An estimated 30% of U.S. adults have insomnia, the most common type of sleep disorder, and 10% of people have chronic insomnia lasting longer than six months. Sleep deprivation can significantly impact functioning, mood, health, and overall quality of life, making it important that insomnia gets treated.
Meditation is a relaxation technique that typically involves slow, deep breathing and paying attention to your body. It has been shown to be helpful with insomnia.
The research on meditation has shown that it can help with a variety of conditions. Studies have found that it can improve sleep quality and help treat insomnia. It may also reduce pain and improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Meditation helps calm a person by lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and the stress hormone cortisol. It also helps with racing thoughts and emotion regulation.
There are many different ways to meditate, and you may use different techniques at different times, depending on what is easiest or most appropriate.
There are various ways to meditate that may be easier to do during the day, when you are active and involved in other activities. For example, while walking around, you can do a walking meditation, focusing on your breath and your body’s physical sensations.
Other kinds of mind-body meditations you can do during the day that can help with insomnia include:
Mindfulness meditation is another option. It can be practiced anywhere at any time, even while brushing your teeth. It involves simply being aware of what you are doing in the present moment. Don’t think about the future or what else you have to do that day; just focus on what you are doing right then and there.
Another popular kind of meditation is heartfulness meditation, in which you sit quietly, breathe, and focus on the idea of light and love originating from your heart.
Both mindfulness and heartfulness meditation can be done at night, too. Another good option that can help combat insomnia is body scan meditation, also known as progressive muscle relaxation. It involves focusing on your breath while consciously relaxing different parts of your body. Guided meditations available on audio might also be helpful; you can listen to these while in bed and allow the recording to lead the meditation practice.
Some of the more common meditation techniques include guided meditation, mindfulness meditation, and body scan meditation.
In guided meditation, another person leads the meditation, and you follow their prompts. Mindfulness meditation encourages you to let go of judgment and negativity by focusing only on what you’re feeling in the present moment. Body scan meditation helps you notice if you’re carrying tension in certain areas of your body, with the goal of relaxing from head to toe.
If you’re dealing with insomnia, be sure to take a good look at your personal habits, since many behaviors can contribute to sleep problems.
More research is needed to determine why some people experience these issues. If this happens to you, check in with your healthcare provider.
Meditation is, of course, just one of many treatments for insomnia. You may find that a combination of approaches works best; your healthcare provider can help you sort through the options and develop a treatment plan for you.
Sleep hygiene education is also a potential treatment for insomnia. It helps people identify and change lifestyle behaviors that are contributing to insomnia.
Insomnia is more than just annoying—it can significantly disrupt a person’s life and contribute to illness. Treatment is important, but taking medication isn’t always the first step.
Meditation can help improve sleep quality by lowering blood pressure and stress hormones while calming racing thoughts. There are different types and you may need to try different approaches before you find the one that works for you. If you’re still not getting any relief, talk with your healthcare provider about other insomnia treatments.
Meditation can be an effective treatment for insomnia, but it’s not for everyone. If it doesn’t work for you, there are a number of other treatments for insomnia to try.
Some people love meditation apps, others don’t—it all depends on the person. But using an app does mean you’re tied to an electronic device, and if you’re trying to avoid devices in the hours leading up to bed, this defeats the purpose.
Everyone is different, but multiple studies have found that yes, meditation can be effective in helping to treat insomnia. A 2020 meta-analysis (a statistical analysis combining the results of many studies) found that meditation, particularly mindfulness-based stress reduction, not only helped with insomnia symptoms but also improved sleep quality. Another study looked at heartfulness meditation and found that it significantly improved insomnia symptoms in people with chronic insomnia.