Meditation is a popular practice that has been used for centuries to induce a sense of well-being and improve sleep quality. However, it can also cause activity in the brain, which can make it difficult to sleep and eat. A team led by Brown University found that people could suffer harmful effects from doing just half an hour of meditation or just after a day. When it comes to understanding how meditation affects sleep, researchers have observed increases in alpha brainwaves for all levels of meditation depth compared to resting states.
For deeper states, some researchers have observed increases in theta waves and decreases in low central beta and gamma waves. This means that high-alert and problem-solving brainwaves decreased, while relaxation-related brain waves increased. After eating, your body may work overtime to digest food, especially if you've eaten a lot. The digestion process can draw energy from the brain and create a little fog.
Active brain waves during meditation may be similar to those in the early stages of sleep. That means it's natural to feel a little sleepy during meditation from time to time. If your sleepiness becomes a major obstacle to your meditation practice, there may be underlying problems such as lack of sleep, chronic fatigue, or an illness to address. Talk to your doctor if you suspect this might be the case. When it comes to staying calm and inducing sleep naturally, meditation is one of the most holistic solutions.
Although it is possible, it is quite unlikely that after a 20-year practice, meditation is suddenly affecting your sleep in a negative way. In recent years, more and more people are turning to meditation in the hope that it will help them fall asleep, stay asleep and enjoy a better quality of sleep. As you meditate, your breathing rate can reach levels that are even deeper than sleep, where you barely breathe. During these extremely deep rest bags, you can completely stop breathing. This is usually followed by a deep drink of air, after which, everything will balance quickly and you can continue to breathe normally.
After a few times, the same guided meditation may not work as well or not work at all. Any benefit of mantra meditation could also be overshadowed by lack of sleep. Limiting the chances of enjoying the clarity and energy surge that normally occurs after meditating with a mantra. I'm not sure if you have any reason to think that meditation is the cause of your sleep problems, but it may be worthwhile to see a doctor to make sure there haven't been any physiological changes in recent months. If I meditate formally, it is usually 1 to 2 hours before going to bed, this way I get a much higher quality in my sleep. Essentially, meditation was found to be a state of consciousness other than sleep and alertness, while it has characteristics of both. Anyone who has tried to sleep at night thinking about how he can't sleep, usually ends up awake longer.
There have been some reports (both anecdotal and scientific) suggesting that increased meditation may lead to shallower sleep. The practice resulted in less stress, improved well-being and improved sleep quality for 341 meditators unchanged for the 430-person control group.
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