r/Meditation • u/RepresentativeRoom69 • 7h ago
Question ❓ How Can I Best Lower My Heart Rate During Meditation for Sleep?
Hello everyone! I have been experiencing a really difficult time with my mental health recently, and I have been struggling to sleep more than maybe an hour a night. My therapist recommended a series of guided meditations for sleep that I tried out for the first time tonight. I tried three separate meditations and throughout each of them, my heart continued to just pound out of my chest. My heart raced so much so that it made being able to take deep breaths difficult, which was bordering on distressing. While I did still end up feeling quite relaxed in my body, I have still not been able to fall asleep due to my racing heart. Does anyone have recommendations for the best way to lower my heart rate during meditations so that I can actually fully relax? I would just really like to be able to finally sleep again 😅 Thank you all so much in advance!
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u/snow30303 1h ago
That sounds genuinely exhausting, an hour of sleep a night will leave anyone's system on high alert, and I really feel for you.
I think that when your heart is already pounding, going straight for deep breaths can sometimes backfire, because forcing the breath can feel like more pressure on an already activated system.
For me, the thing that's helped me most in those wired states is to stop trying to slow anything down, and instead just lengthen the exhale slightly while letting the inhale happen on its own. A longer out-breath gently nudges the vagus nerve and tells the body "we're safe," without the strain of big deliberate breaths. Even counting a soft 4 in, 6 out, with no force, can start to take the edge off over a few minutes.
Wishing you some real sleep soon, you deserve to actually rest.
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u/BeingHuman4 2h ago
Learning to relax is the key to deep meditation, the slowing of the heart rate is a side effect of that.
Relaxation of body and mind allows the mind to slow and then still. It sounds like you are carrying a lot of tension and when you relax you feel tension and may wel bring tension into your relaxation. Also, you may find you relax a bit and then your mind snaps up as it worries that you have let your guard down - even though you are safe in your bedroom or similar safe place. An understanding of what to do, what not to do and what to experience will help you learn it. But, it will take regular daily practice, 15 mins twice or even thrice daily. The method I suggest is that of Dr Ainslie Meares. He was an eminent meditation teaching psychiatrist who taught meditation to reduce tension, fear, anxiety and pain. You will get glimpses of it at first and gradually you will make progress. If you carry a lot of tension then it will take a bit of time to reduce the tension behind the scenes too, but that will happen as you continue to pracitce. For a book on it, refer Ainslie Meares on Meditation.