Daily Times

Sleep is considered as a crucial element of healthy living. Modern science asserts that good sleep plays a significant role in brain development as it enables the brain to perform better. Further, medical statistics assert that humans need sleep to maintain cognitive skills such as speech, memory, innovative and flexible thinking. Without enough sleep, a person’s ability to perform such tasks diminishes considerably. Persistent sleep deprivation, known as insomnia, causes mood swings, erratic behaviour and low immunity.

In our stress-filled and caffeine-driven lifestyles, sleep disorders are endemic. This has been a subject for scores of scientific research. Most common remedies are sleep inducing medicines and supplements. The bad news is that most of them are addictive.

Many are resorting to wisdom of yoga as a potent tool in combating chronic sleeping problems, especially for those who struggle with insomnia. Unlike modern science, science of yoga promotes rest for the body and doesn’t believe in calculated sleep hours. Yoga focuses on the individual and his unique being. Sleep for each person is different, depending on your lifestyle. The folk wisdom supports that if you live well you will sleep well. Yoga means “union” of all elements mental, emotional, physical and social and sleep is truly a symphony of this union.

An over active mind makes the soul restless. Allowing the mind to settle oneself in the present, and as per eastern psychology, stress is caused by the past and future. The fear of future for more comfort, or better job or better house, is an endless pursuit and makes the mind anxious.

Yoga practice aids balancing emotions, cultivating simple and pure thoughts, respecting natural body clock and our connection with the sunlight

Yoga’s soporific force has a triple action, which don’t aim towards fixing a problem but balancing the energy. First, physical practice gives the muscles a thorough workout and aiding the release of toxins that can get stored in tissues and organs. Certain postures in yoga increase blood flow to the brain’s central sleep center, and simulate glands that are responsible for releasing the hormones essential to inducing sleep.

Second, mindful breathing, a significant part of yoga, can help cure sleep disorders. Feelings of stress or sadness create shortness of breath. Keeping one’s awareness focussed on the sensations of the breath in your belly, allows for maximum calming effect. Yogic breathing techniques promote deep relaxation, and calm the nervous system.

Third, yoga is about ease for the body. Ease reduces the body’s natural stress responses, lowering heart rate, blood pressure and respiration which are essential for rest. Ease is created by promoting natural body clock. Late nights and waking up with jolting alarms in the morning agitate the body clock. According to Ayurveda, every organ has a definite time of maximum functioning. Interestingly it is backed up by concepts in traditional Chinese medicine as “body clock”. The night time is most crucial for vital organs repairing, renewing tissue and nerve cells. For instance, 11am to 1am is when the gallbladder is at its most active, 1am to 3am is the time of the liver and 5am to 7am is the time for lungs. Sleeping soundly at this time is a sign of good health. Chinese have a famous saying, “one hour’s sleep before midnight is worth two after”.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School investigated the effect of daily yoga practice on people with insomnia. The patients were given a basic yoga training including breathing and meditation, which they were then asked to practice every day for eight weeks. The researchers found broad improvements in the measurements of sleep quality and quantity. There was an improvement across several aspects, including the amount of time it took for them to doze off; a reduction in the amount of times they woke up in the night; the duration of time between waking; and the total amount of time they slept each night.

Food quality is of vital importance and determines sleep quality. A meal high in carbs such as daal chawal will treat the body well during the night and not disturb the sleep. Avoid meats and heavy halwas which keep the digestive system too active during the night. Raiding the fridge at night is also not recommended. However, a warm glass of milk aids good rest.

Despite much research, sleep is poorly understood. Yoga practice aids balancing emotions, cultivating simple and pure thoughts, respecting natural body clock and our connection with the sunlight. Yoga is seen as a powerful tool against sleep disorders, as it addresses both the physical and psychological aspects, and aims to cure them entirely.

The writer is a wellness & yoga expert