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What is the context of this research?

We study various aspects of sleep, meditation and performance in people, such as whether meditation might provide some of the restoration we normally associate with sleep. We are using a well-validated psychomotor vigilance test (essentially just reaction time) that accurately reflects underlying sleepiness or alertness.



Our data thus far suggest meditation can indeed boost performance, and in a way that appears to compensate or pay-off sleep debt. In this phase of the study, we want to know if the performance boost provided by meditation lasts through a full day. We are also interested to understand how sleep affects these performance measures in both well-rested and sleep-deprived individuals.

What is the significance of this project?

The proposed study provides an opportunity to study the effects of meditation on the brain. While validating our previous findings of short term performance boosts after meditation, this study adds to it by studying long term effects on performance and also delves into mechanisms by which the brain activity during meditation might be achieving this performance boost.



If a relationship between sleep and meditation with respect to performance is observed, the proposed study will pave the way for developing better models of brain activity in the future.



This study also provides an opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of modern brain telemetry systems in meditation and sleep research. These systems are now so inexpensive they can be purchased easily by any interested individual.

What are the goals of the project?

The main goal is to understand how the interplay between sleep and meditation affects performance through the day. We plan to:



