Meditation and mindfulness again help us achieve relaxation and sleep. I’ve been sleeping even in the midst of a hard-core drug withdrawal with the help of meditation and amino acids. I don’t know anyone in my stage of withdrawal besides myself who sleeps well. Granted I still feel like shit, but I do sleep and that’s gotta be good for something. I do meditate daily.
Changing bad sleep habits and clearing the mind with meditation may offer drug-free alternatives to traditional insomnia treatments.
Two new studies suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy to change people’s attitudes and actions about sleep and using meditation to encourage relaxation can help insomniacs get a better night’s sleep without pills.
Researchers say that contrary to popular belief, insomnia is not a nighttime-only affliction but a 24-hour problem of hyperarousal. By teaching people how to relax and clear their minds during the day, they sleep better at night.
“Results of the study show that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night,” says researcher Ramadevi Gourineni, MD, director of the insomnia program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in a news release. (read the rest)
I’ve been teaching meditation all my life. I’m glad the “establishment” is finally getting to a point where they are speaking openly about the benefits of meditation. Unfortunately most people find it confusing to do and they think they don’t have enough time to do it. I offer a free 2 minute meditation on my site for you to start or restart your meditation. Free two minute meditation
I’m getting ready to read Gayle Greene’s book called “Insomniac” that I heard about on NPR. I’m really excited about it. It’s written from a perspective of an insomnia sufferer “who’s tried everything” not a medial expert. From what I’ve read she’s stayed away from technical jargon and stuck to her personal journey to find relief. She apparently did a lot of research on many sleepless nights. It got great reviews. Here is the link to her book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Insomniac-Gayle-Greene/dp/0520259963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244640006&sr=8-1
Impressive that this is getting media attn. Sleep meds never work for prolonged periods of time and are always addictive, leading to higher and higher doses. There has got to be a better way- and I’m glad there is. I really need the time to implement all of these things…