Sometimes it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Whether you are a stay-at-home mum, employed, self-employed, or starting your own business, there are days where the hours do not feel like enough for you to do all you need to and still sleep. If you have ever or are currently experiencing this, you might be tempted to wonder, can meditation replace sleep? After all, if a few minutes of mediating can save on hours of sleep, then you have saved time to do all that you need to do.
Meditation is an ancient practice that has been traced to India as far back as several thousand years (approximately 1500) BCE (Before Common Era). During these times, and in the history that followed, the practice was used to help deepen the understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. However, as it has moved to the west and has been accepted in other countries, meditation is used for other purposes and benefits.
As seen above, this practice can be helpful to those with sleep problems such as insomnia or sleep disturbances. However, can deep meditation replace a night’s sleep?
Read More: Meditation For Insomnia: Best Techniques To Ensure A Good Night’s Sleep
If you have been wondering if meditation can replace sleep and if there is a specific type of meditation that can be used to do this, the truth is that there is no variation of this exercise that can replace several hours of missed sleep. You must rest every night for the appropriate amount of hours to get all the benefits of sleep.
However, if you are thinking about waking up 20 to 30 minutes earlier (thus cutting sleep short) to meditate, then this is fine. Meditation early in the morning can help you set your intentions for the day, and once you are done, you will feel more awake, and your mind will be sharper.
If you wish to reach into the deep crevices of your mind, take yourself out of the mental loop, regain balance, infuse yourself with optimism, and cultivate compassion – BetterMe: Meditation & Sleep app is exactly what you need!
If you are still insistent on trying to figure out if meditation can replace sleep, a limited study published in 2010 suspected the experienced yogis who slept less than 7 hours were replacing one to three hours of sleep with meditation, even with no evidence of sleep during the bouts of meditation (3). Researchers could not figure out how this was effectively done.
Since there isn’t enough information to support this claim, it would be best for you not to attempt it. Instead, try to find meditation techniques to help you sleep better.
Meditation before bed is a great way to ensure that you get better sleep and rest as much as you need to before a new day.
Here are some techniques that you can use:
Using breathing exercises as a form of meditation for sleep involves focusing on and regulating your breaths, then eventually slowing them down, thus signaling your mind that it is time to fall asleep. Here is how to do it:
Not only can this method help with better sleep, but it can also help relieve anxiety and stress, improve self-awareness and self-compassion, reduce pain (especially for those living with chronic pain), and reduce nicotine cravings (for those trying to quit smoking (2)).
Here is how to meditate to sleep using the body scan method:
Bedtime visualizations require you to replace your anxious, fearful thoughts with calming and restful images to help relax your mind, making it easier for you to fall asleep.
Visualize this peaceful place for a few minutes before going to bed or while in bed, and it will help you fall asleep faster.
Read More: Visualization Meditation: Benefits And Techniques To Help You Unlock The Life Of Your Dreams
This is the practice of being grateful for what we have. It is a feeling of happiness that comes from the appreciation of all that we have. Take a few moments to practice love and kindness in all aspects of your life. This will put you in a good mood and will help you fall asleep.
Counting down from any chosen number helps your mind slow down enough to let you fall asleep.
Using some yoga poses and focusing on your breathing while in these poses will help you wind down your day and relax. Some yoga asanas to help with night meditation for sleep include Child’s Pose, Standing Forward Bend, and Corpse pose, among others (6).
No, you should not. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in every 3 adults does not get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is caused by factors such as (1):
The Sleep Foundation recommends that young adults (18 to 25 years old) and adults aged 26 to 64 years old should aim to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night, while those above 64 years should sleep for at most 8 hours a night.
If you’ve dipped your toes in meditation before but couldn’t sit through a session because of all the thoughts buzzing in your head, impulses snatching away control or all the overwhelming feelings that start bubbling up the minute you sink into the silence, it’s only because you didn’t have the right guidance. Start using BetterMe: Meditation & Sleep app and watch your life transform!
Although the thought of meditation replacing sleep is quite tempting, it is not advisable. Not only do some people not sleep enough as it is, but also lack of sleep make you miss out on benefits such as:
Instead of trying to use meditation to replace sleep, use night meditation to help you snooze better so you can receive the benefits mentioned above.
While meditation has some incredible benefits, it also comes with several downsides that everyone who is looking to try this practice must be aware of and take caution against. In 2017, a study was conducted by Brown University in the US, involving 60 experienced practitioners of Buddhist meditation, in an effort to look into this matter.
Using interview questions and a followed up survey, the university tried to uncover the typically underreported effects of meditation that have been described as challenging, difficult, distressing, functionally impairing, and/or requiring additional support. The end of the study revealed that this practice may not be as harmless as people think it is (5).
Here are some dangers that were associated with meditation:
It is no secret that meditation can help those with negative intrusive thoughts get rid of them. After all, this practice has helped people suffering from depression and anxiety deal with their symptoms. With that being said, we cannot always control our thoughts. In the 2017 study, almost half of the participants reported experiencing irrational thoughts due to meditation.
As stated above, we cannot always control the direction that our minds take no matter how much we desire it. In the 2017 study, the study subjects reported feelings of paranoia or feeling delusional after meditating. A 2009 study by the Seattle Pacific University also showed that this practice has some mental health consequences to those who take part in it (4).
Sensory perception is your capability to process stimuli in your environment using your five senses, which are hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching. Anyone suffering from an altered or disturbed sensory perception experiences a change in the amount of patterning of incoming stimuli, accompanied by a diminished, exaggerated, distorted, or impaired response to such stimuli. Some of those who participated in the study reported seeing visions, hallucinations, illusions, or lights that weren’t there, while others were reported to have an increased sensitivity to light and noise and distortion in time and space.
It should be noted that some people who start practicing meditation go into practice with the hope of seeing the above-mentioned visions. Transcendence meditation and third-eye meditation are popular forms used to try and achieve this. While some claim to see the said visions, not everyone will manage to do so in their lifetime. This leads to a lot of frustration in the matter.
In meditation, non-attachment is the habit of taking a step back from whatever happens or whatever we feel, acknowledging that it is transient and accepting that it will soon change and transform. While this habit works perfectly for this practice, it’s the opposite in actual life. If you use this same mantra in real life, you may end up avoiding work, repressing feelings or emotions, or disregarding your emotions and those around you, hence leading to losing jobs, friends, and relationships.
Most people in life will choose to bury and forget their negative, hurtful, and embarrassing experiences to move on with life, in hopes to feel happier. However, a big part of meditation is awareness, which means that you must interact with yourself and confront these experiences and the feelings that may come with it. This could trigger hard to handle feelings of anger, panic, fear, depression, jealousy, grief, or anxiety.
Participants in the 2017 study reported feeling a loss of agency, sense of basic self, and ownership. Moreover, they also claim to feel as though the boundaries between themselves and the rest of the world had begun to blur.
A 1992 study done by a professor at the University of California revealed that people returning from a meditation retreat reported being more aware of their negative qualities. While this could be a good thing to help you work on making yourself better, it may lead to depression or loss of self-worth.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!