7 Ways on How Meditation Can Affect Your Sleep

The practice of meditation dates back to as early as 5,000 BCE. In the olden days, people meditated to achieve bliss, enlightenment, liberation, contemplative concentration, and salvation of morality. One of the most popular forms of meditation was sitting in front of a fire with their eyes closed for hours on end.

Today, we have many different types of meditation practiced by millions of people worldwide. Some of these include:

• Yoga – This is one of the most popular forms of meditation today. It involves stretching your body into various positions while focusing on breathing exercises that include deep breathing. You can also use yoga to relax your mind and body before bedtime.
• Tai Chi – This form of meditation focuses on slow movements and deep breathing. It’s often done at night when you’re trying to sleep. Some people will call this sleep meditation.
• Qigong – This type of meditation involves moving your body in a specific way. It helps you focus on your breath and your thoughts.

Meditation has been proven to help improve sleep quality and reduce insomnia. If you have insomnia or if you just want to get better sleep, we’ve got you covered. This resource explores seven results-proven ways meditation can help with sleep. We’ll also share a few tips on how to meditate for maximum results. So let’s go!

7 Ways on How Meditation Can Affect Your Sleep

Various studies have revealed that meditation, when practiced right, can improve your sleep quality and alleviate insomnia symptoms. Here are a few ways how:

1) Meditating Before Bed Helps Reduce Stress

Stress is one of the biggest causes of sleeplessness. When stressed out, falling asleep is challenging because your brain doesn’t know what to do with all those negative feelings.

But when you meditate before bed, you calm down your nervous system so you can rest peacefully. Essentially, the practice triggers your body’s relaxation response, allowing you to drift off to sleep easily.

2) Meditation Increases Serotonin Levels

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger in the brain) that regulates mood and behavior. For instance, people with low serotonin levels tend to be more anxious, making it challenging to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Thankfully, when you meditate regularly, you increase the serotonin in your brain. How come? We hear you ask. During meditation, the body interacts with neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These chemicals regulate our emotions, attention, and motivation.

3) Meditation Reduces Anxiety

Anxiety is another significant cause of sleepless nights. When you feel anxious, your heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and cortisol levels rise too. All of this makes it difficult to fall asleep.

When you meditate, you lower your anxiety level. Why? Because meditation reduces stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. As a result, you feel calmer and less anxious.

4) Meditation Improves Pain Tolerance

Chronic pain is another common cause of sleepless nights due to its ability to trigger the release of endorphins. Endorphins are naturally produced to relieve pain and make us happy. But they can also be released when you experience stressful situations.

If you’re experiencing chronic pain, you may not be able to sleep well. Fortunately, meditation can help you cope with pain. By inducing a feeling of relaxation and happiness, meditating makes you forget about your pain when you retire to bed.

5) Meditation Makes You More Aware

In addition to reducing stress and improving pain tolerance, meditation makes you more aware of your surroundings. In other words, it improves your concentration.

That means you won’t be distracted by noises around you while sleeping. Instead, you’ll be able to relax and drift off into dreamland.

6) Meditation Alleviates Depression

Depression is another major cause of sleeplessness. If you suffer from depression, you probably find it hard to get comfortable enough to fall asleep.

Meditation has been proven to reduce depression by altering those depressive feelings and thoughts and training your brain to focus on one thing. The reward? You become happier and calmer, making it easier to fall asleep.

7) Meditation Lowers Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is yet another reason people struggle to sleep at night. It’s caused by an imbalance between blood flow and the force of blood vessels’ walls. The problem usually occurs when there’s too much muscle tension surrounding the arteries.

Fortunately, meditation helps lower blood pressure by increasing the amount of nitric oxide in your body. This relaxes the muscles surrounding the arteries, allowing them to expand freely. The result is better blood flow throughout the body.

Quick Tips on How to Meditate for Improved Sleep

If you want to achieve maximum results through meditation, you must do it right. Here are some general tips that will help you improve your meditation:

• Choose a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.
• Remove all forms of destruction from the room, including your mobile device
• Sit or lie down in a comfortable position
• Close your eyes and breathe deeply
• Focus on your breathing; keep your jaws, eyes, and facial muscles softened
• Keep your neck and shoulders relaxed as well
• If your mind wanders, slowly steer your thoughts and focus back on your breath and body
• Pay closer attention to your breath and body; if the body feels uncomfortable, gently guide yourself back to focusing on the breath
• Don’t worry about falling asleep during meditation; just let go and enjoy the moment
• Repeat these steps every day until you see improvements in your sleep quality

Summing It Up!

As you can see, meditation is an excellent way to improve your sleep. With regular practice, you can expect to see positive changes within days. In addition, relaxation techniques such as yoga and tai chi can help you unwind and calm your mind after a long day of hustling and bustling. It’s important to note, however, that meditation isn’t a cure-all for insomnia. However, it does provide a powerful tool for fighting insomnia. So give it a try today and see how it works for you.

And on top of practicing meditation for better sleep, it also helps to invest in a high-quality mattress that’ll support your body and allow you to get the best rest possible. At No Bull Mattress, we offer mattresses that are designed with the needs of our customers in mind. We’re confident you’ll love our products because they’re made with only the highest quality materials and craftsmanship.

So, what are you waiting for? Contact us or find a store near you today and enjoy better sleep from tonight onwards.