Less than two years ago, a neurologist ordered an emergency MRI to scan my brain because he thought I’d had a stroke. I was 33.
(Read more about my terrifying experience and what I did to recover HERE.)
That experience was life-changing.
And I was given the most simple advice from the neurologist.
Get some sleep or die.
He wasn’t so blunt as to say “Or you will die”.
But he did say that my chronic sleep deprivation increased my risk of death. And that the complex migraines I had brought on myself from being sleep deprived, increased my risk of stroke.
As an ex-nurse, I was finally made to pay attention to my own health. My own life! It was time to take sleep seriously.
I’m a full-time stay at home mom to a 3 year old and a 4 month old baby. So getting more sleep is not particularly easy. But knowing I’m at an increased risk of a stroke, I have to make it a priority.
So I go to bed when my baby goes to bed at night.
I’ve had to make peace with leaving the dirty dishes, dirty clothes and tidying up for another day so I can fall into bed when he finally goes down.
But the most important tool I have for my survival (apart from sleeping whenever I can), is meditation.
When you’re sleep deprived, you can still find it difficult to fall asleep and sleep well, because your hormones are out of balance.
And when you’re not sleeping well, your stress response kicks in. It becomes a vicious cycle.
But meditation is a powerful stress release tool.
Meditating before bed has been a game-changer for me.
It clears my mind from the day I’ve had. It helps release the hormone melatonin (which helps you sleep) and it helps balance my hormones so I can sleep better until the next breastfeed!
Meditating before bed has changed the way I sleep.
If you do meditate, I urge you to try it before bed and see what it does for the quality of your sleep and your health.
If you’re keen to meditate but aren’t sure where to start, do this fun quiz to find out what type of meditation might suit you best! CLICK HERE
Originally published at medium.com