The healing power of sleep

We spend close to a third of our lives asleep, and treat almost none of it as time well spent. It’s a fact that sleep is the best form of relaxation, close to meditation; that’s why those who sleep well always stay well and feel well. It’s a fact that if we get sound sleep during the night, we wake up refreshed, more active, and feeling more energetic. However, in today’s world, getting sound sleep has become a rare occasion because millions of people suffer from sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia, restless leg syndrome, and narcolepsy. In addition, the number of those who get a very broken, fitful sleep is many times higher. Sadly, many of these individuals resort to sleeping pills and drugs, which ultimately make the problem worse. This is because we do not consider these as serious issues and avoid the fact that these sleep disorders interfere with our body’s ability to recuperate the energy needed for the next day. We usually make a huge mistake by viewing sleep merely as a time of inactivity for the body. Whereas, in reality, during the hours of sleep, when we appear to be most passive, something within us is intensely active, recharging the body cells for the next day.

Sleep is considered to be the greatest remedy to overcome tiredness. It is so critical that it simply overtakes one when it’s needed by the body; hence, it can be put off for some time but cannot be shunned. Healthful, soothing slumber that reactivates the muscles, nerves, and brain cells is one of nature’s greatest rejuvenators. Therefore, it is absolutely essential to life, just like air, water, and food. During sleep, the body is busy in activities like tissue repair, healing, restocking of organs and cells with fuel, and replacing old cells with new ones. These processes occur at a much higher rate while we are asleep compared to when we are awake. The biggest hindrance contributing to sleeplessness is poor mental health. Our habits of negative thinking and unrighteous actions during the day cause sleep disturbances during the night. Repeated suppression of the voice of one’s conscience impairs mental health, which results in negative personality traits and insomnia. Another important factor that affects our sleep is the food we eat. It’s a medically proven fact that poor mental health adversely affects one’s eating habits, which, in turn, drastically influences our sleep and health. For instance, those who have several cups of tea, coffee, and colas intake lots of caffeine, which contributes to their inability to sleep. Under such a medical condition, proper meditation techniques can be of great help if practiced regularly.

There have been a lot of deliberations and debates over the hours of sleep one should have. After all, how much sleep does one need? Well! Doctors say that different conditions require different lengths of sleep. Under the best of conditions in terms of sleep, fresh air, water, food, physical work or exercise, and positive influences, one would stay asleep as long as one’s system needs.

Some people, like the yogis, who are always in a state of meditation, feel fine with even four to five hours or less, whereas others might need more. Also, our age, general physical health, work routine, environment, and habitat play key roles in determining the hours of sleep we need. Remember!! Our consciousness will automatically return when the purpose of sleep is fulfilled. Hence, there is really no such thing as oversleeping. However, there is certainly such a phenomenon as undersleeping, because, for some reason or another, our sleep gets sacrificed in pursuing other pleasures of life. The old adage, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” seems to fall on deaf ears in our times. Hence, if we jeopardise our sleep for silly reasons, we are knowingly undermining our health. So, it’s better to be wise for our own health benefit and make it a habit to disengage the mind from thoughts daily before going to bed to give it sleep-inducing relaxation.

The writer is a spiritual teacher and a columnist; Views presented are personal.