Wednesday, April 3, 2019

What is Mindfulness and How Can It Help You Sleep Well?


Let's talk about falling asleep and staying there.

According to a 2005 National Sleep Foundation poll, more than 50 percent of us experience at least one symptom of insomnia at least a few nights a week. A third of those polled said they have at least one symptom every single night! That's a lot of tossing and turning and waking up in the middle of the night. If you ask us, that's far too much! We were not made for poor sleep. You can link any number of health problems to lack of sleep, and those problems can be serious. We're talking heart problems, depression, and high blood pressure, to name only three!

One way to get better sleep is to make sure you have a good bed for sleeping. You need a good mattress and the best pillow you can buy. Of course, we have a pillow recommendation, but that's not the point of this article.

The point of this article is the other big thing you can do to help you get better sleep: meditation.

Wait! Stop! Don't go running off like that. This is not the meditation (or, if you want to be modern and trendy, mindfulness) of the 60s and 70s. You don't need to sit in uncomfortable positions nor learn a mantra. This is simple meditation, geared toward calming your mind and focusing it on what is happening right now instead of rehashing the bad events of the past or fretting over the concerns of the future. You know what I mean, right? You know what it's like to lie awake in bed while your brain replays that time in high school when you embarrassed yourself so hard you thought you would actually die. You know what it feels like to be almost asleep only to have your brain play the "what if" game with you. What if, your brain says, you lose your job tomorrow? What if the car breaks down and you can't pay for the repair? What if someone finally launched that nuclear attack we were so worried about 30 years ago? 

Mindfulness is a way of quieting those memories and worries. And it works! This 2015 study showed that just a "low dose" of mindfulness caused a noticeable improvement not only on sleep duration and quality but also on work performance. We also have this 2010 study and this 2015 study that came to similar conclusions. A little bit of meditation at the end of the day helps a lot.

But what are we talking about here? What are these practices and principles? Fortunately, you don't need a lengthy class or venerable teacher. You need two things: breathing and focus. The simplest mindfulness exercise involves nothing more than lying still and quiet and breathing -- in and out, slow and regularly. As you breathe, focus on your breathing.  Count slowly to four while you inhale then to the same on your exhale. Whenever your brain would wander, bring your thoughts back to counting. Slowly and intentionally. One to four in the one to four out. Then again. You can almost feel yourself physically relax as you breathe slowly in and out and you count one, two, three, four...

Whew! Almost fell asleep there. See how well it works? And the very best thing is, anyone can do it, even while you're awake at your desk at work. You don't need a special app or anything! Of course, if you do want some guidance, you can find it easily from any of these mindfulness apps, all of which have a pretty solid free component to them.

Now all you need is a way to listen to the meditations in a way that won't disturb anyone around you. You could use headphones or earbuds, but if you sleep on your side, those will get uncomfortable pretty quickly. What you really need is a pillow with some Night Owl Speakers built right in so you can listen to calming night sounds while you slowly breathe and count yourself down to restful sleep. Yeah, something like that would be about perfect.

We do not endorse mindfulness on the edge of a cliff,
but what works for you, right? Don't fall off!

(Photo Credits: Olichel and AlainAudet on Pixabay)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Make Your Bedroom Like a Cave for Your Best Sleep!

I bet this house has a wonderful comfy bedroom! If you've read our blog for any amount of time, you'll know we are concerned abo...