Sweet Slumber

When the mind withdraws from its activities, then the individual sleeps. Proper sleep causes happiness, nourishment, strength, potency,
knowledge and life. Improper sleep brings misery, emaciation,
weakness, sterility, ignorance, and death."
-Charaka Samhita

Sleep is critical to our wellbeing. According to Ayurveda it is a keystone to our health. Sound and restful is one of the three pillars of health, the other two being food and sex. When our sleep is out of whack, it bleeds into every other area of our life.  The consequences may be both short and long term.  We become short tempered, anxious, distracted, depressed and eventually our health will decline. This leads to a host of problems including obesity, heart problems, diabetes and even an early death.  When our sleep is balanced, along with the other two pillars, we are steady, stable, clear headed and have plenty of energy to live our dharma, or our life’s mission.

 One in three adults not getting enough sleep. A whopping 87% of our high school students are sleep deprived as well.  So, what is getting in the way? More importantly - what lifestyle choices can we make to get the
most out of our much needed sleep?

Let’s start with digestion. Eating before the sun goes down, or just shortly after, will give your body enough time to digest before going to bed.  Our bodies are unable to digest and sleep at the same time, therefore neither task will be done well.  If we are grazing throughout the day, we will have blood sugar that is not balanced causing us to wake up at night. 
These are easy adjustments we can make to our eating
habits to encourage a good night's rest.

Put into place nightly rituals that will calm the senses, and the mind, so when we lay our heads on our pillow, we drift seamlessly into deep healing sleep.  Simple habits such as taking a shower before bed to “wash of your day” and massaging oil on the soles of your feet will have immediate effects.  Applying oil to your head on nights that you are planning to wash your hair in the morning is very calming. Drink a sleep tea or some scalded milk with nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric and cardamom. Most importantly try to limit to stop “screen time” two hours before bed.

 There are also several practices that we can implement in the morning that will have a direct impact on the following evening. I advise doing abhyanga (self massage) for everyone. Breathing exercises and regular meditation are great for calming the nervous system too.

We are all unique. Depending on the dosha that is out of balance our sleep challenges and corrections will look a little different. 
Are you curious to discover your best nights sleep?
Is it time to wake up refreshed?
Join me this upcoming Sunday, April 14th, as we dive deeper into
an Ayurvedic perspective on healthy sleep practices.