When you need to do meditation

This. Many people don't even realize how little they sleep.

A little more internet browsing... Oh, I forgot to shower... Well I have to finish this paper/read this book while in bed... I should probably go over a ton of stuff in my head and take over an hour to fall asleep, too... Let's set the alarm an hour early, I'll just snooze a bunch, that's still sleep right?

I think many people are running on 4-5-6 hours of sleep and would claim to sleep 7-8 a night. You really do see the difference when you start giving sleep the respect it deserves, not just in terms of meditation, but basically everything else too. Aim for 8 hours folks, really, you won't regret it.

Tips for Meditation :

Don't eat before you meditate

Don't overexert yourself. To focus doesn't mean you're directing all of your energy to the object or not-thinking, it just means your mind is staying still on the object. When you're thinking about a bunch of things, your mind is also picking up a bunch of different objects because it's restless and can't rest content. If you can't stay still, it helps to develop a contentment with the object, "this is all I really need right now, nothing more".

Don't underexert yourself. You're not trying to make your mind go limp or anything.

Improve your posture. Don't just prop yourself up, actually examine your body for discomforts and areas of tension and figure out how you can relax and soften them while being upright. Here's a tip: imagine a string on a table. It's limp and curved. Pick it up on one end, and it straightens out — you didn't even need to touch the other end. Now, your head is that part of the string you picked up. The string straight due to tension, but just due to gravity. So "suspend" the back-top of your head with your mind, while relaxing your neck, back, etc. Your upper back should straighten up by going backwards (due to the head being pulled up).

There are many parts that make up "meditation"

Consider this: Meditation isn't something you do. It's more a a state of mind that you go into. When most people say they are daily meditating they are are in fact concentrating which could be considered doing a mental exercise. Naturally when you exercise the body your muscles become tired and when you concentrate for long periods of time your mind can become tired. Just like exercising the body you wouldn't lift 100lbs dumbbells your first day in the gym so be gentle with your mind and slowly build the amount of time your concentrating during meditation.

Metaphor time: Think of your mind as a explorer/tracker. exploring in all directions showing you all the wonderful landscapes of your mind. The mind is looking to track down the great white buffalo (inner peace, nirvana, bliss, or whatever symbol you may believe it to be). If you've started meditation then your mind has found the great white buffalo! So then in order to bring it back to your village and use the great power of this buffalo you must lasso it with your rope. Metaphorically the rope is considered your concentration. At first the buffalo may fight you and not want to follow you and do it's own thing so you have a poker stick to guide it where you want to go. This poking stick can be considered your zeal, passion, the reason you keep coming back to meditating even after you feel like you have no idea why your doing it. As time goes on you have spent some time with the buffalo and the two of you have slowly started to bond and become friends. This is when you can start to loosen the rope and the buffalo will start to follow you where ever you go without the rope (concentration) being so tight around its neck. end metaphor

If you would like anymore explanation on this topic I would be glad to continue our conversation.

On a side note: when I'm doing seated meditation I rather enjoy when I start to node off. It's as if I'm awake while dreaming and I'm weaving between the fine line between the awake and sleeping state.

Feel free to become sleepy during meditation. This may be your great white buffalo telling you to loosen the rope around its neck. Let the rope go and see where the buffalo guides you. Maybe have soft cushions or multiple blankets behind you so you can fall back out of the state once you feel like your about to really fall asleep. It's ok to lay down after you've done seated meditation for long periods of time.