Is it possible to replace sleep with meditation

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 , 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. 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 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 study, the study subjects reported feelings of paranoia or feeling delusional after meditating. A 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. 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.

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 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. Andy Puddicombe Hi Andy — The only time I'm able to meditate is before my girlfriend and her daughter wake up at a. Prior to this, I was getting another 30 minutes of sleep every day. I'm concerned that I might not be getting enough sleep. Is it OK to replace 30 minutes of sleep with 20 minutes of meditation allowing me 10 minutes to get out of bed? I often don't manage to get to sleep until p.

I've only just started doing 20 minutes of meditation from Take10 instead of sleeping, and I feel more relaxed but also more tired. Warm wishes, Andy Try a one-minute meditation exercise for a more restful night:. That refreshed, calm, and alert feeling you get right after wrapping up a meditation session often feels like you just woke up from the best nap ever — a brain nap, so to speak.

In fact, the electric pulses that your brain gives off during non-REM sleep the lighter sleep that happens before you fall into a deep sleep and start dreaming are very similar to those given off during meditation. Granted, there is such a thing as an ideal nap time to help you feel a little more energized, but it hardly competes with the kind of payoffs you get from some meditation.

The practice is all about increasing oxygen flow, taking deeper breaths, and inhaling and relaxing the body. Depending on what type of meditation you have been practicing, it is also possible for you to practice breathing into certain parts of your body to relax the muscles and ease any pains or discomfort.

That is how many expert meditators can significantly lower their oxygen intake and heart rate when meditating. Another substantial difference between meditating and sleeping is the level of consciousness you can achieve during the two activities. While meditating, we benefit from a heightened awareness of our conscious thinking mind and subconscious deep thinking mind.

We can tap into our creativity, calm, strength, intuition, and higher intelligence in this state. This process of unlocking such potential also happens during sleep. However, when meditating, you are awake and ready to reap the benefits of cush practice!

Other significant changes that occur during the time we are asleep include the flow of oxygen our body receives. During sleep, our breathing becomes slower and often more profound. One of the similarities between sleep and meditation is that you will be able to tap into both the conscious and subconscious mind in both cases. Ultimately, sleep is vital. It allows us to feel rested and energized during the day, and it helps our body keep the immune system healthy and illnesses at bay. However, meditation is also a crucial component of a healthy lifestyle.

Indeed, this practice can help you better understand your behavior, feelings, and responses, leading to a more successful and balanced life. Falling asleep while meditating is extremely common, and it is something that most beginners have to deal with.

The fact that we sometimes fall asleep during a particularly intense meditation session is proof of the deep connection between meditation and sleep! It often happens because it can be challenging to balance focus, relaxation, and awareness.

This type of balance is what a more profound, more regular practice will bring you. Nonetheless, it is also worth mentioning that there is a phase during your meditation practice, referred to as the 4th stage of consciousness or Turiya.

During this phase, you left, and the right parts of the brain are in harmony, and they allow your mind to obtain heightened awareness. At the same time, your body is completely relaxed, which might give the impression that you have fallen asleep.

While meditation cannot replace sleep, the activities are much more connected than we tend to realize. Indeed, meditation can grant you better sleep.

But how exactly can meditation benefit sleep? There are several connections between the two practices, and the way meditation can clear and relax the mind is something that not many other techniques can compete with. In the sections below, you will find all the benefits that meditation can bring to your sleep. However, you will also find the downsides of this practice that can show in certain particular cases.

Chronic insomnia can significantly affect sleep quality and the ability to rest the mind and body. Because of the several adverse effects that insomnia can bring into your life, many patients have started to approach meditation. Indeed, meditation presents itself as a low-risk, highly accessible solution that does not require medical treatments to work.

Studies have found that meditation can help treat insomnia symptoms and even reduce the lasting daytime disturbance that might come from it. A research shows how the results that can be seen through mindfulness are comparable to those seen through sleep medication.

And, meditation also works similarly to those medical treatments for insomnia: it aims to relieve the stressors and pressure that interfere with sleep. It does so by bringing you to a relaxed state, which can help you fall asleep. As seen above, meditation reduces stress. During your meditation session, you will learn to focus uniquely on the breath, which will take your mind off rumination and tumultuous emotions. For example, it has been seen that mindfulness-based meditation can help reduce sleep problems in patients dealing with fibromyalgia.

Indeed, this practice helps them better manage negative feelings and states, including anger, anxiety, and depression. As we have seen, meditation can have significant benefits in your mind.