Sleep — a cornerstone of life
Why sleep is more than rest — and what Āyurveda has been saying about it for a few thousand years.
Ah, sleep! It's a basic function that often feels like a luxury when life gets in the way. And while you know it's important, how often do you push aside the zzzzs for just one more episode, just one more video, just one more email?
You may only need a handful of hours to function the next day. But this alone is not a measure of the right amount of sleep for you.
Many biological activities take place while you're in dreamland. And without adequate sleep, your body lacks time to complete them.
The value of sleep is a central tenet of Āyurvedic teachings. Along with food and sensory indulgence, it sustains life. Here is what the ancient (yet timeless) Āyurvedic texts say about sleep.
Āyurveda considers sleep (nidrā) a sustainer of life
According to the Caraka Samhitā (foundational text), nidrā is the result of an exhausted mind. As your mind disassociates or disconnects itself, so do your sensory and motor organs. The resulting inactivity is sleep.
Nidrā is nourishing because adequate amounts of it:
- promote physical and mental health,
- enhance your ojas (the vitality or energy that is responsible for your immunity, mental clarity, physical strength and wellness),
- optimise agni (digestive fire),
- enable the evacuation of malas (excrement) to take place properly.
To further highlight its importance, the Caraka Samhitā also lists the following as being dependent on sleep:
- happiness and sorrow,
- nourishment and emaciation (malnourishment),
- strength and weakness,
- sexual prowess and dysfunction,
- knowledge and ignorance,
- life and death.
It may sound exaggerated, but the power of sleep makes sense. Like your car, computer or any well-functioning machine, your body and mind need servicing and upgrades to ensure optimal performance.
Sleep is the reset button that repairs and rebuilds you, clearing away the debris of the day and getting you ready to tackle the next.
While many physiological activities power down when you sleep (like kidney function and urine production), others continue their steady operation and may even increase. For example, the release of growth hormone, cell repair and digestion ramp up. This suggests that sleep is essential to the recuperation and development of your body.
According to Āyurveda, between 10pm and 2am is the best time to get the most beneficial sleep (as it is when Pitta governs your body's restorative processes). In that light, inadequate sleep can:
- severely impact carbohydrate metabolism and endocrine function,
- reduce metabolic activity in the brain,
- deteriorate cognitive function, mood and emotions (including increases in fear, depression and rage),
- increase the severity of age-related chronic disease,
- lead to long-term health consequences such as obesity, low immunity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease,
- shorten life expectancy.
The small thing that changes a lot
Most of what the body needs to heal, it already knows how to do. It just needs time, and the right conditions.
Sleep is one of the few things you can give it freely. It costs nothing, takes no effort, and quietly reorganises almost everything else.
If only one thing changes this month, let it be this.