How Mindfulness Improves Your Sleep So You Have More Energy Each Day

Imagine waking up feeling vibrant, refreshed, and excited about the day ahead. Seems like something that only happens when you’re on vacation, right? Getting plenty of quality sleep every day can be tricky, yet it’s essential for our health – especially amidst our busy lifestyles.

When you don’t get enough sleep, you may feel drained, foggy, and unfulfilled. This often leads to increased stress, anxiety, or depression. These, in turn, deprive you of sleep, creating a vicious feedback loop of never having enough energy to truly enjoy your life.

Science reveals that some of the benefits of getting proper sleep include:

• A stronger immune system

• Increased energy levels

• Increased productivity

If you have a hard time falling asleep or feel exhausted because you’re not getting enough sleep at night, you’re not alone. I see this all the time with my clients..and I’ve gone through it myself. 

The good news is there are several things you can do to improve the depth and quality of your sleep. Mindfulness can be a direct tool for this because it addresses the root cause of most sleep problems. Here, you’ll learn why mindfulness for sleep is so effective and gain five practical tips to help you sleep like a baby.

The #1 reason most people can’t fall asleep

Mindfulness addresses the root cause of many sleep problems, like sleep deprivation and insomnia: incessant mental chatter. It’s hard to fall asleep with a million thoughts in your mind.

Like most people, you may find yourself rehashing the day’s events or mentally going through tomorrow’s to-do list as you go to bed. But even while your body is cozily snuggled up under the covers, your brain and organs can’t fully relax until your mind does the same.

By learning to relax your mind through meditation, you’ll find it much easier to fall and stay asleep throughout the whole night. 

Why leverage the power of mindfulness for sleep?

Let’s take a brief look at why mindfulness is so effective for sleep from a biological standpoint. When you’re worried about something, your brain responds to your thoughts as if there was an actual threat – even while lying safely in your bed. 

A busy mind keeps the sympathetic branch of your nervous system active. This causes your brain to release neurochemicals that prepare you for action rather than for relaxation. The stress response is now at work. Your body can’t rest fully because it thinks it has a threat to fight or run away from.

Learning to manage your stress response effectively through mindfulness allows your body and mind to relax when it’s time to relax. This makes it much easier to then go to bed with a clear mind and benefit from a full night’s sleep.

Meditation allows your body to rest more deeply

When you train your mind to release stress and tension through meditation, you teach your body to do the same. When your mind is in its alert state (as you complete your daily chores), your brain and body are in full go-mode. 

But if your mind never has a chance to rest, neither does your brain or body.

 “As your mind grows quieter and more spacious, you can begin to see self-defeating thought patterns for what they are, and open up to other, more positive options.” — Sharon Salzberg

As you meditate and bring non-judgmental awareness to thoughts and emotions, you’re sending your body signals that everything is ok. When your body feels safe, it can also relax. 

Your brain is no longer giving your body commands to take action to avoid or run from a perceived threat. This allows your body to focus on healing and maintenance, boosting your immune system, so it’s easier to fall asleep at night.

Mindfulness helps you take better care of yourself

Through mindfulness, you build up your inner wisdom, feeling a greater sense of self-worth. You make better decisions that improve the functioning of your body and mind, making it easier for them to relax as you lay down to go to sleep.

As you learn to increase awareness of your body through mindfulness practices such as the body scan meditation, you build a greater sense of connection and love for your body. This gives you more inner motivation to take care of your body, such as fueling it with proper nutrition or exercising it, both of which are vital for improving sleep quality.

Practicing mindfulness also helps you recognize mental and emotional turmoil more effectively. Your tumultuous spirals aren't as long-standing or tolling on your health. When stress and anxiety show up, you can move through them faster so they don’t cause you sleepless nights worrying about something you can’t control.

Using a mindfulness sleep meditation before bed

If you’ve ever tried to meditate and fell asleep (even though that wasn’t your initial intention), that’s absolutely normal. Your body was probably tired and needed the rest. 

While sleeping isn’t the typical goal of meditation (being aware of the present moment is), it shows how meditation can be used as a supportive tool to drift off to sound sleep faster.

When you meditate, your brain waves slow down. The more you’re able to release attachment to whatever’s on your mind, the easier it becomes to slip into delta – a brain state associated with deep sleep. 

So if you have a hard time falling asleep, try a mindfulness meditation before bed. Here is a guided meditation Deep Sleep Meditation: Guided Mindfulness Body Scan & Serene Music for Restful Nights

Here are a few other beneficial tips to help you fall and stay asleep at night so you feel fresh and energized throughout the day.

5 tips for peaceful and sound sleep

• Journal about your thoughts, fears, and worries

When your mind is busy, one of the easiest ways to let go is to grab a pen and notepad and write everything down. As you release your worries onto the paper, you’ll gain a more objective perspective. 

You’ll recognize that those fears, doubts, or stresses are not you – they’re just visitors passing through your mind. While this doesn’t make them any less real, it does give you the ability to choose to respond to them consciously.

• Exercise

When your body’s tired, it will naturally want to rest. By making exercise a regular part of your daily routine, you increase your body’s appetite for sleep. This releases the hormones that make it easier for you to fall asleep when you're actually tired. 

• Avoid alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine before bed

Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants, causing your body and brain to be more alert, making it harder to fall asleep. And while alcohol is considered a depressant that slows down brain wave activity, it can lead to sleep disruption and a lower quality of sleep throughout the night. That’s because your body has to work harder to filter the toxins from the system. So if you, try to avoid these substances either altogether or at least a few hours before bed.

• Keep your bedroom a space for rest

Do you look forward to going to bed at night because your bedroom feels like a safe and warm space to relax? Or do you tend to use your bedroom for work or other tasks? We often associate our spaces with the activities we tend to perform there. It’s easier for your body to know how to relax in a space where it usually relaxes. So if possible, try to keep your bedroom reserved for sleep and other bedroom-only activities.

• Unplug from electronics a couple of hours before bed

Consider your typical routine a few hours before bedtime. Is it spent in front of a TV, finishing up a work project, or scrolling through social media? When you’re in the habit of continually accessing your phone, computer, or electronic devices throughout the day, it can be hard to unplug.

But the blue light coming off these devices makes it harder for your brain to produce melatonin, the hormone that helps you fall asleep. So if possible, try to stay off electronics a couple of hours before bed and opt for reading a physical book or taking a walk instead. 

Ease your mind to prepare your body for amazing sleep

Anything you do for your mind, you also do for your body. The two are irrevocably intertwined as the brain sends signals to the body and your body then changes the state of your brain.

When you learn to relax your mind and gain new tools for coping with stress through mindfulness practices, you’re making it easier for your body to rest as well. 

Want to learn how to integrate mindfulness into your daily life so you can benefit from better sleep every day? Sign up for a free consultation for a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class here.