Can’t Sleep?

Getting a good night’s rest seems to be more and more elusive.  Store shelves are full of sleep aid prescriptions.  According to Allied Market Research, the sleep aid industry in the U.S. is expected to grow from $49.5 million in 2016 to $79.8 million by 2023.  The figures are even more staggering globally where PR Newswire reports a growth of $78.7 billion in 2019 to $162.5 billion by 2030.

There’s a lot of advice on ways to improve sleep without medication, including a wind-down period, avoiding certain foods, and various sleep preparation practices.  Here are some related articles and video that explore yoga for sleep:

Yoga for insomnia: https://celebrateyoga.org/3-yoga-poses-insomnia/

Yoga for sleep: https://celebrateyoga.org/yoga-sound-sleep/

But there are few articles that provide alternatives to insomnia.  After trying these methods, what if you still find yourself tossing and turning as the midnight minutes slowly seep along?  The frustration builds, which only makes it harder to relax and fall asleep.  Well, ironically this irritation may actually be the perfect solution to another problem that people complain about.

When you hear about meditation, and all of it benefits, do you find your mind saying “well I don’t have time to meditate.”  Is you waking life full of appointments, work tasks, taking care of the kids, and a never-ending list of errands?  Well, none of that is in play at 1am when you’re doing the barrel roll in bed trying to find a comfortable position, and sleep is as elusive as ever.

So, when you can’t sleep, take advantage of a house that is silent for once, and sit for a meditation.  Instead of tossing around in frustration, sit in calm for a while.  There are no competing priorities in the middle of the night, and there are no disturbances and distractions.  Can’t sleep anyway so why not try meditation?   You’ll find it really calms and quiets you down and relaxes, by definition.  In a little while you’ll be much more attuned to falling asleep, and at the very least there is that benefit.  But as we know from decades of scientific studies, meditation brings with it a whole host of tremendous benefits.

The next time you’re tempted to take supplements to combat sleeplessness, try embracing it and turning it on its head.  The drugs will always be there to hook you into more of a dependency but perhaps meditation is a better thing to become addicted to.  Give it a chance, you might be surprised by what you discover by turning within.

Sadhguru – Learn How To Sleep Correctly | TRY IT TONIGHT! – YouTube