When I was younger and couldn’t sleep I would try to count sheep, count backwards from 1,000 and much more. Now that I am in college, I know that I need my sleep whenever I can get it and hate wasting even a moment of it.
One day, while I was complaining to my parents about how exhausted I was, my dad recommended that I try meditation. I kind of laughed, not really having ever meditated before and shooed the idea away.
Well, a few days later there I was again restless and unable to sleep so I downloaded an app for guided sleep meditation. I woke up the next morning and realized that I hadn’t even made it through the entire meditation process. From that point on, I used it even on a normal night that I was exhausted just so that I could fall asleep quickly without being on my phone staring at the bright light.
A few weeks ago, I decided to really look into meditation and the science behind it when it comes to insomnia.
A randomized clinical trial was conducted in April of this year “To determine the efficacy of a mind-body medicine intervention, called mindfulness meditation, to promote sleep quality in older adults with moderate sleep disturbances.” This was published in JAMA International Medicine.
According to the study, the groups met six times once a week for two hours and when compared with the people in the sleep education group, the study showed that those in the mindfulness group had less insomnia, fatigue and depression.
Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, was not surprised by the findings and said, “Mindfulness meditation is just one of the smorgasbord of techniques that evoke the relaxations response.”
Mindfulness meditation is an approach that has been linked to regulating emotions and reducing stress.
Works Cited:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-helps-fight-insomnia-improves-sleep-201502187726
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2110998
http://www.insomnia.net/natural-remedies/meditation/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3060715/
From the Buddhist to the physiologist, mindfulness and meditation has been proven to assist the driving force of sanity. People experiencing psychological problems or just your every day Joe can largely benefit from these practices. On the real, I’ve practiced yoga and meditation and it has been a focal point in my life ever since. Anywhere from stress reduction to truly understanding yourself, mindfulness and meditation is definitely something to bring into your life. Maybe schools should initiate such classes into their curriculum? http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/should-schools-teach-kids-to-meditate/283229/
I went to a Jesuit high school, and every few days we would have a guided meditation combined with some calming prayer and music. Every single time I was fighting the urge to fall asleep especially because we had our eyes closed the entire time. I could for sure see this meditation thing helping me fall asleep at night! Below is the link to the “spiritual exercises” that we practiced in school.
http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-spiritual-exercises