Whether you realized it or not, most of you have faced sleep deprivation in your life. Getting enough sleep is very crucial as it can benefit your lives in so many ways including being more fruitful and wide awake. But, if you don’t get enough rest, it will turn your life upside down. You can suffer from chronic pain, sickness, and even obesity just because of not getting enough sleep. To avoid this problem, here are 10 steps to achieve peaceful rest with sleep meditation.
Breathe
Once you are comfortable lying on your bed, take some time to concentrate on your breathing. Try deep inhaling and exhaling for five times. Focus on how the air moves in and out of your lungs. This helps you to release any tension and stress from the day you had.
Don’t rush it
You would never fall asleep if you keep on looking and racing against the clock. Taking your time to relax will hugely improve your sleep quality. Pay attention to how soft the sheets feel, how your body rests against them and the overworking thoughts that fill your head.
Engross
Engross yourself with your surroundings. Think about how the room feels around you. Is there any sound? Can you remove the noise from your head? Can you change the brightness of your room to make it darker? Can you let go of all of your thoughts that annoy you? Find out what is preventing you from relaxing.
Imagine
Use your imagination to move around your body, part by part, and focusing on how it feels. If it’s stiff, try to relax it. If it’s relaxed, enjoy it. Start scaling your body from head to your toes. Take about 20 seconds on each part. It may seem complicated, but very effective at changing your focus to something else.
Just breathe
Don’t think about how or when you should breathe. Don’t make it complicated. Instead, focus on the area of your body where the rise and fall of your breath happens. The rhythm might change as you start to focus on it. It’s not a big deal as its normal. Just keep on doing it.
Not all those who wander are lost
Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to breathe when trying to get a good night’s sleep. Don’t be so firm when your mind wants to wander. Just acknowledge it and bring it back to focus on the rise and fall of your breathing. You can increase your focus by paying attention to the lifting and falling of your stomach.
Reverse psychology
Practice to retrace your day before going to sleep. Take a mental walk through your day starting from where you are at that moment until the very first moment you opened your eyes that same day. Recounting your day from the end to the start might be difficult. However, this backward exercise will make your brain stay on track and do its task.
Permit yourself
Permit yourself to go to sleep once you’re satisfied with the day you had. Start off with one small part of your body and move to the rest of it. If your mind still wandering, try deep breathing and focus on the rise and fall again. It will stop the thoughts from interrupting you from falling asleep.
Turn it off
Take the control to put an end to the day and enable your body to relax. If you woke up and didn’t want to move your body because of how comfortable you were, then that’s how great it feels to be fully relaxed. That’s your goal.
Are you still awake?
If you fell asleep before making to this tenth step, good for you. But if you are still struggling, make time to figure out which work for you. Try to reduce your activity before bed, take a hot bath or shower and eat lots of protein so your body can repair and recover throughout the night.
