Meditation and Sleep

Why is sleep so important?

Sleep is much more important to our health than many of us realise. Similar to breathing, sleep is  something most of us take for granted until we're having problems with it.

As adults we need good quality sleep to: maintain healthy body weight, maintain a healthy immune system, maintain safe levels of performance (including reaction times, cognition, problem solving and focussing), maintain creativity, maintain a healthy cardiovascular system and to facilitate tissue repair. Sleep is also important for hormonal and emotional balance.

There are different states we enter during sleep and there are ideal amounts to spend in each, (particularly REM and deep sleep) in order to gain the most benefit from our time in shut eye. 

The 4 stages of sleep are:

• Stage 1: falling asleep (light sleep - non-REM - N1)
• Stage 2: sleep achieved (light sleep - non-REM - N2)
• Stage 3: deep sleep (non-REM - N3)
• Stage 4: REM sleep

(One sleep cycle typically comprises progressing from N1 to N2 to N3 to N2 to REM)

How much sleep is enough sleep?

It’s recommended that adults get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night, the requirements for children are different depending on their stage of development.

Basically the phases of sleep are defined as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep and we cycle between the stages every 100 minutes or so on average to complete a sleep cycle and we will generally have 4 to 5 cycles each night. It is normal to have some periods of waking during 

Non-REM sleep has 3 stages – stage 1 is falling asleep (light sleep)  – where you nod off between wakefulness and sleep, stage 2 is when sleep is achieved (light sleep) and stage 3 is deep sleep – there are noticeable changes in brainwave activity in this stage and this is often reached early on in the sleep process. Blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate all slow during deep sleep as the parasympathetic nervous system engages.

In REM sleep – the 4^th stage of sleep – not surprisingly, your eyes twitch or move rapidly and the brain is active. The sympathetic nervous system is activated during this time, so your blood pressure, pulse and breathing rates are more similar to when you are awake. Most dreaming takes place during REM sleep. During normal REM sleep your body is relaxed and there is no muscle activity apart from those muscle controlling eye movement and breathing.

We need to sleep for our bodies to repair and recover and to support healthy brain function. Experiences from the day are made into memories during sleep as the neurological synapses flush out, processing emotions and consolidating retrievable memories and this occurs during the REM sleep phase.

Ideally, we will spend approximately 25% of our sleep in deep sleep (stage 3) and 25% in REM (stage 4). (Newborn babies spend approximately 8 hours in REM each day compared to 2 hours for adults).

Our sleep influences our hormonal responses too and studies show that insufficient sleep can lead to being overweight or obese through the production of higher levels of hunger hormones in the body, a reduced ability to respond to insulin and decreased physical activity due to tiredness. Inadequate quality sleep also leads to increased blood pressure and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease leading to heart attacks and stroke.

Do I need to go on? I could but there is extensive quality research available for you to investigate the need to sleep well. I have listed a couple of suggestions for additional reading at the end of this post.

What affects sleep quality?

Lifestyle choices such as caffeine, alcohol, overstimulation (including TV, social media scrolling and blue light from devices), shift work, diet, stress, travel, illness, and pain have all been shown to have detrimental effects on sleep. The reduction in growth hormone associated with ageing results in less deep (also known as slow wave) sleep and less melatonin production, meaning more periods of wakefulness and less restorative sleep at night.

Meditation has been scientifically shown to have beneficial effect on sleep, stress, anxiety, pain tolerance and healthy lifestyle choices. This is exciting news as we are able to engage in meditation practices by ourselves – for many it is helpful to engage in a course to establish a meditation habit with guidance. Meditators, including senior meditators, have been shown to have greater length of deep sleep and REM following meditation.

Some studies suggest meditation may be as effective as improving sleep as physical exercise and learning also improves quality of REM sleep.

Seems like perfect sense to me to learn to meditate and to keep practicing!

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References and Recommended Reading

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. (2022). Sleep Phases and Stages. [Online]. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/. Last Updated: March 24, 2022. Available at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep/stages-of-sleep [Accessed 5 January 2024].

Pacheco, D., Dr. Rehman, A. (2023). Meditation for Sleep. [Online]. Sleep Foundation.org. Last Updated: 22 December. Available at: https://sleepfoundation.org/meditation-for-sleep#:~:text=The%20relaxation%20response%20calms%20breat [Accessed 5 January 2024].

Rusch, H. et al. (2019). The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled tr. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1445(1), pp.5-16. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6557693/ [Accessed 5 January 2024].

Summer, J., Dr. Singh, A. (2023). REM Sleep Revealed: Enhance Your Sleep Quality. [Online]. sleepfoundation.org. Last Updated: 8 December, 2023. Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep/rem-sleep#how-much-rem-sleep-do-you-need–6 [Accessed 5 January 2024].