I just completed a 20-minute meditation session, the longest session yet. My goal right now is simply 10 minutes/day. That will stay the goal. I understand the object of meditation to be to clear one's mind completely and be able to focus solely on breathing. I am definitely a long way from that, and I seem to recall once reading that it can take over a year of practice before one can really start achieving such a state of... ? Quiet?
I feel some immediate benefits from the practice, though. It is relaxing. I try to breathe as deeply and slowly as possible, at as consistent a pace as possible. A few times I noticed I would inhale more quickly when my mind would get carried away and I was less focused on the breathing. Keeping the measured breathing pace thus acts as a physical indicator of how my mind is functioning and how, uhhh... centered?... I am staying.
I do not watch the clock while I am meditating. I have one hidden from view and I do not check it until I am pretty confident ten minutes have passed and so far I have yet to check it and find the time is not up. In fact, I find I have a decent sense of how much time has passed. I was rather hoping 20 minutes may have passed during this recent session and almost exactly that had (may have been 21!).
I have now gone to bed at around 10pm or shortly after for three consecutive nights, an astonishing accomplishment by my standards. I take 6mg of melatonin and I fall asleep while watching Arrested Development. Such a manic show may seem like an odd choice to fall asleep to, but, I think the melatonin helps. It is usually really hard for me to just turn the lights out and fall asleep. I have to be absolutely dead tired, or my mind will usually start acting up and I catch a major 2nd wind.
Waking times have been a little less consistent. This morning I stirred at about 3:15 which means I am probably mildly sleep-deprived? I've read that, while we all hear about the 8 hours of sleep we all need, the actual amount of sleep a person needs varies by individual, usually ranging from about 6-8.5 hours/night, and we all have to figure out for ourselves what our requirement is. I really have no clue what mine is. Good, consistent sleep has long been a big struggle. I would love to get on a cycle that will allow me to get some insight on my sleep requirement. Anyway, yesterday I awoke shortly after 6am, the morning before I believe it was shortly after 5am, maybe 5:15. So... no consistent wake time. I guess that's a shame because I've actually also heard that it is even more important to have a consistent waking time than it is a consistent bedtime.
Wow - getting your sleep on track is gonna be so helpful, I think. A friend goes through hell with this - his circadian rhythm is a 36 hour cycle where most people's is 24, so he's no consistently off the same amount each day...he's off a varying amount EVERY day. His doctor has him get up the same time every day (as well as going to sleep at same time), and ensuring 8 hours nightly (in his case the right #)...even if he does/does not achieve it, he supposed to work within that. Melatonin, a set sleep & wake time and light therapy is helping him a ton. Hope it has a positive outcome for you too!
ReplyDeleteYou know I read about a study done about human circadian rhythms when they are not aware of time. Study subjects were deprived of clocks and of awareness of daylight so they were never aware what time of day it was. Without these time indicators, it found a lot of people naturally fell into something more of a 36-hour sleep cycle. I don't remember where I read that, possibly the book No More Sleepless Nights.
DeleteI read myself to sleep. I find that is good. Reading can easily make me start to doze.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. I fall asleep reading sometimes. Sometimes, though, depending on what I am reading, my mind can get too active and wound up. TV, though, if it's a show I like, kinda relaxes my mind, eases it into that sleepy state, even when it's a manic show like A.D.
DeleteIt is probably a good idea to find an alternative to watching television before bed. A google search for "backlit screens and sleep" will show numerous articles on the negative effects of evening screen exposure on sleep. Maybe having done this for a while has hurt your ability to have a good sleep pattern.
ReplyDeleteYah, proper sleep hygeine always has you exclude tv from the process. I dont, because I need to listen to something mildly engaging as I drift off. But I do set the sleep timer. There is a 100% difference between sleeping with no light and having even a screen saver lighting up the place while I snooze.
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