Meditation & Relaxation for Better Sleep

Modern life is fast paced. What this does is ramp up our sympathetic nervous system’s ‘fight of flight’ response. This is an involuntary reaction by our nervous system that served an evolutionary purpose for survival. However, whereas cave people spend a lot of time relaxing in between hunting and gathering, modern life often keeps our stress levels high thus making it hard to fall asleep.

Fortunately, there are countermeasures to enhance our ability to relax and ‘wind-down’ from our non-stop lives. Mindfulness, meditation, breath work, and muscle relaxation techniques such as the body scan are proven ways to shift from a sympathetic nervous system state to a rest and recovery parasympathetic state.

So, if you have read my article on ‘Sleep Hygiene’ and are still finding it difficult to get that restorative sleep everybody should have, let’s explore how you can utilize scientifically proven ancient practices and modern techniques of psychology to get you into that state of mind for quality rest.

Kabat-Zinn (2003) defined mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.” Mindfulness involves sitting without judgement and allowing thoughts and feelings to come and go. “Mindfulness training includes focused attention to breathing, body sensations, and mindful movements.” (McKernan 2020)

Mindfulness practice is over 2,000 years old. All the world’s religions include this practice in some form. Buddhism is most closely associated with modern mindfulness approaches where it is described as “sustained attention to an object or sensation and repeatedly disengaging from distracting events, so as to maintain focus on the object.” (McKernan 2020)

The great benefit of mindfulness is that it can improve cognitive function and focus if practiced regularly. Mindfulness-based treatments have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression. There’s also evidence that mindfulness can lower blood pressure and improve sleep. It may even help people cope with pain. (National Institutes of Health)

“For many chronic illnesses, mindfulness meditation seems to improve quality of life and reduce mental health symptoms,” says Dr. Zev Schuman-Olivier of Harvard University.

After understanding the importance of mindfulness in physical and mental health the question is how do I practice it and where should I start? Well…why not start with a scientifically proven practice that has been around since 700BC and was systematically developed by the writings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati in the 1960s (Pandi SR, et al 2022) known as ‘Yoga Nidra’ or ‘Yogic Sleep.’ Let’s explore the benefits of this practice together and see how it benefits your overall well-being.

1. First, lie on your back and scan your body for places of tension. For instance, in your lower back, shoulder shrug muscles, neck, jaw, or forehead. Also, notice if you’re holding your breath.

2.Then, place your focus on your breathing feeling your abdomen rise and fall.

3. Progressively slow down your exhalation. Imagine that your lower rib cage is expanding outwards with each inhalation.

4. Place your attention or ‘mind’s eye’ on breathing areas of muscle tension which you identified with the body scan and try to relax those regions.

The most common stress related breathing pattern occurs with vertical chest breathing (figure 1) predominating over horizontal abdominal breathing (figure 2).

figure 1

figure 2

A KEY TO CONSIDER:

Remember inhales increases your heart rate while exhales slow your heart rate. By focusing on your exhalation and avoiding breath holding during the day you can reduce your stress levels and increase your focus.

HOW SHOULD I APPLY THIS?

Start slowly. Just sit quietly before bed with your eyes closed for just 3-5 minutes. Remember this is a practice. Our minds like to wander so we’re not supposed be good at quieting the mind. However, by sitting regularly you’ll find that your mind wanders less, your breathing deepens, and you will begin to fall asleep easier. If you can build up to 15 minutes that is a nice goal but start with less. Eventually, you can even use these practices during the day, and it will break the drumbeat of stress and tension that builds up. In this way when you do get ready for bed you will have a lower resting heart rate and less tension.

Another valuable breathing exercise is called the physiological sigh. It was first discovered in the 1930s and re-emerged about 10 years ago based on research from UCLA neurobiologist Jack Feldman and Stanford biochemist Mark Krasnow.

This breathing technique is very simple:

• 1st perform a double inhale through your nose (with no exhale in between)
• Then immediately perform a full exhale (through your mouth) to empty your lungs.

We do it naturally when levels of carbon dioxide in our bloodstream get too high. It creates a relaxing sensation by releasing a lot of carbon dioxide very fast.

The physiologic sigh is an excellent way to calm down and reduce stress or autonomic arousal.

CFT is a powerful method for reducing the impact of musculoskeletal pain and its effect on our lifestyle. It is about gaining confidence that pain doesn’t have to be feared or limit our daily living. In CFT a behavioral experiment is performed where threatening positions and movements are explored and we become mindful of our involuntary reactions such as breath holding, facial grimacing, or increased muscle tension.

Positions to explore include

- sitting, standing, lying down, kneeling, and going on all 4s.

Breathwork, mindfulness, meditation, etc can improve your ability to relax and thus fall asleep. There are many different methods, but the most important rule is just to slow your breath, especially your exhale. We’ve recapped a few that are most valuable - Yoga Nidra or NSDR, the Physiologic Sigh, and CFT. Start with just a few minutes per day. Give these methods a try!