Senior Vipassana Meditation practitioners exhibit distinct REM sleep organization from that of novice meditators and healthy controls

Abstract

The present study is aimed to ascertain whether differences in meditation proficiency alter rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep) as well as the overall sleep-organization. Whole-night polysomnography was carried out using 32-channel digital EEG system. 20 senior Vipassana meditators, 16 novice Vipassana meditators and 19 non-meditating control subjects participated in the study. The REM sleep characteristics were analyzed from the sleep-architecture of participants with a sleep efficiency index >85%. Senior meditators showed distinct changes in sleep-organization due to enhanced slow wave sleep and REM sleep, reduced number of intermittent awakenings and reduced duration of non-REM stage 2 sleep. The REM sleep-organization was significantly different in senior meditators with more number of REM episodes and increased duration of each episode, distinct changes in rapid eye movement activity (REMA) dynamics due to increased phasic and tonic activity and enhanced burst events (sharp and slow bursts) during the second and fourth REM episodes. No significant differences in REM sleep organization was observed between novice and control groups. Changes in REM sleep-organization among the senior practitioners of meditation could be attributed to the intense brain plasticity events associated with intense meditative practices on brain functions.

Minimal phenomenal experience

“…Not only is it logically possible to have functional wakefulness without conscious experience (i.e., "wakeful unawareness"), but the possibility is also empirically demonstrated by the existence of a wake/sleep cycle in some types of coma patients, for example in the minimally conscious state (MCS) or in unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS), tellingly termed Wachkoma in German (Laureys et al, 2010). In addition, it is empirically plausible that the conscious experience of wakefulness can exist in low-arousal states like NREM sleep, as shown by the existence of lucid dreamless sleep (Dentico et al, 2016;Ferrarelli et al, 2013;Maruthai et al, 2016;Mason et al, 1997;Mason & Orme-Johnson, 2010;Metzinger, 2019, sec. 5;Thompson, 2015aThompson, , 2015bWindt, 2015a;Windt, Nielsen, & Thompson, 2016).…”

Different Patterns of Sleep-Dependent Procedural Memory Consolidation in Vipassana Meditation Practitioners and Non-meditating Controls

“…Sleep architecture changes of Vipassana practitioners are few, but include longer REM sleep periods when compared to controls and yoga practitioners (Sulekha et al, 2006). Longer-term practitioners (over 7 years of daily practice) have more N3 sleep, less N2 sleep, fewer awakenings from sleep and an altered pattern of REM sleep microarchitecture (Maruthai et al, 2016).…”

Contribution of REM sleep and N2 sleep spindles to procedural memory consolidation in Vipassana meditators and non-meditating controls.

“…Sleep architecture changes of Vipassana practitioners are few, but include longer REM sleep periods when compared to controls and yoga practitioners [89]. Longer-term practitioners (over 7 years of daily practice) have more N3 sleep, less N2 sleep, fewer awakenings from sleep and an altered pattern of REM sleep microarchitecture [90].…”