Many people discover a deep, pervasive fatigue when they start meditating. This is a good thing and very important to listen to as it needs to be responded to by getting more rest and sleep. If they dive into practice over the eight weeks - many people find their sleep improves a lot.

A lack of enough, good quality sleep is implicated in the development of obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety, and mortality from car crashes. 

I read the remarkable and clarifying book called “Why We Sleep” by a world renowned sleep scientist – Matthew Walker.

He points to how changes in our society has lead to this depletion of good sleep including the advent of electricity (enabling us to go to bed later and later), industrialisation (with its demands for early morning rising and shift work, and now, a 24/7 “connectedness”) and the use of devices (which stimulate a depletion of melatonin and fill us with anxiety and unhelpful dopamine habits).

He also points to humans naturally having a biphasic sleep cycle – with some at night and a nap in the day being optimal.  Some Mediterranean societies actually organise themselves around this biphasic pattern and have siestas.

Ever since I was diagnosed with a fairly serious melanoma in 2010, I have pretty much had a nap every day – ranging from 20 mins to an hour.

It has been so good for me.  After my midday sleep, I can now have a sense of energy as I go into the afternoon – to work more, or shop, cook, and walk rather than having that sense of pushing through fatigue and then being a bit disengaged into the evening.

Some tips for sleeping well from the experts….

• We all know these of course. Easier said than done!
• Go to bed and get up at the same time each day.
• Don’t stay in bed if you can’t sleep. (Get up and do some under-stimulating activity and go back to bed when you are feeling sleepy. Meditation is perfect!)
• Do not use computers or I-Pads within two hours of going to bed.
• Make sure your room is dark.
• Remove any clocks that emit light so that you can’t tell you the time during the night. (Checking the time creates tensions and anxiety which can prevent sleep.)
• Do mild exercise each day.
• Don't drink alcohol. (Thisis a sedative that undermines any chance of good sleep and deprives us of precious REM sleep.)
• Don’t take sleeping pills, unless under extreme duress. (While they sedate us out of consciousness, they do prevent REM sleep which is so helpful for embedding new learning and emotional regulation in the longer term.)

I would add: When you can’t sleep, meditate!

—Timothea Goddard