14 DAY TRIAL // Specialists estimate that, in this day and age, about 50% of the guys and gals over the age of 55 have trouble sleeping. Because of this, they are tired most of the time and some even display symptoms associated with depression.
The good news is that, apparently, there is one very simple way for these people to improve the quality of their sleep. In a nutshell, researchers say that those who have trouble resting at night should start practicing mindfulness meditation.
Writing in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, specialists further detail that, as surprising as this may sound, meditation appears to improve the quality of one's nighttime rest just as well as so-called sleep hygiene education interventions do.
Otherwise put, meditating works just as well as trying to establish a bedtime routine and embrace better sleep habits does, at least when it comes to helping folks rest better at night and, therefore, feel more energetic when they wake up and tend to their daily routine.
“Mindfulness meditation appears to have a role in addressing the prevalent burden of sleep problems among older adults by remediating their moderate sleep disturbances and deficits in daytime functioning,” the researchers behind this investigation explain.
By making it easier for people to sleep at night, mindfulness meditation not only helps reduce fatigue levels but also puts people in a better mood and reduces the risk of anxiety or inflammation in the body. Not to mention the fact that, as shown by another study, it keeps the brain young.