Can Meditation Replace Sleep?

Alex Whybrow delves in to the world of sleep and meditation and looks to find an answer to an increasingly popular question – can meditation replace sleep? Read on to find out the answer…

Getting your full 8 hours of sleep can be difficult in the modern world. Combining your work life with family responsibilities, hobbies, life-admin and scrolling through those little electronic devices that never seem to be out of reach is tricky – being able to switch off sufficiently to get enough sleep is difficult.

In this article we are going to be looking at what can happen if you don’t get enough sleep, before taking a deep-dive into meditation to see if that can make up for our sleep short-falls.

What happens when you don’t get enough sleep?

How important is getting enough sleep?

Some doctors see this as a priority equal to eating well and exercising when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sleep has an effect on every part of our health – physically and mentally. 

Sleep is an opportunity to recharge our minds and our bodies – enabling both to function at full capacity the following day.

Short-term problems when you don’t get enough sleep

We have probably all experienced a lack of sleep, so we are well aware of the short-term problems that we can face, these include:

• Impaired memory: Our brains are not functioning at full capacity, so we don’t process information effectively.
• Low mood: When we are tired we don’t have the same pep or buzz as we do on a better day. This can impact our relationships both at work and at home.
• Drowsiness: Our bodies and minds are craving sleep, so we feel very tired.
• Poor concentration: This is frustrating at work and with the people close to us, and can become genuinely life-threatening when driving a car or operating machinery.
• Over-eating: Our bodies need energy and as a result we tend to crave more food when we are tired, and don’t have the willpower to resist.

Long-term problems when you don’t get enough sleep

The short-term risks when you don’t sleep well are annoying and frustrating, but the risks in the long-term when you don’t get enough sleep are more serious. They include:

• Weight Gain: If you are eating more when you are tired, then before long it will start to have a major impact on your weight.
• High Blood Pressure: Sleep helps to regulate the hormones in our body that cause stress – when we don’t get enough rest, we get stressed more, which will increase blood pressure.
• Diabetes: When we don’t get enough sleep we can disrupt the way our bodies process glucose, which greatly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Decreased Fertility: A lack of sleep can decrease our libido and also impact the part of our brain that regulates reproductive hormones – making conception more difficult.
• Impaired Brain Function: Prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to prolonged brain fog – affecting our mood, problem-solving, memory and decision making.

In summary – sleep is vital! But are we getting enough?

How much sleep does the average American get a night?

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), on average Americans get less than 7 hours of sleep a night – an hour a night less than adults did in 1942. They estimate that between 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders, with around 40% of adults falling asleep during the day.

In a survey taken by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 88% of American adults said that they lose sleep because of binge-watching.

As a nation, we are not getting enough sleep.

Can Meditation Replace Sleep?