> Of more than 3,000 scientific studies that were found in a comprehensive search of 17 relevant databases, only about 4% had randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which are designed to exclude the placebo effect.
So 4% accounted for placebo. How many accounted for the "taking a break is healthy" effect? You need to show that it is different than just taking a break! Any evidence of this?
You're the one claiming they're the same - where's your evidence that napping causes the effects identified as caused by meditation?
If you want to believe meditation is the same as napping, you're free to do so. As somebody with a great deal of experience in both meditation and napping, my experience is that they're completely different - meditation is not just quietly relaxing, in fact it can be extremely difficult.
Accounting for placebo is the minimum you should do, that doesn't mean that the rest of the study is well done.
> You're the one claiming they're the same - where's your evidence that napping causes the effects identified as caused by meditation?
You are the one coming with the extraordinary claim, that meditation does something fundamentally different.
> meditation is not just quietly relaxing, in fact it can be extremely difficult.
Right, meditation isn't even a defined concept, it is whatever you want it to be. In some practices it is strenuous as you say, in others it is just relaxing. Bundling all of that under a common name makes research around this topic even less trustworthy.
