Meditation and insomnia
How your mind plays tricks on you……..
Who doesn’t know that tightness in the chest, the pounding heart and the sense of panic, that wakes you up in the middle of the night? You went to sleep with a smile on your face, feeling calm and content, but your mind was actually in total disagreement and just sneakily waited, until you were feeling safe and happy and sound asleep. And then………. THE ATTACK with the physical sensations and a mind that races in overdrive: repeating thoughts and events, going round in circles, making you miserable and wide awake. Read more stats about insomnia.
Difficulty sleeping can’t be just attributed to the time around going to bed; it is a sign of a build-up that has taken place during the course of the day and only splashes out at night. The reason is that you let go of your ‘fake’ control and distraction mechanisms, giving the mind a lot of space to do its job, as wild and chaotic as it wants to do it. Taking time out during the day and calming your mind, will help your sleeping patterns.
Any technique that helps to control your mind will help to control your sleeping pattern and insomnia. A recent study at Harvard, shows the effects of a mindfulness awareness program and a sleep education course. Two groups, with each their own focus, met 6x for 2 hours. Those in the mindfulness group had less insomnia, fatigue, and depression at the end of the six sessions.
The main benefit of the mindfulness course in this context is that mindfulness evokes a relaxation response, which creates a deep physiological shift in the body and is the opposite of the stress response. The relaxation response can help ease many stress-related ailments, including depression, pain, and high blood pressure. But as for most insomnia sufferers, their sleep disorder is closely tied to stress, says Dr Benson, Harvard University.
Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and becoming aware of the present moment, as well as being aware of the drifting into the past or the future. It helps to break the automatic train of thoughts, and creates a physiological change, which will balance the body and mind. The body relaxes in the sleep and so does the mind.
You can read my 50 top tips to beat insomnia here.
Did you know that lack of sleeps can contribute to obesity? Read more
