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Having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep through the night? You’re not alone. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), between 30 and 35% of adults experience brief insomnia symptoms. AASM also states that 10% of adults have chronic insomnia.
Sleep problems can be more than just a nuisance. When you don’t get enough high-quality sleep, your risk of health problems goes up. This includes serious health issues, such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The good news is that you don’t need a lot of time and effort to start improving your sleep quality. In fact, a 10-minute meditation offers a simple yet highly effective way to sleep better.
What Exactly Is Sleep Meditation?
Meditation is a great way to clear your mind, so you can gain awareness and boost your emotional well-being. Practicing meditation involves using different kinds of techniques to help you achieve this.
Have you ever practiced meditation? Sleep meditation is similar to regular meditation, but it’s aimed at helping you calm and clear your mind at bedtime. That way, you can drift off into deep sleep and feel well-rested in the morning. A simple 10-minute sleep meditation is an effective way to do this.
How Sleep Meditation Improves Sleep Quality
How does meditating for ten minutes help you sleep better? Well, if you’ve ever worked with a meditation teacher or done a meditation session on your own, you know how you feel calmer afterward? (If you haven't, take our word for it, it most certainly does!)
Sleep meditation has similar effects on your brain and body. It calms them and helps reduce stress that might keep you tossing and turning. Making this type of daily meditation part of your bedtime routine helps improve your sleep quality and duration.
With a 10-minute sleep meditation, you can fall asleep more easily, stay asleep during the night, and feel refreshed in the morning. Improving your sleep quality helps you feel your best mentally and physically!
Sleep Meditation and Its Amazing Benefits
What makes sleep meditation sessions so beneficial? In addition to increasing relaxation and helping you sleep better, it also offers other practical advantages.
Simple to fit into your schedule
Doing sleep meditations only takes ten minutes of your time. You don’t have to set aside an hour or more to do this. A brief 10-minute sleep meditation is easy to fit into your daily routine, no matter how hectic your schedule is.
Lasting effects on your brain and body
When you meditate before sleep on a regular basis, this can also have lasting effects on sleep quality. As your body and brain get used to these sleep meditation sessions, you might find it easier to fall asleep every night. You can also look forward to feeling more awake during the day.
Sleep Meditation Techniques to Consider
There isn’t just one way to do sleep meditation. In fact, you’ll find quite a few different meditation techniques out there. Keep in mind that you may want to try different meditation techniques to see which works best for you.
Give guided sleep meditation a try
Guided sleep meditation involves doing a body scan where you focus your attention on different parts of your body. During this body scan, you’ll be focusing on relaxing each part of your body to ease tension.
This meditation practice can be done in different ways, so watching video tutorials or using other resources can be helpful. The following are a few components that are sometimes included as part of a guided 10-minute sleep meditation.
Do deep breathing exercises
Deep breathing exercises may involve counting while you inhale and exhale. How does this help you fall asleep? Focusing on counting while taking deep breaths can help your body and brain feel calmer and readier for sleep.
Cultivate gratitude
For some meditation sessions before sleep, you might want to focus on gratitude. These meditations can help you realize what you’re thankful for in life, which can boost your mood and help reduce stress.
Practice mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness refers to being in the present moment. A mindfulness meditation technique involves focusing on the present instead of worrying about the past or future. During this meditation session, you would concentrate on your surroundings at bedtime.
Try visualization
Does imagining being at the beach make you feel relaxed? That’s what visualization is all about. A visualization 10-minute sleep meditation involves imagining a scene that feels peaceful to you.
What Does the Research Show?
If the idea of spending just ten minutes meditating to sleep better seems too good to be true, rest assured that it’s not! Plenty of research backs up the claim that meditation leads to improved sleep quality.
A 2012 review published in Frontiers in Neurology found that various parts of sleep-generating mechanisms improved with meditation. Doing meditation before sleep was also found to enhance melatonin levels and REM sleep states for an easier time falling asleep and staying asleep.
For adults with chronic insomnia, a 2014 study published in Sleep found that mindfulness meditation offers a viable form of treatment for this sleep disorder. That’s great news for adults who struggle to get a good night’s sleep with this condition.
Thinking about doing mindfulness meditation as a 10-minute sleep meditation? A 2015 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that mindful awareness practices helped older adults with sleep disturbances. These practices helped improve their sleep quality and insomnia symptoms.
A 2019 study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science also found that mindfulness meditation led to significant improvements in sleep quality in adults with sleep disturbances.
Recent research also supports claims that sleep meditation helps boost sleep quality. A 2021 study published in Sleep and Vigilance found that doing an advanced meditation program led to immediate improvements in sleep quality and duration. The effects of this meditation were still going strong 40 days later!
Looking for an app for sleep meditation? A 2022 PLOS One survey found that people with sleep disturbances who used the Calm meditation app experienced sleep quality improvements. These app users also had decreased sleep disturbance symptoms.
Create a More Relaxing Sleep Environment
Having a sleep environment that’s as soothing as possible can help set the mood for your 10-minute meditation. Make your room dark, quiet, and cool, so you can focus on practicing meditation and falling asleep.
Your sleep environment should also be as comfortable as possible. A Blissy Silk Pillowcase provides the perfect texture to rest your head on as part of your daily routine. These pillowcases, made from 100% mulberry silk, offer a soft and smooth feel for your skin.
Blissy Silk Pillowcases also help you stay cool all night long for blissful sleep. With your head on one of these silk pillowcases, you can look forward to enjoying inner peace and restful slumber.
Sleep Serenely with a Blissy Silk Pillowcase
Looking for the ideal pillowcase for restful sleep? Check out our Blissy Silk Pillowcases, which come in all kinds of designs and colors.
