How Meditation Improves Sleep

don’t get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep needed per night. Those numbers have only gone up since the pandemic. If you have sleep issues, you’re not alone. Many people experience chronic fatigue, exhaustion, burnout, and just not getting enough rest in general. In this article, we’re going to discuss why rest is so important to our health and well being, and some meditative techniques for how to relax your mind before sleep.
Getting Enough Sleep for Meditation
When we get enough rest, our energy and consciousness is improved, and we’re able to realize our true potential. This can have a profound impact on our spiritual practices. Many people fall asleep during meditation, and that’s OK. It just means that you’re tired and need sleep. If you find yourself falling asleep, let yourself take a nap. Sleep is more important than meditation.
You need sleep in order to be present and receive the full benefits from meditation. If your body needs rest first, give it rest. Some people use meditation to sleep better. This isn’t the primary intention of meditation, but there’s nothing wrong with listening to guided meditations to fall asleep.
The High Cost of Low Sleep
When we don’t get enough rest, we can experience brain fog, or the inability to think clearly. We’re not able to concentrate or to be present. You might feel only half there, like a ghost. It can affect our emotions, we can become angry or frustrated much easier. Our body begins to produce more cortisol, the stress hormone. Our metabolism slows down. we gain weight, maybe we eat more, or we feel like we have less energy for exercise. This can even affect every aspect of our life, including our relationships with other people.
Sleep deprivation represents not just a personal issue, but is a huge cost to economic output. It’s estimated that fatigue and lack of sleep costs the United States over $400 billion in lost productivity each year.