Do you find yourself awake long after your family goes to bed? If insomnia bedevils your nights, you could find solace in the fact that you are not alone. It is estimated that one among four persons, especially those who have a hectic day schedule suffer from insomnia. Sufferers may have trouble falling asleep at night, wake up in the middle of the night or too early and can’t go to sleep again.
Look at your child. Few minutes back, he was turning and tossing on the bed. Now, he is fast asleep, reflecting perfect tranquility on his innocent face. Why have we forgotten to sleep like a child? Because we have learned to worry. We prefer to be more concerned.
On a typical day in our country, most people wake up feeling exhausted. They reach to shut off the alarm clock or window doors with sleepy eyes, to get more sleep.
Researchers have identified insomnia (lack of sleep) as a cause of serious disorders ranging from diabetes to high stress levels. The results show that it is taking a huge toll on the quality of life and the health of sufferers.
One of the reasons that insomnia is on the rise is the high stress levels and time pressures associated with modern living. The people would gladly get more sleep if they could, but the information age, which was supposed to make everything more efficient, has just made everything busier. Many people complain of insomnia, with stress during the day making them too tense or worried to be able to fall asleep at night. Lack of sleep, in turn, creates more stress on the job and at home. However, it is important to know at the outset that not all people require the same amount of sleep. Sleeping cycles vary among people and throughout a person’s life. Moreover, while one person may only require four hours of sleep, others may need ten hours.
Ayurveda is against the idea of sleeping during the day, especially during winters. In summer, however, a short nap during the day is okay. People suffering from Sprue syndrome should sleep after intake of food. Patients suffering from chronic diseases and those having fever, require more sleep. Children require more sleep than elders. On the other hand, those who put in hard physical labor, require more sleep.
All factors, that are responsible for aggravation of vaata and pitta in the human body, result from sleeplessness. Environmental and dietary factors also play a prominent role, and studies show that for unknown reasons, insomnia is more common in females than males.
Sleep disturbances may have underlying physiological causes. Hence, treating the cause can solve the problem itself.
Some Research Facts
• In USA alone, sleep deprivation is the reason for 60 per cent of road accidents—and drivers who stayed awake over hours, suffered impaired coordination, reaction time, and judgment worse than drivers who were legally drunk.
• As far as health is concerned, those who sleep less than six hours a night don’t live as long as those who sleep seven hours or more. Sleeping only four hours a night can cause weight gain, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
• During sleep, the levels of several immune system helpers increase in your blood. Among these are helpers that protect the body from cancerous tumors. For instance, the level of TNF or tumor necrosis factor, which is one of the body’s most powerful cancer fighters, increases tenfold during sleep. On the other hand, lack of sleep reduces the level of natural killer cells, further compromising the immune system.
• If you stay up late, your exposure to electric light interferes with certain hormone cycles, especially the secretion of melatonin. When melatonin levels fall, estrogen levels rise. Too much estrogen has, in turn, been shown to promote the growth of breast cancer. Another indicator of this link is that blind women get breast cancer half as often as sighted women. Some studies indicate that other types of cancer are also less common among blind people.
Self-Help Guidelines
Fortunately, lifestyle changes and herbal medicines can help treat the problem. You can try these time-tested remedies:
• Do some exercise everyday—but never late in the evening.
• Avoid caffeine in all forms, especially after lunch.
• Avoid long naps during the day.
• Don’t choose alcohol as a remedy for sleeplessness. Even though alcohol is a sedative, it can disturb the sleep. Remember that sleep is different from sedation.
• Drink buffalo milk. It contains rich amounts of an amino acid, L-tryptophan, which induces sleep.
• Eat sweets before going to bed. Sweets contain high amount of carbohydrates, which help in inducing sleep.
• Take a nice, long, warm bath before bed-time. Charaka Samhita says that bath is the best remedial measure to counteract exertion.
• Read a book or do some repetitive, calm activity such as chanting a mantra.
• Avoid distractions that may hold your attention and keep you awake, such as watching a suspense movie or a thrilling game.
• Make your bedroom as comfortable as possible. Create a quiet, dark atmosphere. Use clean, fresh sheets and pillow and keep the room temperature comfortable, neither too warm nor too cold.
• Half a tablespoonful of fried cumin seed powder (safed-jeera) stuffed in banana cut length-wise is to be taken in the evenings. Alternately, inhalation of poppy seeds (gasagasaalu/afim) heated and wrapped in a cloth bag works excellently. You can even take glassful of milk with a pinch of nutmeg powder at bedtime.
Ayurvedic Remedies
Most people, unfortunately, are treating insomnia either by going to the medical shop and buying over-the-counter drugs, or by consulting their conventional doctor. Neither solution is working—over-the-counter drugs like Avil contain anti-histamines, which knock you out, but do not induce good sleep or solve the underlying problem. Moreover, they weaken the immune system. Doctors tend to prescribe Calmpose-like drugs that are addictive within even a week of use. Moreover, it is not possible to induce a “natural” state of sleep with unnatural, synthetic, and in many cases, highly addictive drugs.
Ayurveda believes that the body has a deep, underlying integrity that renews, refills, and take care of the entire human system. The disease takes its root when something interferes with this integrity. Therefore, ayurvedic remedies with plants and herbs are focused on regulating this integrity. These plants and herbs are again blended with their own natural integrity. The healing nutrients in these herbs unblock the shrotas or micro-circulatory channels through which our body moves nutrients, hormones, immune cells, and so on. Once the shrotas are clear, you are satiated with ojas or essential energy that governs and connects the body, mind and spirit. The result is a restful sleep. Sleep is one of the three pillars of ayurvedic healing, the other two being diet and lifestyle.