How to Improve Sleep Without a Prescription

Here's an interesting study done to measure the impact of mindful awareness training on participants who suffer from insomnia, which suggests that adopting a basic mindful practice can have an impact on sleep comparable to taking prescription sedatives, without the side effects.

Chronic insomnia is a major public health problem affecting approximately 10% of adults. Use of meditation and yoga to develop mindful awareness (‘mindfulness training’) may be an effective approach to treat chronic insomnia, with sleep outcomes comparable to nightly use of prescription sedatives, but more durable and with minimal or no side effects. The purpose of this study was to understand mindfulness training as experienced by patients with chronic insomnia, and suggest procedures that may be useful in optimizing sleep benefits.

Read the full report here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1472-6882-14-50#citeas

References

Hubbling, A., Reilly-Spong, M., Kreitzer, M.J. et al. How mindfulness changed my sleep: focus groups with chronic insomnia patients. BMC Complement Altern Med14, 50 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-50