7 Tips for Better Sleep Including a Guided Sleep Meditation
Sleep is one of the highest forms of self-care, situated right at the foundation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Many of us logically understand the significant impact of sleep on mental health, physical health, and overall well-being. However, sleep tends to be one of the first needs that gets sacrificed when we become increasingly busy.
I’m here to offer you several useful tips on how to maximize your sleep, but more importantly to urge you to look at sleep as a priority. Sure — self-care in the form of bubble baths, facemasks, and all the other small rituals to nurture yourself is healing — but a deep night’s sleep is ESSENTIAL.
This is because while we sleep, we recharge our bodies and minds, consolidate memories and information, increase our immune function to stay healthy, and increase our abilities to be alert and productive during the day.
Many people struggle with initial insomnia or sleep-onset insomnia, which is characterized as a difficulty in falling asleep and is often linked with anxiety.
I’ve listed some tools and techniques below, along with an evening wind-down meditation of mine, in order to support you in cultivating consistent sleep that is relaxing, rejuvenating, and restorative.
Develop a Nightly Ritual
Developing a nightly ritual is an effective way to begin winding down in a way that’s meaningful and purposeful. One of the most palpable shifts due to the pandemic has been the removal of many of the natural transitions that we used to have between work life, home life, and so on. Just like you have a morning routine of brushing your teeth, getting dressed, coffee, etc., it can be helpful to cultivate consistent activities that ease you into sleep.
Create a Regular Sleep-Wake Cycle
Going to bed and waking up at the same time allows you to sync up your circadian rhythm cycles to your daily life, eliminating the painful struggle of trying to wake up through sleep-deprivation or force sleep when the mind is highly active. If your cycle is way off, start with slow increments in the morning by waking up 15-30 minutes earlier and elongating the time every few days.
Bed = Sleep
The power of association is very prominent in our brains. If we begin to associate our space for sleep with work or bright lights that mimic sunlight from television during the night, we will find ourselves having a harder time signaling to our brain that the moment we enter the bed, it is time for rest. Have fun making your bed a sacred space dedicated to sleep! This can include soft blankets, dim lights, or white noise of your choice!
Aromatherapy
Lavender essential oils or any other scents that you associate with a state of calm can be very beneficial to ameliorating the process of easing into slumber. The reasoning for utilizing smell to promote relaxation is due to your olfactory bulb (where your brain processes smell) having direct connections to your amygdala (where your brain processes emotion) and your hippocampus (the part of the brain responsible for memory and cognition). Before bed, drop a few droplets of lavender oil onto your pillow for an even deeper sense of relaxation as you transition into sleep.
Binaural Beats – Delta Waves
Binaural beats are auditory hallucinations created by listening to two slightly different frequencies in separate ears simultaneously. The brain perceives the third tone as the same frequency needed for your brain to create identical waves commonly experienced during certain states (wakefulness, meditative, light sleep, deep sleep). Binaural beats in the delta (1 to 4 Hz) range have been associated with deep sleep and relaxation. Listening to delta waves (more effectively through headphones), has been shown to aid with sleep and relaxation. You can easily find binaural delta wave audio files by searching on YouTube or downloading the app Insight Timer.
Journaling
Keeping a journal by your bed is an effective tool to cope with anxious thoughts that arise as your mind and body begin to relax and become naturally vulnerable. As anxiety is shown to directly impact initial insomnia and our busy lives require us to retain focus on endless tasks, it can be helpful to write down every thought that comes to mind or task that needs to be done the next day. By doing so, you can let go of the anxious thoughts that may arise due to fears of forgetting and allow yourself to check the list in the morning.
Meditation
Making meditation part of your nightly transition to sleep has immense benefits, as this practice naturally induces a relaxation response. Meditation has been proven to not only help with sleep-onset insomnia, but also improve the quality of your sleep.
Check out the Guided Sleep Meditation I’ve created for you below to help you ease into the deep satisfaction of relaxing your body and mind. You can access it whenever you would like some extra guidance transitioning into a state of being that is receptive to welcoming in a good night’s sleep. :)
With Gratitude,
Atalie Abramovici, AMFT
Use this Guided Sleep Meditation to help you fall asleep fast and sleep better tonight!
