When you are struggling to doze off well at night, your days are spent fighting off yawns and stress. You find yourself less attentive and less energetic. And when that happens you look for a way to recharge your energy. But what are the options?

The options are activities that relax your body, calm your mind and give rest to your senses. And on top of the list is having a good night’s sleep and meditation.

Now you might wonder, with all the fuss, whichever is better? Both of these hold a different level of importance and have different benefits.

Let’s see the benefits of both to better understand their importance.

• Sleep and its benefits

Sleeping is an integral part of our primary body functions, like breathing and digestion. It helps us stay relaxed and healthy. While we nap, our body and mind rest by minimizing sensory activities and responsiveness. All function of the body is reduced to focus on recovering what needs mending.

• Help to keep your heart healthier

Sleep has a significant impact on our heart health. It helps to regulate blood pressure, relieve stress, and keep the heart rhythm regular. Our hearts pump blood every second, and sleep allows them to relax and rest, making our hearts healthier. Reducing the risk of heart disease, including hypertension, heart attacks, and strokes.

• Increase concentration and focus

If you are not sleeping well, you feel tired, cranky and irritated throughout the day. This decreases your focus and concentration and you have a hard time comprehending complex tasks. But when you are getting the daily dose of slumber, you feel good, your brain works better and you have a better focus and concentration.

• Decrease your stress and tension

During the day we spend every moment soaking up information after information. Having a load of information and constantly working can cause tension and stress. While sleeping our brain works to sort out that information, categories them in and relax. It eases the pressure and load off the mind which also lowers the stress, tension and anxiety. That is the reason we all feel better and less stressed in the morning.

• Helps control weight

When paired with a healthy diet and exercise good slumber plays a pivotal role in weight management. Lack of sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate hunger and appetite, ghrelin and leptin. Both of these hormones are very important, ghrelin makes you feel hungry while leptin makes you feel full. When these hormone productions are disrupted, you crave unhealthy food, causing overeating and gradual weight gain.

• Regulates your blood sugar and blood pressure

While sleeping, the body repairs and restores itself, including hormone production, blood sugar metabolisms and blood pressure. While sleeping we go through physiological processes that help maintain these levels within a healthy range.

• Meditation and its benefits

Meditation is a practice, where you focus your mind on one thing or thought. It is especially helpful to relieve stress and tension and helps you to relax.

Meditation has been a part of our culture for hundreds of years because of its multiple benefits. That’s why even today, and especially today, it is becoming more and more common in the younger generation as well.

Here are some of the benefits of Meditation

• A good way to release stress and tension

While meditating you sit down in quiet and practice to reign in your thoughts and emotions to relax your body and mind. By doing so regularly you learn to let go of all the tension, calming your nervous system. You feel less stressed while also learning to pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. This helps you handle things that make you feel stressed. It’s like having a way to turn off the stress and better understand yourself and deal with stress.

• Creates a Mind-Body Connection

Meditation creates a stronger link between mind and body. Those who practice mindfulness and awareness of body sensations may become more aware of their breathing and better able to control it. It improves concentration and attention span. It teaches the mind to concentrate on the current moment, which can be useful in many areas of life, including work and school.

• Improves Emotional Well-Being

Apart from physical and mental well-being, emotional well-being is crucial and meditation is one way to improve that. It can promote emotional health by fostering a greater sense of self-awareness and emotional regulation. It can help individuals better understand their thoughts and feelings, leading to more positive responses to challenges and stressors.

• Improve Sleep

Sleep quality is important for a person's general well-being, and meditation can help with that. It is a relaxing exercise that helps to calm your racing thoughts and reduce stress. Which can be a huge reason for sleep-related issues. This is why experts also suggest to meditate before sleeping as well. When you are relaxed, less anxious and your mind is calm your body also follows suit. You fall asleep faster and stay asleep for longer hours.

• What do you need more?

In the debate on sleep and meditation, both have their importance. While meditating can help you stay mentally and emotionally fit and healthy, sleeping is connected to your physical, mental and emotional health. Sleep is a huge part of our circadian cycle and in lack of it, it affects your overall health. And when you are sleeping well, you will find yourself to be healthier, relaxed, focused and active.

However, unlike meditation, sleep is not an option, it is a necessity.

But when you get both quality sleep and practice meditation, you get extra benefits. So, sleep well and make a habit of meditating.