Meditation may protect sleep architecture and brain activity in older adults, study suggests

A new study published in the Journal of Sleep Research has found that long-term meditation practice is associated with more resilient sleep architecture and preserved brain activity in older adults. The findings indicate that elderly expert meditators not only slept longer and spent less time in light sleep, but also showed unique patterns of brain activity during rest and sleep, suggestive of enhanced cognitive processing and possibly sustained awareness even during non-REM sleep.

As people age, they tend to experience sleep disturbances, reduced deep sleep, and alterations in brain activity, which are often linked to cognitive decline. At the same time, meditation has been gaining attention as a potential non-pharmacological approach to improve well-being, reduce stress, and support mental health. Previous research has shown that meditation can influence brain function during both active practice and rest. However, most of these studies have focused on younger adults, and relatively little is known about how long-term meditation might shape sleep and brain function in older populations.

The research team, led by Pierre Champetier and Géraldine Rauchs of the NeuroPresage Team, aimed to explore whether the potential cognitive and emotional benefits of meditation extend into older age—particularly in ways that might influence how the brain functions during rest and sleep. They were especially interested in whether long-term meditation experience might buffer against age-related sleep deterioration and whether it could enhance markers of brain complexity and alertness.

“The study was part of the Medit-Ageing/Silver Santé Study that investigates the impact of meditation training on mental health and wellbeing in the ageing population. Given the aging of the world population and expected surge of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, our research group tested the effect of meditation as a non-pharmacological intervention to promote healthy ageing,” explained Champetier, a postdoctoral fellow at the Paris Brain Institute.

“Notably, the aim was to 1) assess the effect of an 18-month meditation training on meditation-naïve older adults, and to 2) explore long-term effects of meditation practice by comparing meditation-naïve older adults (before the meditation intervention) and elderly ‘expert meditators’ (>10,000 h of meditation practice in their lifetime). In this particular study, we investigated sleep (using polysomnography, questionnaires) and brain activity (using EEG) during resting-state wakefulness in expert meditators.”

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The study included 27 expert meditators aged 65 to 84 who had accumulated more than 10,000 hours of meditation practice over their lifetimes. These individuals practiced various forms of meditation, including mindfulness, loving-kindness, and compassion-based approaches, often dedicating time in retreat settings as well. Their results were compared with those of 135 meditation-naive older adults of similar age.

Participants completed several sleep-related questionnaires and underwent objective assessments using polysomnography—a method that records brain waves and physiological signals during sleep. The researchers also recorded resting-state EEG data while participants were awake with eyes closed. These data were analyzed using standard spectral techniques and more advanced complexity measures, such as permutation entropy, which captures how rich and unpredictable brain activity patterns are.

The researchers focused on multiple aspects of sleep: architecture (how much time was spent in each sleep stage), microstructure (detailed characteristics of sleep spindles and slow waves), and brain dynamics during both non-REM and REM sleep. They also tested whether these features correlated with meditation experience.

Although both groups reported similar sleep quality on questionnaires, objective measures revealed notable differences. The expert meditators slept longer and spent more time in N2 sleep—a stage associated with stable sleep and memory processing. They also spent less time in N1 sleep, the lightest stage of sleep that tends to increase with age and is often linked with more fragmented rest.

No differences were found in the amount of deep sleep (N3) or REM sleep. However, expert meditators showed altered patterns of brain activity during these stages. During non-REM sleep, meditators exhibited lower delta power—a marker of slow-wave activity—but higher alpha power and greater complexity in the theta frequency band. These patterns suggest a more dynamic or potentially more conscious brain state during sleep.

Although most features of sleep microstructure—such as the density and amplitude of sleep spindles and slow waves—did not significantly differ between the groups, the meditators did show a trend toward higher slow spindle amplitude, although this did not survive stricter statistical correction.

During REM sleep, there was a trend for higher theta power in expert meditators, particularly in fronto-central brain regions. This pattern is often linked to emotional memory consolidation and executive processing. Interestingly, within the expert meditator group, individuals who scored higher on meditation expertise tended to show greater theta power in this region, suggesting a potential dose-response relationship.

“Despite no differences in subjective sleep quality, several objective metrics indicated a better sleep quality in elderly expert meditators compared to meditation-naïve older adults (e.g., longer sleep duration, lower proportion of the lightest sleep stage),” Champetier told PsyPost. “Importantly, some of these metrics were associated with meditation expertise within the expert meditator group.”

The researchers also found that certain EEG features during sleep—especially during non-REM sleep—tended to resemble patterns observed in states of higher consciousness or cognitive engagement. For example, the combination of reduced delta power, increased alpha power, and higher EEG complexity is seen in individuals who report being aware during dreamless sleep or those with lucid dreaming experiences.

“We also noticed brain activity patterns that could reflect potential ‘preserved conscious processes’ during sleep in expert meditators,” Champetier explained. “However, this interpretation should be taken with caution as our study was not specifically designed for this purpose and lacks direct assessments of conscious processing during sleep.”

In resting wakefulness, expert meditators had lower delta power, a signal often associated with pathological aging, and higher brain signal complexity in the delta band over posterior brain regions. These patterns resemble those found in younger, cognitively healthy individuals and may reflect more preserved neural functioning.

While the study provides intriguing evidence that meditation may influence sleep and brain function in older adults, some limitations should be noted. The sample of expert meditators was relatively small, which may have reduced the ability to detect more subtle effects. Additionally, participants slept in different environments—controls slept at home while meditators stayed in a hotel near the lab—which could have influenced the sleep data.

The study’s cross-sectional design also limits conclusions about causality. It is unclear whether meditation caused these brain and sleep changes or whether people with these characteristics are more likely to take up meditation in the first place. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess how brain activity and sleep change over time with meditation training.

The study, “EEG Brain Rhythms During Resting-State Wakefulness and Sleep in Elderly Expert Meditators,” was authored by Pierre Champetier, Anaïs Hamel, Claire André, Valentin Ourry, Tristan Lacroix, Stéphane Rehel, Léa Chauveau, Sacha Haudry, Françoise Bertran, Vincent de la Sayette, Denis Vivien, Gaël Chételat, Antoine Lutz, Géraldine Rauchs, and the Medit-Ageing Research Group.