance the release and the concentration of the sleep-inducing hormone called melatonin which increases the sleep pressure we feel, meaning tiredness and the need to sleep. Hence, this potentially supports falling asleep.

People who have practiced meditation have shown improvements in their deep sleep stages, as well as fewer nightly awakenings, according to studies. 

How to practice bedtime meditation 

Begin by creating a tranquil setting and settling into a comfortable position for your meditation session. This could include changing into loose pyjamas, turning off the lights, and getting into bed when meditating before bedtime. Establishing a pre-sleep routine which includes meditation is the starting block for ingraining sleep hygiene and healthy sleep habits into your everyday life. 

If you're listening to a guided meditation session on your phone or another device, you can reduce distractions by turning off alerts, lowering the brightness on your screen, and adjusting the volume to a comfortable level.

Deep Breathing 

Deep breathing with the diaphragm engaged is frequently used in conjunction with other meditation practices to help people relax. Control and decelerate your breathing by counting. The 4-7-8 breathing method, for example, involves breathing in for four seconds, holding your breath for seven seconds, and then breathing out for eight seconds. 

The idea behind it is not only to calm your breath, but also to take your focus away from your worries or anxieties. 

Body Scan Meditation 

Whenever you have difficulty falling back to sleep, consciously scan your body for any areas of tension and begin by counting your breath. This is linked to progressive muscle relaxation, in which individuals tense and then relax each muscle in turn.  

As soon as your mind wanders back to troublesome thoughts, bring it back to counting your breath. 

Mindfulness 

Mindfulness entails focusing on the present moment and accepting thoughts and emotions with an open mind and without judgement. Focus on how your body feels at this particular moment, like mindfully sensing where your body touches the ground. Start from the bottom of your body to the top. 

Guided Meditation 

Visualise yourself in a relaxing environment, such as a beachfront or a forest. Frequently, video footage or an audio clip is used to accomplish this. 

How often should you practice meditation for sleep? 

Meditation is a discipline, and those who exercise it more frequently reap greater rewards. The relaxation response has been shown in studies to have instantaneous psychological and physical impacts, implying that regular practice is best to see effects on the upcoming night's sleep.  

While criteria like the number of minutes spent meditating and the intensity of meditation are complex to quantify, long-term practitioners have been reported to reap greater advantages from meditation. 

These are just some tips and there are a variety of tips and techniques that help sleep meditation. However, not all of them suit everyone so it is best you give multiple techniques a try and figure out which one works best for you. There are also a lot of resources online that will offer help for people who want to try meditation. Give yourself some time to try it out, practice, and adapt different approaches – again, this may take some time, but it may be worth it!