Cyclic Meditation and Sleep Quality: A Review.
Deenadayalan Boopalan, Venugopal Vijayakumar, Govindasamy Karuppasamy, Kaur Dilpreet, Poornima Ravi, Yogalakshmi Ponnusamy, Mahesh Kannan Vanamoorthy, Maheshkumar Kuppusamy
Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) December 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1782529 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 277 |
| Population | Healthy volunteers, type-2 diabetic patients, alcohol dependents, and caregivers for special needs children in India |
| Intervention | Cyclic meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Cyclic meditation Mind-body practice Sleep quality Yoga |
| Key findings | Cyclic meditation has been found effective in enhancing sleep quality, with effect sizes from 0.56 to 4.90. |
Abstract
Objectives: Insufficient sleep leads to several short- and long-term physical and mental consequences. Yoga is a popularly known complementary health approach that maintains physical and mental health through asanas, meditation, and breathing techniques. Cyclic meditation (CM), derived from one of the Upanishads, is practiced by combining physical postures (asanas) with relaxation techniques. Recent findings emphasize the significance of CM as a means to enhance sleep quality. The current review aims to find the effects of CM on sleep quality through the available scientific data.
Methods: The current review includes research articles evaluating CM's effect on sleep quality from various databases such as PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Google Scholar up to January 22, 2023. We conducted a literature search using keywords related to CM and sleep quality, and search results were restricted to studies published in the English language.
Results: There were 5 articles with 277 participants meeting inclusion criteria, all conducted in India. Of those, 2 were randomized controlled trials and 3 were single-group or two-group pre-post and crossover studies. Participants ranged from healthy volunteers, type-2 diabetic patients, alcohol dependents, and caregivers for special needs children. Based on the available scientific evidence, CM has been found to be effective ( d = 0.56-4.90) in enhancing the quality of sleep.
Conclusion: The CM technique could be tentatively considered as a beneficial practice to improve sleep. However, further, adequately powered, and randomized controlled studies with various other parameters of sleep are required to strongly recommend CM as a stand-alone yogic intervention for sleep disturbance.