3 Mindfulness Sleep Tips

Are you feeling like you could use a week’s worth of good sleep?  We sure are!  Yet sometimes sleep eludes us, either at the beginning of the night, or midway through after we’ve awakened.  It may be that there is a thought chasing its tail around and around in our mind.  Or it may have started like that and then become a looping sense of dread as the minutes tick by and we haven’t managed to achieve sleep.  

Over the years, we’ve found three mindfulness techniques that have dramatically improved our ability to drift off.  None of them involves trying to fall asleep.  Instead, they help the mind focus on something else.  By giving the mind something to focus on in the present moment we disengage our Default Mode Network - a combination of areas in the brain that link up and work together when we don’t give our minds something to do.  We want to disengage this network because when it takes over it tends to create looping thoughts about past and future.  Not surprisingly, these thoughts tend to revolve around fears or concerns, which may lead to cortisol and other stress hormones being released into our system.  This makes it hard for us to fall asleep.

Sleep Aid #1:  Body Scan
Beginning either at the top of the head or the toes on one foot, move your attention slowly and systematically through the body, pausing in each area to notice all of the sensations that may or may not be present in that part of the body:  tingling, warmth, coolness, pressure, contact with clothing, etc.  Finish by widening attention to notice sensations in the entire body.  Disclaimer:  you may not make it to the end!  By directing your mind to attend to the body in the present moment, you disengage the Default Mode Network, and connect with the present moment.  The looping thoughts dim a bit and lose their grip.

Sleep Aid #2:  Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Like Body Scan, Progressive Muscle Relaxation brings attention into the body, and gives the mind a present-moment object on which to focus.  It goes a step further and actively sends cues to the brain that the body is relaxed.  Tighten muscle groups one by one (ie first hands, then arms, shoulders, forehead, belly, legs, feet) for 5-10 seconds, and then on an exhale relax the muscle group that has been tensed completely all at once.  Rest for a while noticing what it feels like to be relaxed in this part of the body vs. how it felt when it was tensed up.  

Sleep Aid #3:  A to Z Gratitude
Counting our blessings is as good as counting sheep!  Bring to mind something that starts with the letter A for which you feel grateful.  It can be something small and concrete like an apple, or something more conceptual like Art, or a being, like your dear Aunt Sheila.  Notice what it feels like to bring this blessing into your awareness.  If a sense of gratitude arises, allow it to spread through the body, imagining that it is infusing every one of your cells, maybe having a sense that you are resting into that sense of gratitude.  Then move on to a blessing that starts with the letter B….  Here again you're giving your mind something to focus on, and you're also cultivating a sense of “needs met” so that your nervous system can take the rest of the night off :  )

At any point when sleep eludes you, remember first to pause to offer yourself compassion, naming how you’re feeling in the moment (“This no-sleeping thing is stressing me out!”).  As they say, “to name it is to tame it” and this compassion can keep you from adding extra layers of stress to your experience.

May we all have deep, regenerating sleep and the sweetest of dreams,
Your CMP family