In the past decade, meditation practice has become mainstream. With the growth of meditation and wider acceptance, people are increasingly discussing the possibility that meditation completely replaces sleep. To fully understand the relationship between meditation and sleep, we must examine each to determine if meditation is likely to replace the body's need for sleep.

Many people mistakenly confuse the other benefits of meditation with the benefits gained from sleep. Although they are complementary, they are quite different. To understand the synergy between sleep and meditation, we must first understand these differences.

Our body needs sleep to rejuvenate and repair. During sleep, we release hormones, help us grow, form white blood cells, avoid anemia, fight disease, strengthen the immune system, maintain proper weight, produce skin cells, and avoid premature aging.

From a layman's perspective, meditation is only a period of consciousness change when the brain slows down to a relaxed state. Using meditation, you can experience tranquility, deep body relaxation and refreshment in a fraction of the time required for a nap. Meditation creates a state of mind that helps the mind relax, thereby reducing the physical benefits of stress. However, because the state of meditation is a state of "mental insomnia," it does not help perform tasks related to body repair and recovery activities that occur only when the brain is asleep. Trying to replace sleep with meditation eventually leads to memory loss, mental confusion, high blood pressure, weight gain – and even damage to the immune system, making the body susceptible to illness.

Proper use, meditation and sleep will complement each other. If you sleep well, you can meditate more deeply. On the contrary, if you meditate often, you can sleep better. Meditation allows the body and mind to get a deeper sleep and rest, because the mind will let the body sneak into deep sleep without "cooling." This helps prevent tossing and turning and increasing REM sleep, which is essential for maintaining good health and promoting body growth and rejuvenation.

In a fast-paced society where people are looking for time shortcuts, meditation cannot and should not replace sleep. However, if practiced frequently, meditation will greatly improve the quality of sleep and reduce the amount of body needed.

Can meditation replace sleep? was originally published on Spring