The topic of sleep has certainly been on the rise in recent years, and for good reason - the average person spends a total of 25 years of their life sleeping. And yet many of us tend to take sleep for granted - usually until we can't get enough of it anymore.

We decided to write this blog post about sleep in general and combine it with Ayurvedic wisdom. After all, the 3000-year-old healing art should have something to tell us about such a basic human need!


Myths & Truths about Sleep

Sleep has the fundamental function of rest and relaxation, but unfortunately in many industrialized cultures too much of it is associated with laziness and low productivity. Working late into the night and waking up early is seen as a sign of hard work and dedication. Many of us unconsciously share these values.

However, studies have shown that sleep has many more functions than just relaxing the body and mind. While we sleep peacefully in our beds, a lot is happening in the background. Millions of connections are being formed between the neurons in our brain, a process that performs some important tasks. Not only does it promote our cognitive development, but it also helps us process the events of the day on an emotional level while strengthening our immune system. This is not only fascinating, but also pretty important, don't you think?


The consequences of poor sleep

What happens when we neglect our sleep? We've all heard of sleep-deprived parents and their daily struggles, but it's also common among the rest of us. In fact, 7 of the 15 leading causes of death in the United States are linked to reduced sleep duration. The reason for this is that a sleep-deprived person cannot function well cognitively and emotionally. This can cause major problems both immediately and in the long term. Prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.


What is the Ayurvedic view of sleep?

According to Ayurveda, the three pillars - components of Tri-Upastambha - of a healthy life are:

Aaahara - Nutrition

Nidra - sleep

Brahmacharya - a balanced control of the senses

This means that to stay balanced, stay healthy and live long, we all need a balanced diet, adequate and deep sleep, and balanced sensory inputs such as taste, touch, smell, sound and sight. These pillars not only keep our bodies and minds alert, but they also interact and influence each other. This means that if one pillar is out of balance, it affects the others. You may have noticed: when you're stressed, diet immediately takes its toll, then you don't get enough sleep and the next day you resort to "comfort eating" (it's definitely happened to us!).

How our habits affect us

Overindulging in fatty and sugary foods can quickly throw our diet out of balance, which in turn affects our sleep, and less sleep can lead to an unbalanced diet - a vicious cycle.

But let's get to the solutions! When we start developing good eating habits, a diet that doesn't cause inflammation, that doesn't raise our sugar levels and that isn't too heavy, our sleep improves. Not only do we fall asleep faster, but we also sleep more deeply. Of course, when you have slept well, you don't seek out comfort food or excessive digital media consumption, which can also affect your sleep.

As you can see, the three elements and pillars can reinforce each other both positively and negatively.

Doshas & Sleep

What we have learned so far is that our habits and our health, including sleep, are connected. Ayurveda is all about balance, and when we begin to understand that what we do, eat, think, talk and sleep affects us, our lives and our planet, we can choose to work with that perspective and improve our health and our relationships with ourselves and the world at large.

Indeed, when we experience deep and sufficient sleep, we receive wonderful gifts like Sukha (pleasure), Pushti (food), Bala (strength and immunity), Vrishataa (potency), Gnaanam (knowledge) and Jeevitam (longevity of life).


How dosha dominance affects our sleep

If you are not yet familiar with the concept of doshas, ​​you can learn more about the individual doshas in our blog post .

When we stay awake at night or sleep poorly, we produce dryness in our body. It also strengthens the Vata and Pitta doshas and reduces the Kapha dosha. A disturbed Vata dosha can cause dizziness, stiffness throughout the body, restlessness, lack of concentration, headaches and more. A disturbed Pitta dosha mainly causes problems with digestion. This means that it is very important, especially for people with Vata and Kapha doshas, ​​to stick to their sleep routine and get enough sleep.

According to Ayurveda, to get a good night’s sleep, we need to consider the following two interdependent factors:

the timing - when you go to bed and

the Prélude - how you spend the last hours before falling asleep.


Let's look at the timing first.

Did you know that the doshas also apply to a certain time of day? That's right! Each four-hour period of the 24 hours is dominated by a dosha and thus influenced by the characteristics of that dosha. In other words: there is a Vata, Pitta and Kapha time of the day and a Vata, Pitta and Kapha time of the night. In each of these periods, the respective dosha is dominant and determines the type of our energy level.

You can think of it like the tides in the natural world, including in your own body and mind.

Look at the times of day when each dosha dominates:

Now that we are focusing on sleep, let's look at the Vata, Pita and Kapha times at night.

Kapha dominates between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. The Kapha dosha consists of earth and water and creates a natural heaviness. If you go to bed during this phase, you can find natural sleep better and faster.

Now let’s look at what happens after 10pm when Pitta time begins.

Pitta, the element of fire, comes in the form of digestive activities. This means that when you are still awake, you feel the urge to eat a snack or engage in a mentally stimulating activity like social media or streaming. This disrupts the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, which can affect the quality of your sleep as you miss out on the important deep sleep that occurs at the beginning of our sleep cycle.

What can you do to avoid falling into the traps?

To ensure a natural and easy fall asleep, it is very important to pay attention to the last 90 minutes (8:30 p.m. - 10:00 a.m.) of the Kapha phase, which greatly influences your sleep quality.

A quick and easy tip to help you get into the right state for sleep is to not aggravate Kapha with heavy and fatty foods. Keep it balanced with a light and early dinner and let your Kapha dosha guide you to a natural and deep sleep.


Vata & Pitta - special recommendations

If you know that your predominant dosha is Vata or Pitta, it will naturally be more difficult for you to fall asleep than people with Kapha as their predominant dosha.

Why is that?

Vata dosha leads to nonstop thinking and a constant flow of thoughts about possible future scenarios, making it difficult for a Vata type to fall asleep.

People with Pitta dosha also have an active mind that is constantly trying to solve problems and have difficulty falling asleep, although to a lesser extent.

Calming these two doshas can help you sleep better.

How to calm your Vata and Pitta doshas:

✧ Drink a light herbal tea at least 90 minutes before bedtime and avoid fluid intake afterwards. Our RELAX is a suitable choice.

✧ Take a warm bath, but avoid getting your hair wet.

✧Listen to relaxing music that can calm your Vata or Pitta dosha.

✧ Avoid watching TV, working on your laptop or using your smartphone after 8:30 pm as they aggravate both Vata and Pitta doshas by giving the mind more digestive impulses.

✧ Avoid intense conversations with friends, family or colleagues that can trigger a chain of thoughts.

Connect your mind with your body

Remember the 3 pillars of health we mentioned earlier? It is equally important to connect your body with your mind and help it to calm down.

We recommend that you practice these 5 steps for your mind that can help you close out the day.

First, lie down in a comfortable position and make sure that your back and neck are not tense in any way. Close your eyes and breathe in deeply 3 times.

✧ Thank the universe for the day that was given to you, with all the good moments that you enjoyed and the not so good ones that you learned from.
✧ Accept the fact that the day is over and now it is time to prepare for a good rest.
✧ Anything on your to-do list that you haven't completed is best done after a good night's sleep rather than worrying about it late into the night.
✧ Forgive everyone who knowingly or unknowingly hurt you on this day.
✧ Forgive yourself for knowingly or unknowingly hurting someone that day.

Now leave everything behind and let your body perform this incredibly healing ritual. ✧

references

Mathew Walker. Why we sleep.

Telles, Shirley, et al. "Ayurvedic doshas as predictors of sleep quality." Medical science monitor: international medical journal of experimental and clinical research 21 (2015): 1421.

Agnivesha, Charak Samhita, with Charak Chandrika Hindi commentary, by Dr Tripathi Brahmanand and Dr Pandey Ganga Sahay, Sutra Sthana Chapter 21, Verse No. 36, Chaukhamba Surbharti Prakashan; 2007. p. 406