Meditation for sleep: Tips & advice for beginners

Common causes of sleeplessness

According to a survey of more than 20,000 people in the UK, a ‘racing mind’ is the main cause of sleeplessness.  Worries about the day’s events and plans for tomorrow was identified as the most common thoughts keeping us awake at night.¹ Here are just a few of the thoughts that bounce around our sleepless minds:

• Trivial things of no importance
• How long have I been lying awake/ how much sleep will I get?
• Thoughts of the future
• Events from the past

Stress, anxiety, and depression are also commonly associated with sleeplessness or insomnia.

Meditation helps you to release yourself from worrying or racing thoughts, and has also been shown to aid anxiety, depression and stress when practised regularly.

What happens to your mind and body when you sleep?

To help you understand how meditation can positively influence your sleep, it helps to understand what happens to your body and mind when you transition into sleep.

Some of the physiological and mental changes that occur as you slip into the different stages of sleep include:

• Melatonin levels increase (a hormone which tells your body it is time for sleep)
• Your breathing becomes slower and deeper
• You heart rate decreases as you fall asleep, and even more in deep sleep
• Your blood pressure decreases
• The muscles in your body relax
• Your brain waves slow

Your body would struggle to transition into the different stages of sleep without these important physiological changes.  If your breathing is too fast, heart rate too high or mind racing at a thousand miles an hour, it can make it more difficult to fall asleep.  Anything that promotes these positive physiological and mental changes can help promote a better night’s sleep… and that is where meditation comes in.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a mind and body practice that is known for inducing calmness and physical relaxation.⁵  There is evidence meditation can also improve psychological balance, help people cope with illness, and improve overall health and well-being.⁵

There are many different types of meditation, but most have four elements in common:⁵

• A quiet place with few distractions
• A comfortable posture (i.e. sitting, lying down)
• A focus of attention (e.g. on your breath, your senses, images)

An open attitude (e.g. letting distractions or thoughts come and go naturally without judging them).

How can meditation help sleep?

Meditation is a technique that has been shown to increase sleep time, improve sleep quality, and make it easier to fall (and stay) asleep.⁶

Meditation, the practice of intentionally quieting or focusing the mind, creates physiological changes that are similar to those that happen in your body during the early phases of sleep such as:⁷

• Reducing blood pressure
• Reducing heart and breathing rate
• Increasing melatonin levels
• Reducing cortisol levels (a hormone associated with stress)

As meditation helps reduce the stress hormone cortisol and promote a quiet mind, it has also been shown to help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression – which are known to negatively impact sleep.

Meditation tips for beginners

Some people have the misconception that when you first start meditating it is going to magically wipe your mind of the endless traffic of thoughts through your mind. In fact, there are types of meditation that encourage you to observe these thoughts instead of clear them from your mind, such as mindfulness meditation.  It takes time and practice to train your mind to stop wandering.

The basics of meditation start with finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down, then when comfortable, close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply.  Start focusing your attention on your breath and if your mind starts to wander, simple bring your focus of attention back to your breathing.  Meditation can start with as little as one minute, and with time, can be graduated into longer periods of time the more comfortable you get with each meditation practice.

Different types of meditation

There are many different types of meditation and it can be helpful to experiment with different practices until you find a technique which works best for you.

Here are some popular types of meditation practice:

When to meditate for a better sleep

You may think that is for meditation to help sleep it must be done at bedtime.  This does not need to be the case. There is evidence to show that practicing meditation during that day, ideally for 20 minutes, can help reduce insomnia, fatigue, and depression. ⁹

Other health benefits of meditation

Meditation has been shown to deliver other benefits beyond a better night sleep.  When practiced regularly, meditation has also been shown to: ^{7,11, 12}

• Decrease blood pressure
• Relieve stress
• Improve your mood
• Encourage positive emotional health
• Reduce anxiety
• Improve your attention and focus
• Help tackle addictions (e.g. stop smoking)
• Help reduce the perception of pain

Meditation is not a miracle cure, but there is certainly plenty of evidence to show that it may do some good for those who practice it regularly.