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Audio Sleep Meditation: Description and Effectiveness (Recommendations Included) Are you tired of counting sheep just to fall asleep at night? Have you tried different sleeping aids just to have that optimal sleep quality? Despite all the herbal remedies you have succumbed, do you still have trouble falling asleep or even maintaining sleep? If you answered a resounding “Yes” to all these questions, then it might be time to try a different approach. Since meditation can actually help in clearing the mind, using this practice to obtain that much-needed zzz’s might be just what you need.
The relationship between meditation and sleep The prevalence of insomnia in the US population is around 8% to 18%. Insomnia, defined as the difficulty of falling asleep or maintaining sleep, affects a large number of the global population. The problem is, it can be difficult to treat, especially if it presents as an idiopathic type, wherein the main cause of the disorder is not known. Insomnia is usually treated through cognitive behavioral therapy and medications. But little known to the sufferers, meditation can actually be an alternative form of treatment for insomnia, especially if you don’t want to turn to chemical medications. Meditation has a natural therapeutic effect of inducing relaxation and calmness to a person’s mind. The failure to fall asleep or maintain sleep can result from the stresses experienced by the insomniac. With an over-active mind, there’s hyper-arousal of the cognitive functioning thereby making the insomnia even worse. The relationship between meditation and sleep is therefore directional. Meditation can help in easing the mind of the insomniac and induce a deeper and better sleep.
Scientifically, meditation induces the alpha and theta waves on our brains
When we are awake and busy, the most dominant waves found in our brains are the beta waves. Whenever you’re in school or at work, doing cognitive tasks, your brain pattern would showcase beta waves. What’s interesting is that during meditation, two types of waves become increased instead which are the alpha and theta waves. In the study linked above, around 86% of the participants have increased levels of alpha waves after meditating. Similarly, there’s an increase in theta waves activity for around 93% of the participants. The alpha waves represent an awake yet relaxed state of the mind. On the other hand, the theta waves represent is another awake but relaxed, yet even slower, state of the mind. These waves are precursors for the sleeping state of humans, of which delta waves dominate. Thus, if you relate the results of this study to our topic, we can say that the stimulation of these alpha and theta waves can induce a drowsy or sleepy state to the individual. The relaxed and calmer mind becomes the precursor for sleep.
Meditation doesn’t just induce brain waves, it also increases the levels of the human sleep hormone This sleep hormone is called melatonin, which is naturally produced by the pineal gland of the brain. Melatonin is the body’s very own sleep hormone, which works by binding to melatonin receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. It then induces sleepiness in the individual by inhibiting the wakefulness status via the body’s innate circadian rhythm. It is not known exactly how meditation increases levels of melatonin. Two mechanisms though that researchers postulate it does so is by slowing down the metabolism of the hormone or by inducing its production through the pineal gland.
How effective is meditation for inducing sleep? Many studies have already established the effectiveness of meditation for inducing sleep even in insomniacs. In a study conducted by Ong and his colleagues in 2014, they investigated on the effectiveness of meditation-based therapeutic interventions for chronic insomniacs. Two types of therapies were used, first was the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and second was the mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI). These therapies have the same principles but they differ in that the latter is delivered in the context of insomnia. The results were significant for both groups but the MBTI group shown greater reduction in insomnia severity. Similarly, in another study, researchers investigated on the effectiveness of meditation for inducing sleep in dental students. In contrast, this study assessed the effectiveness of meditation by using questionnaires. The students were from Chennai, a city in India, some of the participants use meditation as a means of relaxing. The result of the survey
was that 44.74% of the students do think that meditation relaxes their minds. Around 13.16% think they sleep better if they meditate before bed time.
What is audio sleep meditation? Simply put, audio sleep meditation is a guided form of meditation that aims to help an individual fall asleep. It is basically the same as meditation, only that the approach is adapted for sleep-deprived individuals. Unlike some types of meditation, audio sleep meditation is a guided form of therapeutic healing. Aside from the background music, a narrator is present in the audio guide to help induce sleep in the individual listening to it. Audio sleep meditation is also sometimes referred to as guided sleep meditation. You can easily browse on YouTube and find a number of guided sleep meditation videos. Thus, the resources are very abundant and you won’t even need to spend as much to find them. But if you are needing some recommendations, read on and I’d be giving you a few of my favorite audio sleep meditation videos to help treat your sleeplessness.
Recommended audio sleep meditation guides 1. Jason Stephenson’s Floating Amongst The Stars (Link) Jason Stephenson, website here, is the most popular audio sleep meditation personality in YouTube. A former drug and alcohol abuser, Jason turned his life around with the help of meditation and other alternative forms of healing. He is the owner of Relax Me Online Australia. His YouTube channel, which mainly has audio guides/meditation music, has reached over 500,000 subscribers. A recommendation amongst his hundreds of videos is the Floating Amongst The Stars guided sleep meditation. The soothing voice of Jason, the visual imagery of the stars and of course, the relaxing music would send one into a relaxed state. For some, the audio sleep meditation induced sleepiness, rendering one unable to finish the video itself. Individuals suffering from sleep paralysis or post-traumatic stress disorder can also benefit from this audio sleep meditation.
2. The Honest Guys Guided Sleep Meditation Talk Down Insomnia Playlist (Link) The Honest Guys is comprised of three main individuals with different roles in the channel. Sian is the writer of the guided meditations, Rick is the narrator/voiceover and Kevin is the producer. Initially, their YouTube channel began as a review account for various self-improvement strategies and methods. They further ventured into making and producing guided meditation videos. Because of the calming and sleep-inducing effects of their videos, they have gathered a number of subscribers and views over the years. Their guided sleep meditation playlist is quite extensive, comprising of about 21 audios slash videos. There’s a lot of variety in the playlist, ranging from nature, water sounds
and even universe images. They know how to choose the appropriate music and the soothing voice of Rick along with the well-crafted script would send one in a deep slumber just a few minutes from the beginning of the videos.
3. Michael Sealey’s Guided Meditation for Detachment From OverThinking (Link) The last recommendation is that of Michael Sealey’s detachment guided sleep meditation video. His Youtube channel has around 400,000 subscribers. His difference from the other channels is that he also has hypnosis videos. In fact, that is his edge as well, as the combination of meditative and hypnotic guided audios/videos can help relieve symptoms of both anxiety and sleeplessness. For the insomniacs who find it hard to fall asleep due to their over-thinking, this is the perfect guided sleep meditation for you. The calm voice of Michael with guide you in letting go of your attachments to your unhealthy thoughts. He does recommend being awake for the whole video to gain most out of them. But if you find yourself sleeping in the midst of listening, then that means his video does work for insomnia.
Preparations prior to using audio sleep meditation guides Make sure that you have completed the appropriate sleep hygiene patterns before using these audio sleep meditation guides. For example, caffeine is a known stimulant and can ignite alertness. Thus, you need to avoid drinking it at least six hours before going to bed. Other sleep hygiene patterns you need to remember are avoidance of long daytime naps, avoidance of spicy foods before bed time and ensuring that the temperature or the environment is comfortable enough for you before sleep. Finally, gadgets can emit blue light that can disrupt your natural sleeping rhythm. If you want to avoid this factor whilst listening to these guides, just turn the monitor or screen
away from your vision. Better yet, close your eyes and just indulge in the narrative slash music without any exposure to the screen. For some people, watching the videos actually help them relax better so you need to gauge which option is more appropriate for you.
Are you ready to sleep better using meditation? There’s no need to rely on counting sheep nor sleeping aids to get that slumber you have always dreamed of while awake. Meditation is a proven safe and effective therapy for inducing sleep. The best part is that there are lots of free audio sleep meditation guides in the internet aside from the ones mentioned above. You can find one that suits your needs, preferences and situation. So don’t give up on that sleep just yet, perhaps meditation is the remedy that might work for you. Has anyone else tried using audio sleep meditation to obtain better slumber? How effective was it for you? Share your experiences in the comments section below! All vectors used in this blog post are from Vecteezy (www.vecteezy.com), credits belong to the creators and uploaders