Deepak Chopra: 4 Tips To Improve Your Sleep

Health and wellness guru Deepak Chopra believes everyone should try to get eight hours of sleep.

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Being well-rested is important to your health, mood and productivity. Chopra tells CNBC Make It that when he has “an early schedule the next day,” he will sometimes go to bed as early as 8 p.m. to wake up at 4 a.m.

Of course, it’s not always easy to fall asleep, especially when you’re stressed or have a lot on your mind. Here, Chopra tells CNBC Make It his four hacks for falling asleep fast.

1. Practice mindful breathing

“In order to fall asleep, mindful breathing can be very helpful; all it means is that, as you’re laying down to go to sleep, you observe the breath,” Chopra explains to CNBC Make It.

The best way to do this is to count to four as you breathe in and then count to six as you breathe out. “This slows your breathing from an average of 14 [breaths] to an average of eight [breaths] per minute,” Chopra says, which can help you relax.

“Mindful breathing immediately restores self-regulation [and] calms the mind,” he tells CNBC Make It.

2. Try this mantra

Chopra recommends another breathing exercise that he says you can use to fall asleep, and it revolves around a popular mantra — words you repeat while breathing to help you relax.

Say “so” as you inhale and then say the word “hum” as you exhale, Chopra says, describing the “So Hum” mantra that is derived from Sanskrit and often used in yoga and other forms of meditation. Much like mindful breathing, this meditative mantra is meant to help calm your mind. ”[It can] put you to sleep very fast,” Chopra claims.

It’s not just Chopra and other devotees of New Age wellness techniques who believe that meditation can help you fall asleep faster. A 2015 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that “mindfulness meditation” practices helped improve sleep quality for subjects who were experiencing insomnia symptoms.

3. Retrace your steps

Another way to relax when you’re trying to fall asleep, according to Chopra, is to close your eyes just before you lay down and recap the events of your day in your mind — almost like you’re watching a movie.

“On the screen of your consciousness, you see yourself as if you were on a video screen,” Chopra says. “Observe the day, without judging it, and then let it go.

“When you do that, you actually let go of all the stresses that happen during that day and you go to bed with a fresh start for the next day.”

4. Go to bed earlier, and avoid late-night tech binges

“If you go to sleep after 10 o’clock then that will disrupt your circadian rhythms,” Chopra tells CNBC Make It, referring to the human body’s natural internal clock that regulates how your brain cycles between being tired and being alert.

Chopra also agrees with researchers who say that using technology late at night can keep you from getting a good night’s sleep, whether you’re doing work on your laptop or scrolling through social media posts on your smartphone. Some scientific research has even shown that the light from your phone might suppress your body’s production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates your sleep cycle.

“Any technology in the bedroom is disruptive to sleep,” he says. “So, it’s best not to watch TV, or use a computer or even have your phone on in the same room.”

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Deepak Chopra: 4 tricks to help you fall asleep when your mind is racing | CNBC Make It.