This article will be exploring how you can help your mind achieve a positive and rested state in order to assist your ability to sleep and sleep peacefully every night.
Many give great care to their body, looking after it with constant exercise and dieting and these things are important to health and well-being, but many over look the importance of the mind, and how in turn the mind can affect the body.
The Buddhists scriptures have an interesting approach believing that your body is a guest house and your mind the guest staying in that guest house, believing that when you die your mind leaves your body and goes into the next life much like a guest leaving a house and moving to another. Though your body and mind work together they are two separate entities, the Buddhists believe that the care of your mind is of the utter most important as the mind can affect the body but also the body ages and decays whilst the mind is reborn and goes on.
Whether you agree with the Buddhists or not the mind does have control over the body and can affect it greatly. People who suffer from anxiety or depression will understand this as the mind can become flustered or racing before bed leading to sleep deprivation which can open you up to more health problems, so here are some tips to help you along the way.
Meditation:
Meditation is great for your mind and well-being, By meditating for just a few minutes out of your day can help you in a number of ways such as, Focusing your mind, lowering stress and anxiety, increasing optimism, it can lead to better decision making, mental strength, it can improve your immune system and energy levels, reduce blood pressure and most importantly for this article leave you in a relaxed state in order for you to sleep better at night.
These days in the world of technology you can find anything in the form of an app or a YouTube video so if you think meditation can work for you, try guided meditations on either your phone or online and try it out for a few nights and see if you can feel the difference. Please bear in mind if using a phone or laptop for this meditation don’t look at the screen light whilst using it the blue light that emits from your device will contradict your relaxation and wake you up.
Write it down:
Some nights you try to sleep but instead all you’re met with is worries and a mind that won’t stop racing. Some may be suffering from anxiety, or stress others may have something in particular on their mind, either way, many find this nearly impossible to switch off and settle for sleep.
A great remedy for this is to write everything down it’s as simple as that. Create a list of things you can deal with the next day or maybe just write down and troubles that are being repeated in your mind. Sometimes writing down a list or even in a journal is like getting something off your chest when speaking to a friend. With everything you write down you’re allowing yourself to stop thinking of it and deal with it when you’re ready.
Relaxing activities before bed:
A lot of us need to wind down properly before bed especially if you have had a particularly stressful or fast paced day. Allow your self some you time, even create a routine of winding down time to help your body get used to a routine allowing it to recognise that you will be going to sleep shortly our minds crave routines it will begin to make a clear association between certain activities and sleep if repeated. Some activities to help you wind down could be reading a book this helps make you tired as well as relaxing you. Another option could be having a hot bath, helping relax all your muscles and giving you some time to yourself some relaxing music and some candles always help as well.
These are just a few ways you can help your mind switch off every night and improve your quality of sleep, be sure to find what works best for you.