According to a study, meditation could be an effective behavioral intervention in the treatment of insomnia. Insomnia is a common sleep complaint that occurs when you have difficulty in initiating or/and maintaining sleep. Insomnia is considered a disorder only when it causes a significant amount of distress or anxiety, or when it results in daytime impairment.

Results of the study indicate that insomnia patients saw improvements in subjective sleep quality and sleep diary parameters while practicing meditation. Sleep latency, total sleep time, total wake time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep quality and depression improved in insomnia patients who used meditation.

According to principal investigator Ramadevi Gourineni, director of the insomnia program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Evanston, Ill., insomnia is believed to be a 24-hour problem of hyperarousal, and elevated measures of arousals are seen throughout the day.

"Results of the study show that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night," said Gourineni.

The study gathered data from 11 healthy subjects between the ages of 25 and 45 years with chronic primary insomnia. Primary insomnia is sleeplessness that cannot be attributed to an existing medial, psychiatric or environmental cause. Participants were divided into two intervention groups for two months: Kriya Yoga (a form of meditation that is used to focus internalized attention and has been shown to reduce measures of arousal) and health education. Subjective measures of sleep and depression were collected at baseline and after the two-month period.

Both groups received sleep hygiene education; members of the health education group also received information about health-related topics and how to improve health through exercise, nutrition, weight loss and stress management.
References:
1. Ramadevi Gourineni, et al. Effects of Meditation on Sleep in Individuals with Chronic Insomnia. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Abstract ID: 0874.