Dr. Richard Davidson

I think about it a lot.

I don't think that the evidence is clear on this at all.

And I'll give several examples.

First, the Dalai Lama, who probably meditates more than anybody I know, he has a practice of literally doing approximately four hours of meditation every day.

And he's been doing that for more than 60 years.

And he very proudly says, I sleep nine hours a night.

Wow, okay.

Nine hours a night, and he gets nine hours of sleep, that's his regular sleep, and he gets it all the time, and...

I don't know whether he would say he needs it but he gets nine hours a night and he's very proud of that.

That's one counterexample.

Myself, I have done a bunch of sleep science collaborating with some sleep researchers and many years ago one of these people said to me, Richie, you really should give up an alarm clock, just don't use an alarm clock anymore.

And I was getting at that time between five and a half and six hours a night of sleep.

And I gave up the alarm clock and my average length of sleep increased by about 30 to 45 minutes.

And I feel much better.

I would say probably for most people, yes, is the answer.

But I think there's a lot of individual variability.

In general, I would say it's useful to meditate when you're feeling most awake and less sleepy.

Sleepiness is an important obstacle in meditation.

And there's a lot to say about that.

Yeah, so first let me say that just like there are hundreds of different kinds of sports, there are hundreds of different kinds of meditation.