As we discussed before, sleep is one of the pillars of health. Yet, for many of us, sleep also is something that can be hard to achieve…at least as much, or at the quality, we want. With increasingly busy schedules, caring for children, work-life imbalance, interruptions of normal sport routines, not being able to see family and friends in the ways we might want…all of these (and others) can occupy our minds during the time when we want to be sleeping. The end result…difficulty falling asleep, waking up multiple times throughout the night, or waking early and not being able to fall back asleep. So, we end up tired, more stressed and feeling like we are less able to handle what is before us.

Like in so many areas of our lives, mindfulness can help us with our sleep too. Mindfulness helps us remain grounded in the present, unattached to the thoughts, feelings and sensations we may be having and which could distract us from what is before us. Mindfulness can help us prepare, mind and body, to fall asleep…if you are feeling stressed, worried, distracted when you are getting ready for sleep, you may want to try this mindfulness meditation (Body Scan for Sleep):

https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations

If you are waking up in the middle of the night, you can use a different mindfulness meditation…awareness of breath. If you have downloaded the Mindfulness Coach app on your phone, you can just play that meditation and let yourself drift back to sleep (or even if you do not fall back to sleep immediately you can just enjoy being in a present-moment state of relaxation). If you do not have the app on your phone yet, you can download it (it's free) or you can try this meditation (Breathing Meditation):

https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations

Take care and be #PhysicallyDistantSociallyClose