Nidra- Sleep!
Restful sleep is the foundation of Physical and Mental health. Sleep helps balance your body and your emotions.
Let’s go with another aspect from the 3 pillars of Ayurveda, that is Sleep. ‘I just can’t keep myself awake through the entire day’, doesn’t this sound very familar to you? Actually, it shouldn’t, but number of people with this complaint is increasing day by day. They feel sleeping during the day will help them if they don’t get enough sleep at night and that makes matters worse. I came across certain patients with this thought which actually game me the idea for today’s article.
NIDRA, when taken according to the need of one’s Prakruti, and proper time is going to be beneficial. Not every person needs 8-10 hours of sleep, some of us feel energetic even with 7 hours. Proper time here refers to timings of around 9-10 PM to 4-5 AM. As we know, in Ayurveda, the Wake-up time is supposed to be 48 minutes before the sunrise and hence time to sleep can be calculated in reverse manner. You get benefits of sleep when you sleep in this manner.
If you tend to be awake till late hours, there is aggravation of Vata, and causes dryness in your body. At the same time, if you tend to sleep in day time, it increases the Kapha in irregular pattern, which leads to obstruction of Strotas (that is body channels). In-short, this is how the ill effects of improper sleeping can be described. To add up to this, if a person tends to avoid sleep when his / her body naturally demands it at night, it leads to dizziness, yawning, heaviness of head and eyes. Moreover, the continuation of avoiding sleep may lead to Nidra-Naash that is Insomnia like situation which thereby affects the overall nourishment of body in its own way. This is how we tend to say the famous line stated above. Now it must be clear to you that the improper sleep pattern is the reason for reduction in one’s energy levels, and thereby your efficiency is compromised.
So, the very next question would be, ‘How do you a find solution to this?’ Following are some tips which you might find useful. (But remember that this is no One Size Fits All Situation. You need proper guidance and for that you need to visit an Ayurvedic Practitioner if you have any kind of disorders or any ailments. And strictly do not go for self-treatment.)
SLEEP! Find a good bed, blanket and rest. Yes! As you drink water when you feel thirsty, you should sleep whenever you are deprived of sleep.
Apply some warm oil on your soles and head or even a gentle massage can work for you.
Take about 50-100 ml of milk with ghee and sugar and you can also add saffron or nutmeg to it as per your taste preferences.
Slowly and steadily bring you sleep time close to the ideal sleeping time.
Gadgets to be strictly avoided when you are trying to sleep, as it hinders in the process of falling asleep.
Rome was not built in a day, so remember that all these habits cannot be inculcated at once, but one small step every time will surely do the job and will benefit you in the long run helping you lead a healthy life.
If you need more details, please feel free to drop me an e-mail on vd.manasijoshi@gmail.com