Can Mindfulness Impact Sleep Quality?

According to the CDC, “More than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis.” Enough sleep is at least seven hours per night for adults between the ages of 18 and 60 years. A lack of quality sleep is directly related to our health—or rather, a lack thereof. This may increase chances of getting a cold or more serious chronic problems such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and mental illness.

First Steps to Quality Sleep

The first steps to a good night’s sleep is addressing your sleep environment. Things such as setting a bedtime routine, putting the appropriate amount of time aside for sleep, a quality mattress, and black-out curtains to curtail disruptive light. Once you have addressed your sleep environment you can look into additional sleep remedies such as background music, essential oils and common sleep supplements such as melatonin.

These are great first steps, but what happens when you lay down and your body is still in overtime? This is where mindfulness can really impact your sleep.

How does mindfulness help you sleep?

When you hear the word mindfulness you probably go to images of a Zen-like meditative state of mind. And guess what? You’re right. Mindfulness is putting yourself into an awareness of mind that helps you focus on “the now” or the present moment.

JAMA Internal Medicine documents a study between adults who participated in a mindfulness awareness program (MAP) focused on meditation and other mindfulness exercises versus a group of adults who completed a sleep education class. The results show that the MAP group were able to trigger a relaxation response that enabled the participants to improve their quality sleep over their study counterparts. This was done with about 20-minutes of mindful meditation and relaxation techniques just prior to sleep.

The study shows the importance of strengthening your mental muscle to refocus yourself away from the wandering mind. Afterall, the goal of mindfulness is relaxing your mind to enable your body to sleep.

Here are four techniques to improve your mindfulness during the day and just prior to sleep.

Hatha Yoga

Hatha Yoga is the practice of using physical exercise and contemplative focus to not only improve your physical self and flexibility, but also to relax your muscles, your mind, and help you feel calmer and more centered as you slip into sleep.

Yoga Nidra

Yoga nidra, also known as “yogic sleep,” is a state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness that is typically guided by mediation. Research shows this yoga technique helps reduce stress and promotes the relaxation response in your body. Check out these 10 easy steps to practicing yoga nidra.

Mindfulness Meditation

While mindfulness meditation can be used throughout the day, your sleep quality may benefit most just prior to sleep. The process of mindfulness meditation helps you build awareness of yourself—sensations, frustrations, feelings, and emotions. Having an awareness of these mind-disruptors will help you alleviate your anxieties which keep you awake at night or prevent you from falling asleep.

Relaxation Breathing

Relaxation breathing, a meditation technique that focuses on regulated breathing that lowers heart rate, is especially useful during anxious or stressful moments when you need to take a moment and refocus. Relaxation breathing is a technique in which exhales are longer than inhales. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system, triggering the body’s relaxation response rather than the “fight or flight” response.

To practice relaxation breathing, lay on your back and close your eyes. Take a deep breath in for a count of four, and then exhale for a count of eight. As you inhale, focus on your breath. Feel your belly expand as it fills with oxygen. As you exhale, imagine any stress and tension you carry in your body being released with each breath you that escapes you.

Repeat five times.

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On top of practicing yoga and other meditation techniques, there are a number of ways to prepare your mind and body for sleep at the end of the day.

Stash the Screens

Blue-light emitted from the screens of technology prevents the brain from producing the hormone melatonin. Melatonin production follows the body’s internal clock, known as our circadian rhythm, and is therefore secreted in response to light. As the sun goes down, and it gets darker, our brains are notified it’s time to produce melatonin to aid in sleep because it helps the body relax. However, the light from our technology tricks our brain into thinking it’s still “daytime.” About an hour before bed, restrict the use of all technology consumption so it does not interfere with sleep.

Take a Warm Bath

Temperature is one of the number one factors that impacts sleep. That’s because, in order to fall asleep, our core body temperature must drop a few degrees. This happens naturally each night before going to bed. Soaking in a warm bath for 30 minutes shortly before bed will cause your core body temperature to rise and then drop rapidly. This rapid drop in body temperature will help relax you and is said to put you in a deeper sleep. For extra relaxation, add Epsom salts or a splash of lavender essential oil to the bathtub.

Avoid Caffeine After 3 pm

Caffeine is a stimulant very similar to adenosine, the hormone that keeps you awake during the day. When your body gets even a little caffeine, you are telling it to stay awake. Although most of us wouldn’t brew a pot of coffee at 8 pm, even a late-afternoon latte indulgence can impact sleep. This is because caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours. Translation: if you have a cup of coffee at 3 pm, 50% of that caffeine is still in your system at 9 pm.

Restrict Alcohol Consumption

Although you may associate alcohol with sleepiness, the truth is alcohol actually interferes with sleep quality. It’s true that moderate to high doses of alcohol may cause you to fall asleep faster; however, it also increases sleep disruption later on in the night. The result? You are jerked out of the sleep you need most: REM sleep, which is the most deep and restorative stage of sleep.