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Meditation and Its Regulatory Role on Sleep

April 2012
Frontiers in Neurology 3:54

DOI:10.3389/fneur.2012.00054

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Authors:

Ravindra Nagendra

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences

Dr Nirmala Maruthai

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences

Bindu Kutty

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences

Intense meditation practices help to achieve a harmony between body and mind. Meditation practices influence brain functions, induce various intrinsic neural plasticity events, modulate autonomic, metabolic, endocrine, and immune functions and thus mediate global regulatory changes in various behavioral states including sleep. This brief review focuses on the effect of meditation as a self regulatory phenomenon on sleep.

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MINI REVIEW ARTICLE

published: 18 April 2012

doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00054

Meditation and its regulatory role on sleep

Ravindra P. Nagendra, Nirmala Maruthai and Bindu M. Kutty*

Department of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India

Edited by:

V. Mohan Kumar, Sree ChitraTirunal

Institute for Medical Sciences and

Technology, India

Reviewed by:

Sunao Uchida, Waseda University,

Japan

V. Mohan Kumar, Sree ChitraTirunal

Institute for Medical Sciences and

Technology, India

*Correspondence:

Bindu M. Kutty, Department of

Neurophysiology, National Institute of

Mental Health and Neurosciences,

Bangalore 560029, India.

e-mail: bindu.nimhans@gmail.com

Intense meditation practices help to achieve a harmony between body and mind. Medi-

tation practices inﬂuence brain functions, induce various intrinsic neural plasticity events,

modulate autonomic, metabolic, endocrine, and immune functions and thus mediate global

regulatory changes in various behavioral states including sleep. This brief review focuses

on the effect of meditation as a self regulatory phenomenon on sleep.

Keywords: meditation, sleep, brain functions, autonomic activity, endocrine functions, neural plasticity

INTRODUCTION

Meditation practices have been a life style practiced in India thou-

sands of years ago. Proﬁcient meditative practices help to integrate

the brain functions, regulate various physiological mechanisms

resulting in a state of mental and physical well being. Studies

of long term transcendental meditation (TM) practitioners have

shown that TM helped to achieve a state of “restful alertness” a

state of deep physiological rest which was associated with periods

of respiratory suspension without compensatory hyper ventilation,

decreased heart rate, heightened galvanic skin response along with

enhanced wakefulness (Wallace, 1970). This restful alertness and

hypometabolic state were believed to be the outcome of physi-

ological and biochemical changes brought about by meditation

practices (Young and Taylor, 1998).

MEDITATION, BRAIN FUNCTIONS, AND SLEEP

The effect of meditation on sleep was ﬁrst reported by Mason et al.

(1997) in practitioners of TM. The main objective was to evaluate

the neurophysiological correlates of the higher states of conscious-

ness during sleep. The study reported that the senior meditators

spent more time in the slow wave sleep (SWS) with higher theta–

alpha power with background delta activity,together with reduced

electromyogram (EMG). The rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

was also found to be enhanced. The distinct theta–alpha pattern

observed during sleep was considered as an electrophysiological

correlate of a stabilized state of higher consciousness in sleep. Fur-

ther, the study opened up new avenues to explore the inﬂuence of

meditation on sleep.

Studies by Sulekha et al. (2006) and Ravindra et al. (2010)

demonstrated the differences in sleep architecture in practi-

tioners of Vipassana meditation (mindfulness meditation). The

sleep architecture of senior practitioners of Vipassana medita-

tion was endowed with enhanced states of SWS and REM sleep

compared to that of non-meditating control group. Vipassana

meditators showed 17.95, 11.3, and 10.63% of SWS among

younger (30–39 years), middle (40–49 years), and older (50–

60 years) age groups respectively. On the other hand, the corre-

sponding non-meditating controls showed a signiﬁcant reduction

of SWS with increasing age, i.e., 11.29, 6.65, and 3.94%. Vipas-

sana meditators from all age groups showed more number of

sleep cycles, indicating quality sleep. The study suggested that

the older meditators could retain the sleep pattern of younger

non-meditating controls. Aging is known to reduce the activity of

the slow wave resonating mechanism either by actual loss of neu-

rons or reduced activation of thalamo-cortical pathways (Feinberg

et al., 1967;Mourtazaev et al., 1995) and also by reduced spin-

dle generation during NREM sleep stage 2 (Nicolas et al., 2001).

Vipassana meditation appears to preserve the SWS,suggesting that

meditation could prevent the age associated changes in the slow

wave generating mechanisms.Vipassana meditation also enhanced

the REM sleep states. Meditation practices are reported to enhance

the amplitude of gamma synchrony, strengthen the thalamo-

cortical and cortico-cortical interactions (Lutz et al., 2004). These

mechanisms brought about stronger network synchronization and

altered the neural structure and functions (Lazar et al., 2005;

Pagnoni and Cekic, 2007). Based on the above observations, the

changes in sleep architecture in the Vipassana meditation practi-

tioners could be attributed to the neural plasticity events associated

with meditation.

MEDITATION, AUTONOMIC ACTIVITY, AND SLEEP

Changes in autonomic activity had been reported with respect

to speciﬁc sleep states with predominant parasympathetic activ-

ity in SWS and sympathetic activity during REM sleep (Pivik

et al., 1996;Otzenberger et al., 1997;Trinder et al., 2001;Pede-

monte et al., 2005). Such sleep state dependent autonomic changes

maintain the homeostasis during sleep. Aging alters autonomic

ﬂexibility leading to an overall increase in sympathetic activity

along with reduced parasympathetic activity, thereby bringing

about autonomic arousal and decrease in sleep quality. Reduced

www.frontiersin.org April 2012 | Volume 3 | Article 54 | 1

Nagendra et al. Meditation and sleep

parasympathetic activity along with inefﬁcient baroreﬂex mecha-

nisms during REM sleep have been reported to cause unfavorable

cardiac events (Somers et al., 1993;Ramaekers et al., 1999;Jones

et al., 2003). Meditation practices help to bring about sympatho-

vagal balance with parasympathetic predominance among experi-

enced meditators and also in novice meditators with less practice

(Wu and Lo, 2008;Zeidan et al., 2010). Vipassana meditation prac-

tices help to retain the ﬂexibility of autonomic activity during

different stages of sleep. Further, heart rate variability evalua-

tion during REM sleep showed higher sympathetic activity in

meditators than in controls. This higher sympathetic activity in

meditators was effectively buffered by parasympathetic activity

unlike the non-meditating controls (unpublished data). These

studies have demonstrated a greater insight into the modula-

tory effect of meditation practices on autonomic functions during

sleep. Meditation practices are associated with enhanced frontal

midline theta activity (Aftanas and Golocheikine, 2001;Travis and

Shear, 2010). The frontal midline theta activity originates from the

anterior cingulate cortex and controls the parasympathetic activ-

ity (Tang et al., 2009). Vipassana meditation practices would have

activated the anterior cingulate cortex and hence modulated the

parasympathetic activity during sleep. These reports are sugges-

tive of a positive modulatory role of meditation in sleep through

autonomic functions.

MEDITATION, MELATONIN, AND SLEEP

Meditation practices were reported to regulate the hypothalamo

pituitary adrenal (HPA) Axis and thereby the cortisol and cat-

echolamine levels (Jevning et al., 1978a;Infante et al., 2001).

Further,meditation techniques were also known to increase dehy-

droepiandrosterone (Glaser et al., 1992), anterior Pituitary hor-

mones like growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH),

prolactin (Jevning et al., 1978b;Werner et al.,1986;MacLean et al.,

1997), and melatonin levels (Massion et al., 1995;Tooley et al.,

2000).

Melatonin plays a vital role in the physiological regulation of

sleep in both blind and normal individuals (Pandi-Perumal et al.,

2006). Melatonin rhythm follows a raising and falling phase with

corresponding alterations in sleep propensity (Dijk and Cajochen,

1997;Dijk et al., 1997). Melatonin exerts its hypnotic effect by

acute inhibition of suprachiasmatic nucleus (von Gall et al., 2002)

and also by facilitating hypothermic response through peripheral

vasodilatation (Krauchi et al., 1997). Melatonin is widely used in

the management of sleep rhythm disorders due to jetlag, shift-

work, and insomnia (Martinez and Lenz, 2010). In addition to its

role in sleep, melatonin acts as an antioxidant and immunomod-

ulator (Maestroni, 2001), oncostatic, antiaging agent, and helps in

bringing sense of wellbeing (Armstrong and Redman, 1991;Reiter,

1995;Maestroni, 2001;Guerrero and Reiter, 2002;Pandi-Perumal

et al., 2006). Aging attenuates the melatonin secretion (Sack et al.,

1986) and hence affect the sleep quality in aged population.

Meditation practices are reported to enhance the melatonin

levels (Tooley et al., 2000), the precursors of melatonin espe-

cially the serotonin (Bujatti and Riederer, 1976) and noradren-

alin (Lang et al., 1979). Meditation increases melatonin concen-

tration by slowing its hepatic metabolism or augmenting the

synthesis in the pineal gland (Massion et al., 1995). Diurnal

melatonin levels were found to be signiﬁcantly high in Vipassana

meditators (approximately 300pg ml) than non-meditating con-

trols (65 pg ml; unpublished data). By considering the role of mela-

tonin in sleep maintenance, it might be concluded that meditation

practices enhance melatonin levels and hence quality of sleep.

SLEEP AS AN AUTOREGULATORY, GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Sleep is reported to be associated with reduced heart rate, blood

pressure, respiratory rate, and rhythm, oxygen consumption, anx-

iety or arousal, and an overall decrease in basal metabolic levels

leading to a hypometabolic state. This phenomenon of sleep

induced hypometabolic state is a natural and spontaneous out-

come necessary for biological survival (Young and Taylor, 1998).

Imaging studies have shown that during NREM sleep the blood

ﬂow to areas associated with executive functions such as frontal

and parietal cortex, thalamus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum has

been reduced and bringing about the feeling of hypnogogic effect

during sleep (Kajimura et al., 1999;Kjaer et al., 2002).

Meditation also brings a sustained hypometabolic state termed

as relaxation response by Herbert Benson and helps in sleep initia-

tion (Wallace et al., 1971). Similarly,meditation techniques help to

regulate the blood ﬂow to the executive regions of the brain dur-

ing sleep (Lou et al., 1999). Meditation practices down regulate

HPA axis reducing the stress, prolactin, TSH levels (Jevning et al.,

1978a); bring about alterations in the intermediary metabolism

favoring an anabolic state. Thus, meditation helps to maintain a

wakeful hypometabolic state with parasympathetic predominance

(Young and Taylor, 1998). Both the state and trait characteristics of

meditation practices provide an advantage that it continually resets

the metabolic functioning despite varying levels of stress. This

internal metabolic resetting form the baseline trait characteristics

necessary for all potential changes brought about by meditation

practices. Further, meditative practices beneﬁcially inﬂuence the

cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects. Thus meditation is

shown to have a greater potential to inﬂuence many physiological

and behavioral states including sleep (Carlson et al., 2007;Ong

et al., 2008;Sibinga et al., 2011).

It has been hypothesized that meditation practices activate

prefrontal cortex, fronto-limbic, fronto-parietal neural networks

and limbic and paralimbic cortices associated with sympathetic

arousal. Meditation practices activate structures like insula, ante-

rior cingulate, and hypothalamus and bring about autonomic and

humoral changes (Newberg and Iversen, 2003). Meditation thus

produces a continuum of global regulatory changes at various

behavioral levels favoring quality sleep.

CONCLUSION

It is evident from the literature cited that practice of medita-

tion brings about global changes. Many of these alterations in

physiological functions have great similarities to the changes that

are happening during sleep. It has been proposed that sleep is

an autoregulatory global phenomenon (Kumar, 2010). It is also

true that meditation inﬂuences sleep and its functions. It appears

that various components of sleep generating mechanisms can be

altered with meditation. Meditation, with its global effects on body

and brain functions helps to establish a body and mind harmony.

Thus meditation practices as an autoregulatory integrated global

phenomenon, opens a wider scope for understanding the unique

aspects of human sleep and consciousness.

Frontiers in Neurology | Sleep and Chronobiology April 2012 | Volume 3 | Article 54 | 2

Nagendra et al. Meditation and sleep

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Conﬂict of Interest Statement: The

authors declare that the research was

conducted in the absence of any com-

mercial or ﬁnancial relationships that

could be construed as a potential

conﬂict of interest.

Received: 21 March 2012; paper pending

published: 26 March 2012; accepted: 27

March 2012; published online: 18 April

2012.

Citation: Nagendra RP, Maruthai N and

Kutty BM (2012) Meditation and its reg-

ulatory role on sleep. Front. Neur. 3:54.

doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00054

This article was submitted to Frontiers in

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Enhanced dehydroepiandrosterone levels are positively correlated with N3 sleep stage in long-term mindfulness meditation practitioners

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Objectives: Meditation practices positively influence the neural, hormonal and autonomic systems. We have demonstrated that long-term practice of mindfulness meditation increases N3 and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stages and bring efficient autonomic modulation during sleep. In the present study, the probable humoral correlation that could bring about these changes is evaluated. Material and Methods: Long-term Vipassana meditators (n=41) and controls (n=24) (males, 30-60 years of age) underwent a two-day consecutive whole night polysomnography recording. During the second day, with exposure to 100Lux brightness, blood was sampled from the antecubital vein between 8-9 PM and in subsequent early morning. Sleep stage was scored as per American Society of Sleep Medicine (ASSM) guidelines for the second-day recording. Sleep-related hormones were estimated - melatonin by radioimmunoassay; dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), cortisol, growth hormone (GH) and prolactin with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); DHEA/cortisol ratio was calculated. Percentage of sleep stages and hormonal levels were compared between both groups using independent ‘t’ test and Pearson’s correlation was estimated between sleep stages and hormonal levels. Results: Meditators showed increased N3, REM sleep stages. Though evening cortisol was comparable between the two groups; early morning cortisol, diurnal DHEA and melatonin were significantly higher in meditators. Diurnal DHEA correlated significantly with the N3 sleep stage in meditators. Discussion: Higher diurnal DHEA despite variations in corresponding cortisol in meditators demonstrates that long-term Vipassana meditation practice modulates the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and thereby influences sleep. Thus, the study provides evidence to explore the mechanism most likely involved with mindfulness meditation intervention in insomnia.

Exploring the Role of Melatonin in Meditation on Cardiovascular Health Exploring the pattern of Metabolic Alteration in Heart during Doxorubicin Treatment View project Exploring the Role of Melatonin in Meditation on Cardiovascular Health

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Feb 2022

Effect of Six Months of Interval Training and Meditation Practices on Performance of Handball Players

Article

Jan 2023

Effects of Yogic Intervention on Sleep Quality of Healthy Elderly: A Systematic Review

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023

Sleep disturbances and poor sleep quality are more common in the elderly, and they are frequently ignored and untreated. As pharmacological treatments are not free from health hazards, nowadays, community-based non-pharmacological treatments are gaining huge acceptance for managing health issues. Yoga is one of the most feasible and cost-effective non-pharmacological means to manage sleep quality. The current systematic review aims at investigating the effects of yoga on the sleep quality of the elderly. So, the review was conducted on the basis of experimental investigations by using key words such as "effect of yoga", "sleep quality", "sleep disorder", "insomnia", and "older adults" published in English across four databases such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and PubMed Central. The risk of bias in selecting the studies was assessed by CASP. Four randomized controlled trials (RCTs), one pre-post study, one cross-sectional study (CS), and one longitudinal study (LS) met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 524 participants aged between 40 and 95 years from three different countries. Six out of seven studies used subjective tools to assess sleep quality, of which five used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and one used a sleep rating questionnaire, while the remaining one used an objective method to assess sleep quality through polysomnography. All seven studies reported significant improvements in sleep quality in the intervention group. Cohen’s d effect size could be calculated for four studies, ranging from 0.55 to 1.88, whereas for the remaining three studies it could not be calculated because of insufficient data. So, the current review concludes that yoga can improve the sleep quality of the elderly population. Further, it is recommended that yoga can be adopted as a cost effective, community-based, non-pharmacological means to promote sleep quality among the elderly.

Evaluating the Therapeutic Alliance With a Free-Text CBT Conversational Agent (Wysa): A Mixed-Methods Study

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022

The present study aims to examine whether users perceive a therapeutic alliance with an AI conversational agent (Wysa) and observe changes in the t‘herapeutic alliance over a brief time period. A sample of users who screened positively on the PHQ-4 for anxiety or depression symptoms (N = 1,205) of the digital mental health application (app) Wysa were administered the WAI-SR within 5 days of installing the app and gave a second assessment on the same measure after 3 days (N = 226). The anonymised transcripts of user's conversations with Wysa were also examined through content analysis for unprompted elements of bonding between the user and Wysa (N = 950). Within 5 days of initial app use, the mean WAI-SR score was 3.64 (SD 0.81) and the mean bond subscale score was 3.98 (SD 0.94). Three days later, the mean WAI-SR score increased to 3.75 (SD 0.80) and the mean bond subscale score increased to 4.05 (SD 0.91). There was no significant difference in the alliance scores between Assessment 1 and Assessment 2.These mean bond subscale scores were found to be comparable to the scores obtained in recent literature on traditional, outpatient-individual CBT, internet CBT and group CBT. Content analysis of the transcripts of user conversations with the CA (Wysa) also revealed elements of bonding such as gratitude, self-disclosed impact, and personification. The user's therapeutic alliance scores improved over time and were comparable to ratings from previous studies on alliance in human-delivered face-to-face psychotherapy with clinical populations. This study provides critical support for the utilization of digital mental health services, based on the evidence of the establishment of an alliance.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Multicomponent Sleep-Promoting Interventions on the Sleep Quality of Menopausal Women: A Quasi-Experimental Study

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Full-text available

Mar 2022

Sleep disturbance is considered one of the hallmarks of the common symptoms experienced by women during and after menopause. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of two different multiple-component, sleep-promoting interventions on the sleep quality of menopausal women. A quasi-experimental study and repeated measured design, with a four-week sleep-promoting intervention, was conducted. A total of 123 eligible participants were recruited from a health center in northern Taiwan and divided into the progressive muscle relaxation plus sleep hygiene (PMRS), the meditative movement relaxation plus sleep hygiene (MMRS), or control group at a 1:1:1 ratio. The Chinese version of Pittsburgh sleep quality index and actigraphy were used to assess the sleep disturbances of menopausal women. The subjective sleep data was collected before, immediately after the intervention, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks after the intervention. The results showed that the global score of subjective sleep quality and its components were significantly improved after both interventions. Additionally, the MMRS was superior to the PMRS for subjective sleep quality. Moreover, the objective sleep indices indicated that sleep latency was reduced after both the interventions. These findings can serve as a reference for nurses when caring for menopausal women with sleep disturbance.

The visibility graph analysis of heart rate variability during chi meditation and Kundalini Yoga techniques

Article

Dec 2023

Serum melatonin and serotonin levels in long-term skilled meditators

Article

Mar 2023

Introduction: Melatonin and its precursor serotonin are neurochemicals that play an important role in the physiological regulation of mood, sleep, and behavior. Studies have suggested the possibility of changes in the levels of melatonin and serotonin following meditation. However, the outcome of Buddhist meditation on both these two neurochemicals collectively have not been studied yet. Objective: To assess the effect of Vipassana meditation on serum melatonin and serotonin levels in long-term meditators and to compare them with an age, gender, and education level matched, non-meditating control group. Methods: The serum melatonin and serotonin levels of long-term meditators (n=30), recruited using a validated interview, and age, gender and educational level matched control subjects (n=30) who had never practiced meditation, were determined using commercial ELISA kits (LDN, Nordhorn, Germany). Results: The median concentration of melatonin (18.3 pg/ml) and serotonin (149.0 ng/ml) in the meditator group, were significantly higher compared to the control group; melatonin (15.6 pg/ml; p = 0.006), serotonin (118.1 ng/ml; p < 0.001). The levels had no significant correlation with demographic factors but positively correlated with meditation factors in those who had meditated for <=10years (n=26, p < 0.05). Conclusion: The findings indicate elevated melatonin and serotonin levels in the long-term meditators with potential beneficial effects in decreasing stress and improving relaxation in individuals.

Therapiekonzept zur ganzheitlichen Behandlung von Schlafstörungen

Chapter

Jan 2023

Carolin Marx-Dick

In diesem Kapitel wird das Therapiekonzept für Hausärzte, Psychiater, Neurologen und Psychotherapeuten vorgestellt. Das multimodale Konzept offeriert 30 Therapiebausteine aus dem Bereich der kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie, der dritten Welle der Verhaltenstherapie, den Behandlungsgrundlagen der Mind-Body-Medizin sowie der Neurotherapie. Darin enthalten sind Protokolle, Fragebögen und Informationsblätter sowie Anleitungen zu praktischen Übungen, die gemeinsam mit den Patienten erarbeitet beziehungsweise als Hausaufgabe mitgegeben werden können. Geschildert werden beispielhafte Situationen mit Patienten, die als Vorlage dienen und bei der Behandlung anderer Patienten individuell angepasst werden können.

Integrative Approaches to Psychotherapy: Insights from Cultural and Spiritual Psychology

Chapter

Apr 2022

This chapter focuses on the integrative movement in psychology and psychotherapy. It examines the various initiatives towards making psychology an integrative science as well as the sustained efforts towards integration in the domain of psychotherapy. In this process, the two main imperatives, the first arising from sociocultural contextual factors and the more pragmatic concerns are discussed. Using the Indian context as the anchor, the significance of spiritual and cultural factors in psychotherapy is discussed and an illustrative case study presented. The final section demonstrates how meditative and yogic practices and techniques from the Atharvaveda can be seamlessly combined in the efforts to attain the goal of both an integrative science and a culturally consonant psychotherapy.KeywordsIntegrative scienceIntegration in psychotherapySociocultural contextCultural factors in psychotherapySpiritual concerns in psychotherapy

Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on adaptive mechanisms: changes in hormone levels and responses to stress after 4 months of practice

Article

Full-text available

Jun 1997
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINO

Stress has been implicated in both somatic and mental disorders. The mechanisms by which stress leads to poor health are largely unknown. However, studies in animals suggest that chronic stress causes high basal cortisol and low cortisol response to acute stressors and that such changes may contribute to disease. Previous studies of the Transcendental Mediation® (TM) technique as a possible means of countering effects of stress have reported altered levels of several hormones both during the practice and longitudinally after regular practice of this technique. In this prospective, random assignment study, changes in baseline levels and acute responses to laboratory stressors were examined for four hormones—cortisol, growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone and testosterone—before and after 4 months of either the TM technique or a stress education control condition. At pre- and post-test, blood was withdrawn continuously through an indwelling catheter, and plasma or serum samples were frozen for later analysis by radioimmunoassay. The results showed significantly different changes for the two groups, or trends toward significance, for each hormone over the 4 months. In the TM group, but not in the controls, basal cortisol level and average cortisol across the stress session decreased from pre- to post-test. Cortisol responsiveness to stressors, however, increased in the TM group compared to controls. The baselines and/or stress responsiveness for TSH and GH changed in opposite directions for the groups, as did the testosterone baseline. Overall, the cortisol and testosterone results appear to support previous data suggesting that repeated practice of the TM technique reverses effects of chronic stress significant for health. The observed group difference in the change of GH regulation may derive from the cortisol differences, while the TSH results are not related easily to earlier findings on the effects of chronic stress.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Urban Youth

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2011
J ALTERN COMPLEM MED

The objectives of this study were to assess the general acceptability and to assess domains of potential effect of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected and at-risk urban youth. Thirteen-to twenty-one-year-old youth were recruited from the pediatric primary care clinic of an urban tertiary care hospital to participate in 4 MBSR groups. Each MBSR group consisted of nine weekly sessions of MBSR instruction. This mixed-methods evaluation consisted of quantitative data--attendance, psychologic symptoms (Symptom Checklist 90-Revised), and quality of life (Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition)--and qualitative data--in-depth individual interviews conducted in a convenience sample of participants until interview themes were saturated. Analysis involved comparison of pre- and postintervention surveys and content analysis of interviews. Thirty-three (33) youth attended at least one MBSR session. Of the 33 who attended any sessions, 26 youth (79%) attended the majority of the MBSR sessions and were considered "program completers." Among program completers, 11 were HIV-infected, 77% were female, all were African American, and the average age was 16.8 years. Quantitative data show that following the MBSR program, participants had a significant reduction in hostility (p = 0.02), general discomfort (p = 0.01), and emotional discomfort (p = 0.02). Qualitative data (n = 10) show perceived improvements in interpersonal relationships (including less conflict), school achievement, physical health, and reduced stress. The data suggest that MBSR instruction for urban youth may have a positive effect in domains related to hostility, interpersonal relationships, school achievement, and physical health. However, because of the small sample size and lack of control group, it cannot be distinguished whether the changes observed are due to MBSR or to nonspecific group effects. Further controlled trials should include assessment of the MBSR program's efficacy in these domains.

Sleep is neither a passive nor an active phenomenon

Article

Jul 2010
SLEEP BIOL RHYTHMS

Velayudhan Mohan Kumar

According to traditional belief, prolonged wakefulness during the day is followed by brain rest at night in the form of sleep. This passive theory of sleep was replaced by the active sleep genesis concept, mainly after the realization that brain activity is only slightly reduced during sleep. There is now growing evidence to suggest that sleep is auto-regulatory and that it is not necessary to attribute sleep genesis to either an active or a passive mechanism. © 2010 The Author. Journal compilation

A 15O-H2O PET Study of Meditation and the Resting State of Normal Consciousness

Article

Jan 1999
HUM BRAIN MAPP

The aim of the present study was to examine whether the neural structures subserving meditation can be reproducibly measured, and, if so, whether they are different from those supporting the resting state of normal consciousness. Cerebral blood flow distribution was investigated with the 15O-H2O PET technique in nine young adults, who were highly experienced yoga teachers, during the relaxation meditation (Yoga Nidra), and during the resting state of normal consciousness. In addition, global CBF was measured in two of the subjects. Spectral EEG analysis was performed throughout the investigations. In meditation, differential activity was seen, with the noticeable exception of V1, in the posterior sensory and associative cortices known to participate in imagery tasks. In the resting state of normal consciousness (compared with meditation as a baseline), differential activity was found in dorso-lateral and orbital frontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyri, left temporal gyri, left inferior parietal lobule, striatal and thalamic regions, pons and cerebellar vermis and hemispheres, structures thought to support an executive attentional network. The mean global flow remained unchanged for both subjects throughout the investigation (39 ± 5 and 38 ± 4 ml/100 g/min, uncorrected for partial volume effects). It is concluded that the H215O PET method may measure CBF distribution in the meditative state as well as during the resting state of normal consciousness, and that characteristic patterns of neural activity support each state. These findings enhance our understanding of the neural basis of different aspects of consciousness. Hum. Brain Mapping 7:98–105, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Practitioners of vipassana meditation exhibit enhanced slow wave sleep and REM sleep states across different age groups

Article

Jan 2010
SLEEP BIOL RHYTHMS

Intense meditation practices influence brain functions in different ways and at different levels. Earlier studies have shown that meditation practices help to organize sleep–wake behavior. In the present study, we evaluated the sleep architecture of vipassana meditators across different age groups. Whole-night polysomnography was carried out in healthy male subjects between 30 and 60 years of age from control (n= 46) and meditation (n= 45) groups. They were further divided into younger- (30–39 years), middle- (40–49 years), and older-aged (50–60 years) groups. Sleep variables were evaluated from subjects who had a sleep efficiency index more than 85%. The sleep architecture of vipassana meditators was different from that of control groups. Vipassana meditators showed enhanced slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep states with an enhanced number of sleep cycles across all age groups. When compared to meditators, the control groups exhibited pronounced age-associated decrease in slow wave sleep states. Our study suggests that vipassana meditation helps to establish a proper sleep structure in old age, probably through its capacity to induce neuronal plasticity events leading to stronger network synchronization and cortical synaptic strengthening.

Human Melatonin Production Decreases With Age

Article

Oct 1986
J PINEAL RES

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of time of year and demographic variables on the amplitude of melatonin production in normal human subjects. Melatonin production was estimated by measuring the overnight excretion of its major urinary metabolite, 6-hydroxymelatonin. Urine was collected on three consecutive nights in the summer from a sample of 60 normal subjects balanced for sex and age. The collections were repeated in a subgroup during the winter. Melatonin production clearly declined with age but was not influenced by other demographic variables or by season of the year.

Evaluation of Sleep architecture in practitioners of Vipassana and Sudarshana Kriya Yoga

Article

Sep 2006
SLEEP BIOL RHYTHMS

Yoga is an ancient Indian science and way of life that has been described in the traditional texts as a systematic method of achieving the highest possible functional harmony between body and mind. Yogic practices are claimed to enhance the quality of sleep. Electrophysiological correlates associated with the higher states of consciousness have been reported in long-term practitioners of transcendental meditation during deep sleep states. The present study was carried out to assess sleep architecture in Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) and Vipassana meditators. This was to ascertain the differences, if any, in sleep architecture following yogic practices. Whole night polysomnographic recordings were carried out in 78 healthy male subjects belonging to control and yoga groups. The groups studied were aged between 20 and 30-years-old (younger) and 31 to 55-years-old (middle-aged). The sleep architecture was comparable among the younger control and yoga groups. While slow wave sleep (non-REM (rapid eye movement) S3 and S4) had reduced to 3.7 percent in the middle-aged control group, participants of the middle-aged yoga groups (both SKY and Vipassana) showed no such decline in slow wave sleep states, which was experienced by 11.76 and 12.76 percent, respectively, of the SKY and Vipassana groups. However, Vipassana practitioners showed a significant enhancement (P < 0.001) in their REM sleep state from that of the age-matched control subjects and also from their SKY counterparts. Yoga practices help to retain slow wave sleep and enhance the REM sleep state in the middle age; they appear to retain a younger biological age as far as sleep is concerned. Overall, the study demonstrates the possible beneficial role of yoga in sleep–wakefulness behavior.

Regional cerebral blood flow during light sleep - A H215O-PET study

Article

Sep 2002
J SLEEP RES

This is the first report on the distribution of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes during stage-1 sleep or somnolence. Two hypotheses were tested: (A) that rCBF differed between the awake relaxed state and stage-1 sleep, (B) that hypnagogic hallucinations frequently experienced at sleep onset would be accompanied by measurable changes in rCBF using positron emission tomography (PET). Eight subjects were PET-scanned with 15O-labeled water injection in three conditions: awake, stage-1 sleep with reportable experiences and stage-1 sleep without reportable experiences. Electroencephalography (EEG) was performed continuously during the experiment. Sleep interviews were performed after each scan. The EEG was scored blindly to determine sleep stage. The sleep interviews revealed a substantial increase in how unrealistic and how leaping the thoughts were during stage-1 sleep. During sleep there was a relative flow increase in the occipital lobes and a relative flow decrease in the bilateral cerebellum, the bilateral posterior parietal cortex, the right premotor cortex and the left thalamus. Hypnagogic experiences seemed not to be associated with any relative flow changes. The topography of the occipital activation during stage-1 sleep supports a hypothesis of this state being a state of imagery. The rCBF decreases in premotor cortex, thalamus and cerebellum could be indicative of a general decline in preparedness for goal directed action during stage-1 sleep. Stage-1 sleep seems more similar to other forms of altered awareness, for example, relaxation meditation than to deeper sleep stages. We are of the opinion that stage-1 sleep represents the dreaming state of wakefulness, while rapid eye movement (REM) sleep reflects the dreaming state of the unaware, sleeping brain.

Acute Increases in Nighttime Plasma Melatonin Levels Following a Period of Meditation

Article

Jun 2000
BIOL PSYCHOL

To determine whether a period of meditation could influence melatonin levels, two groups of meditators were tested in a repeated measures design for changes in plasma melatonin levels at midnight. Experienced meditators practising either TM-Sidhi or another internationally well known form of yoga showed significantly higher plasma melatonin levels in the period immediately following meditation compared with the same period at the same time on a control night. It is concluded that meditation, at least in the two forms studied here, can affect plasma melatonin levels. It remains to be determined whether this is achieved through decreased hepatic metabolism of the hormone or via a direct effect on pineal physiology. Either way, facilitation of higher physiological melatonin levels at appropriate times of day might be one avenue through which the claimed health promoting effects of meditation occur.

The hypothermic effect of late evening melatonin does not block the phase delay induced by concurrent light in human subjects

Article

Sep 1997
NEUROSCI LETT

This constant routine study (n=9 men) compared the phase delay of the circadian system induced by a single pulse of evening light (5000 lx at 2100–2400 h) in the presence or absence of exogenous melatonin (5 mg p.o. at 2040 h). On the treatment day, light and melatonin protracted and accelerated, respectively, the evening decline in core body temperature (CBT). Subjective sleepiness ratings showed parallel shifts, the earlier the decline in CBT, the sleepier. On the post-treatment day, light induced a phase delay in the mid-range crossing time of CBT decline independent of whether melatonin was co-administered or not. Subjective sleepiness was delayed in parallel. The phase delay of the circadian system by evening light appears to be independent of an immediate hyperthermic effect and is not mediated by melatonin.

Meditation and Its Regulatory Role on Sleep

Abstract

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