Talking in your sleep? There’s an app for that
The city that never sleeps
MARY ANN GEORGANTOPOULOS
NEW YORK
What are some reasons people don’t sleep well?
One of the things that people complain about is thinking too much when they are in bed. Thinking of all the things that can go wrong tomorrow does not help.
Another common complaint is waking up at 3 in the morning. It’s worse if you get irritated and start obsessing about not being able to go back to sleep. The best policy is don’t try. Just get up and do something that is on your to-do list. In about an hour you can go back to bed and find that now you can sleep
How can meditation help you sleep better?
Mindfulness meditation brings the mind and the body together. Your body may be in a comfortable bed, in a quiet, dark room. But where is your mind? Whatever the mind is doing, the body follows. So, quieting the mind by getting it to focus on our breathing is helpful.
Are there different types of meditation?
Yes, meditation means different things in different traditions. The type of meditation that I is called mindfulness meditation. It is the practice of bringing the wandering mind back to the body so that body and mind can be united instead of in different places. “Be here now” is a kind of mantra you can use, as well as “Breathing in, breathing out.”
How can we incorporate meditation during the day – for example, at work?
The more mindfulness becomes a part of your life, the easier it is to use it — to sleep better, to decrease your stress level, or even to lose weight by eating mindfully. You need to remember to take time out–or rather, time in–during the day.
Tip:
Download a mindfulness bell to ring at intervals you choose. When the bell goes off, stop for about 20 seconds, take a deep breath and tune in to yourself. You can use the occasion to get in touch with your breath and see if you are holding tension anywhere in your body.
Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant
via Metro – Use meditation to sleep better in 2013.
