A Gift Of Meditation: Increased Energy and Needing Less Sleep -

Meditation creates numerous benefits throughout not just the mental and psychological bodies but the physical body as well. Did you know meditation can increase your energy levels and actually provide you with needing less sleep?

Cortisol and Our Energy Levels

At Rutgers University a study found that regular meditation can reduce cortisol levels up to fifty percent! Cortisol is a stress hormone commonly released when our flight or fight mode is activated.

The hormone cortisol is used to generate energy in the body and is released in higher dosages in the morning upon awakening. Instable cortisol levels are directly linked to sleep dysfunction.

When our cortisol levels are balanced our body is then able to release this hormone at a beneficial time, rather than in a mentally stressful situation where we activate our fight or flight response such as when we get cut off in traffic.

Psychomotor Vigilance Task Study

A psychomotor vigilance task, or PVT, was performed by Prashant Kaul, Jason Passafiume, R Craig Sargent, and Bruce F O’Hara at the University of Kentucky.

The study covered two parts. During the first one novice meditators were tested on the PVT prior to and after both meditating and taking a nap. They were also studied with the effect of one day of sleep deprivation. These post-tests included ten minutes after and one minute after.

All ten participants in the study showed an increase in their PVT reaction times after meditation. Interestingly enough all but one participant’s PVT reaction times were significantly worse after napping.

This study concludes that meditation even in novice meditators provides an increase in performance rather than sleep. Even the day studying the effect of sleep deprivation, which did show an overall base reaction time, showed that mediation still increased their PVT.

The second part of this study focuses on experienced meditators living in Delhi, India. The study compared their duration of sleep to the same-age and sex match of non-meditators as well as the general population.

The study was conducted using sleep journals and actigraphy, a non-invasive sensor to measure sleep and activity cycles. The results showed that not only was therr a decreased need for sleep for experienced mediators compared to the general population but in comparison to their matched control group as well.

Techniques and Practices

Alright after reading all these profound and proven benefits of meditation let’s talk about how you can begin reaping these gifts of meditation yourself.

First focus on your physiology, your body posture has an enormous impact on your mental and emotional state. Begin meditation by rooting your sits bones comfortably either into a chair, cousin, or the floor and lengthen through your spine.
Dive into energizing pranayama techniques to boost your energy levels naturally.
Practice yoga and movement meditation
Try using affirmations such as: I am filled with energy and I am powerful
Use visualization to see yourself being filled with energizing prana or use the law of attraction and visualize yourself fully energized and awake