Sleep is a very basic necessity for the body. But for many of us a good sleep has became a luxury, unfortunately.
Sleep is one of the 3 basic SANSKARAS (patterns) of the body and is extremely important for survival as well as proper functioning of body, mind & prana (life energies).
In general a person can survive max up to one week without sleep. It is during sleep that our body rejuvenates itself. It is during sleep that our mind process all the information and stores the most important one in the conscious mind.
However, an inadequate sleep is cause to many health problems. Not only this but also it affects our performance in our day to day activities, abruptly. You may have noticed this personally. When someday you don’t get appropriate sleep your concentration, situational awareness & physical awareness all gets affected. Have you noticed this?
If one notices carefully then one will find that inadequate sleep or faulty sleep patterns directly affects our cardio vascular activity, digestive system & hormonal activity. It is the reason why many people develop stress, anxiety, digestive problems, obesity, diabetes and other chronic ailments.
But the worst impact improper sleep delivers is that it affects our overall wellbeing of life in the long run. It affects in such a way that it is almost impossible for many of us to even notice it. And because of that it never occurs in our mind to address it.
When your sleep is appropriate and completer, your body & mind are well rested. And so they can work at optimum level making your over all life much more smooth, easy & successful. Once your sleep gets perfect then you will notice that many of your conflicts gets resolved automatically. You will feel much more enthusiastic & focused throughout the day. In short you will outperform your previous self.
So here are 6 points that if you do it sincerely your sleep quality will increase and also your emotional stability, focusing ability, awareness and intellect will increase dramatically
1) Maintain Four Hours Gap Between Dinner & Sleep
Digestion itself is a huge activity for the body. It is a heavy process. When you eat your metabolism increases, but when you sleep your metabolism decreases. Both the process are almost of opposite nature. When you sleep right after you eat your body gets confused. Now the body has to do two different tasks together, digest the food and repair the body. And so body gets overloaded and takes more than necessary time to do both the processes. And that too the body is not able to it properly. This is the reason why many people need more than 8 hour sleep and even after that they do not feel fresh in the morning, because the body was not able to do either of the processes efficiently.
After eating when we give body time to digest the food properly and then after 4 hour we go to bed our body is in the best condition to sleep. Not only the food is digested proper but now body is ready to be repaired.
2) Turn Off Screens Two Hours Before Sleep
Watching television or operating social media or working on laptop on the bed before going to sleep is very common these days. But do you know that the rays coming out of these screens badly impact your melatonin level in the body. What it does is that it disturbs your sleep cycle.
Studies have shown that the blue rays emitting from screens affects the release of melatonin hormone that governs the sleep pattern of our body. This hormone is related to Ajna Chakra as well. So operating screens before bed time affects your circadian rhythm (Natural 24 Hours Cycle).
Not only this but when you are operating social media you are in taking all the stimulating information that releases different stress hormones that are necessary for physical activity. But we don’t do any physical activity rather we go to sleep, completely opposite act. These stress hormones are not used and so are stored within the body generating more stress. Again one of the reason why people need more than 8 hours of sleep.
Turning off all the screens two hours before sleep time regularly not only will resume you natural circadian rhythm but will also prepare your body & mind for a good sleep, necessary for overall wellness. Also your body will not generate unnecessary stress hormones.
3) Read A Book Before Sleep
So the question is that what to do if not to use screens before bed? Best option is to read a book. But not any book, a knowledge giving book. Book can be a self help book, management book, subjective book, etc.
Studies have shown that when brain waves are in a wavelength of alpha waves, the grasping power of mind is much more effective. Alpha waves come into play when a person starts going in deeper in meditation. But our mind comes into this state naturally right before we go into deep sleep.
Reading or learning anything during these waves will marinate deeper in consciousness. And so if you are reading something that is educating, productive & inspiring right before sleep it will come more into practice. Thereby making your life much more productive, make sense?
4) Brush Your Teeth & Take A Bath
This is something that probably most of the parents tell their children. Brushing your teeth and taking a bath before bed is useful in many ways.
- It refreshes your mind
- It removes all the dirt & germs from outside & inside of the body
- It relaxes the body & mind
- It removes all the negative energy built around us during the day
- It removes all the possible harmful viruses & bacteria present on the body
After doing this you’ll notice that your sleep is much more sound and you’ll feel much refreshed after you wake up the next morning.
5) Drink Water
When are in bed it is obvious that you won’t do any other activity. Keeping the body hydrated enough while sleep is a sensible thing to do. During sleep body repairs itself at cellular level. Water is extremely important for repairing process.
Drinking 1-3 glass of warm water or semi cold water depending upon your DOSHA (Kapha, Vatta or Pitta) will augment the sleep process.
6) Maintain Sleep Schedule
Just imagine you get your monthly salary from your employer on different dates every month. Some month you get in first week and in some months in last week. You get your salary for sure but timing is not fixed. How much do you think it will impact your financial planning, shopping plan and over all home economy. It will take a big tall on you won’t it?
Similarly body has its own things to take care of. Food, water & sleep are the primordial necessity of the body to survive properly. It’s like the salary & incentives of the body. If the body doesn’t get it on time, it affects body terribly.
When a person gets salary & incentives on time he or she feel like working better for the employer, whether one actually does it or not is a different matter. Similarly maintaining a sleep schedule will keep the body & mind in tip-top condition. And all your actions in life will be productive & precise.
SO,
- Maintain Four Hours Gap Between Dinner & Sleep
- Turn Off Screens Two Hours Before Sleep
- Read A Book Before Sleep
- Brush Your Teeth & Take A Bath
- Drink Water
- Maintain Sleep Schedule
These are the basic tips to get a sound sleep and keeping your overall wellness in optimum condition. Even if you instil half of the points in your lifestyle you will see notable changes in your overall wellness.
For personal consultation of any type of life or wellness related problems, you may e-mail or text me directly.
