Sleep — a full circle!
Are you one of those who are struggling to fall asleep? Look no further, and read this article to see how my sleep made the full circle!
Did I get your attention with the phrase — FULL CIRCLE! Well yeah, I wish we could be a newborn baby or a cat for that matter, whose sole purpose of survival depends on the amount of rest they get. Unfortunately for us humans those have become distant realities owing to a lot of factors. However, what I meant by a full circle is actually represented in the following image. I use a sleep tracker to track my sleep patterns, and I have been using this app for almost 2 years now. And never have I ever seen so many fuller circles than in the early months of 2021.
In March, as part of my Yoga Teacher Training, I was introduced to a concept called Dinacharya under Ayurveda — Science of Life. What Dinacharya really encompasses is a daily regime that one must follow for a healthy life. Talk about discipline in doing the things you do every day at the same time! I am not going to dwell on all the concepts. However I am an avid believer in adapting one concept from any new learnings — and that in this context is SLEEP TIME.
Ayurveda classifies time in the entire day into Doshas, and each Dosha represents a characteristic behaviour that one should exhibit during this time. Do note, this is in alignment with what happens generally in nature. The Doshas are as below;
PITTA is the fire element, responsible for chemical transformation of food to energy, regulating body temperature [Energy of Transformation].
VATA is the air element, responsible for flow of breath/energy, expression of speech, circulation of blood and elimination [Energy of Movement].
KAPHA is the earth element, responsible for maintaining balance, creation [Energy of Maintenance].
While you can refer to the above gif for times during the day, each Dosha/characteristic is prevalent. What I want you to pay attention to is — PITTA Dosha from 10 PM to 6 AM! Wondering what activity happens at this time?
It’s all bodily functions working hard to detoxify, regenerate, nourish and balance. This is exactly why once you have crossed the 10 PM mark, it’s a herculean task to go back to sleep, as the FIRE element is active and keeps you up and active too!
Now that you know why is it important to hit the bed at 10 PM, here are some tips that could help you get into bed at ease:
1. No brainer — Dim those lights in your devices and your room.
Ah, the perils of light that simply destroys the harmonious and quintessential sleep! Laptops do now have a Dark Mode that you can use or simply enable Night Shift options. Mobile phones do have Vision Comfort, or you can install apps like Twilight to curb the blue light with warm light! Leverage any wi-fi enabled light to set the mood to lull you to sleep, without brightness screaming at your face and your eyes!
2. Night Ritual - Cleanse, Read, Music, etc.
Do something that you ought to do daily before sleeping. Like my sister always brushes her teeth, braids her hair, listens to music and then heads to sleep. And me, I cleanse my face and apply any night cream as a massage to soothe; read a novel - something that makes you feel good and doesn’t make you wanna do action plans before you sleep. Try what works best for you & adhere to it daily!
3. Clock Work - Same time, every day, almost!
Your body adapts to anything, so then why not let it adapt to do the good things. Find what is the time that you would be able to sleep before 10 PM, and stick to that time daily. And wake up at the same time in the AM. This becomes such a rhythm even after few days, if you miss keeping an alarm, your body will jolt you up for sure! And it’s completely okay if there are those off days where you had a meeting or ended up binge-watching a series, but for the rest of the days stick to the rhythm!
And if you are wondering — oh this is so difficult to achieve. Trust me this is the best gift you can give to yourself.
If I can stay up till 12 AM for work, and still get up sharp at 6 AM feeling fresh and charged as a result of doing these rituals regularly. What’s stopping you eh?
Sleep Cycle: Sleep analysis and smart clock app that I use:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.northcube.sleepcycle
GIF - Slides template - Catalina, Jimena. (2021). Dauphin Powerpoint template. https://www.slidescarnival.com/dauphin-free-presentation-template/18044
