Meditation vs Sleep: Difference and Comparison

Key Takeaways

1. Consciousness: Meditation involves maintaining a conscious awareness while losing consciousness characterizes sleep.
2. Brain Activity: During meditation, specific brainwave patterns associated with relaxation and focused attention can be observed, whereas sleep involves different stages with distinct brainwave patterns.
3. Purpose and Benefits: Sleep primarily focuses on physical restoration and rejuvenation, while meditation cultivates mental clarity, self-awareness, and emotional balance. Both practices have unique roles in promoting overall well-being.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a practice with many benefits to offer, not only to the body but to the mind. It is a method to condition the mind to focus on the present moment. The objective of meditation is to deliver mental calmness and relaxation.

To perform meditation, you need a quiet and comfortable place. Then you need to close your eyes and put all your attention on a particular object of focus. You can choose your breath or an image as the focus. You can also chant a mantra or phrase.

With daily practice, meditation will develop self-awareness, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve concentration and focus. One can attain inner peace with meditation.

Meditation has been here for thousands of years. For some religions, it is a significant part. It is also a component of spirituality.

You can practice meditation in various settings. One can do it in a closed room, retreat center, and yoga class. You can learn it from an instructor, or you can take help from widely available books and apps.

What is Sleep?

Sleep is a natural process. The body and mind need sleep every day to function properly and seamlessly. During sleep, the body restores and repairs itself. Without good sleep, one will be exhausted and unable to function.

The body and sleep are required for mental health and well-being. Mood regulation, cardiovascular health, and memory consolidation get stabilized with adequate sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation will cause health problems like cardiovascular disease, obesity, and many more.

Sleep can be divided into two types. One is non-rapid eye movement, or NREM, and the other is rapid eye movement, or REM. In NREM sleep, the brain waves are slow, and the muscle activity is very few. While during REM sleep, brain activity is high, and eye movements get rapid.

Difference Between Meditation and Sleep

1. Meditation is a practice that provides focused attention and gets rid of stress and anxiety. At the same time, sleep is a natural state of resting. Bodies need to sleep to repair physical and mental exhaustion.
2. Meditation is a choice. It depends on whether people want to pursue it, but sleep is not a choice. It is definite.
3. Meditation is done while in a sitting position, but one can perform it while lying down as well. At the same time, it is advised to lie down while sleeping.
4. Meditation is a conscious decision, but sleep occurs with an unconscious mind.
5. Meditation can help one to have good uninterrupted sleep.

Comparison Between Meditation and Sleep

Parameter of Comparison	Meditation	Sleep
Description	It is commonly done while sitting but can be done lying.	It is a practice that provides focused attention and eliminates stress and anxiety.
Position	Meditation has techniques such as deep breathing and visualization.	It is commonly done lying down. One can do it in a reclined position too.
Process	It needs the active participation of the mind to conserve concentration.	It is an unconscious process that happens naturally.
Benefit	It improves focus and mental clarity and ensures emotional well-being.	It handles hormones and other bodily functions and boosts cognitive functions.
Techniques	Meditation has techniques such as deep breathing and visualisation.	Sleep does not have any specific techniques; the body does it automatically.

References

1. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2110998
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964339720300525

Last Updated : 14 October, 2023