Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for our overall well-being, yet it is challenging for many of us. Here are Ayurveda’s top 4 tips for better sleep.
According to an article published by The Recovery Village, about 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder.
Ayurveda’s Wisdom on Better Sleep
We humans need sleep as much as any other living creature on our planet.
According to the Charaka Samhita, a Sanskrit text from ancient India on Ayurveda, states that “Our happiness and unhappiness, nourishment and malnutrition, strength and weakness, sexual power and impotence, knowledge and ignorance, and, life and death, are all dependent on sleep itself.” This is how important Ayurveda regards sleep.
Ayurveda is, in my opinion, a way of living, and living an Ayurvedic Lifestyle can help you toward a more simplified and balanced life, improving the quality of your sleep.
Understand the Three Gunas, Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva for Better Sleep
The three qualities of consciousness (the three Gunas, Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva) inherent in all material objects impact our sleep.
TAMAS
Tamas is the quality of dullness and inertia, which is essential in falling asleep. When tamas increases in consciousness, you fall asleep automatically. While the right amount of tamas creates sleep, too much tamas creates mega out-of-control sleepiness.
When tamas is the dominant quality of consciousness for some time, it leads to laziness, lethargy, and even depression. The following are some of the characteristics of mayor tamas in the system:
- Daydreaming
- Out of the blue falling asleep
- Snoozing the alarm clock even though you have a gazillion things to do
RAJAS
Rajas is the quality of activity, taking action, moving, and speed. When rajas increase, it disturbs and hinders sleep. A bit too much rajas creates restlessness, tossing and turning, inability to fall asleep or stay asleep.
The following are some of the characteristics of mayor rajas in the system:
- Anxiety
- Never-ending ongoing thinking
- Pursuing goals at the cost of your health and well-being
SATTVA
Sattva is the quality of purity and balance; it is the perfect balance of rajas and tamas. Sattva is the perfect balance between activity and inactivity.
Sattva leads to quality sleep, the right amount of sleep, and waking up naturally and happy without an alarm clock. And when Sattva rises, our mind becomes pure, we see with much more clarity, and we become an agent of healing and knowledge.
When Sattva is dominant, we rise above all the challenges in life with faith and confidence. When Sattva is predominant, it means you have the right amount of tamas at nighttime and the right amount of rajas during waking hours. Read further for Ayurveda’s top 4 tips for better sleep.
Ayurveda’s #1 Tip for better sleep: Sleep-Friendly Bed and Wake-up Time
According to Ayurveda, the best time to go to bed is before 10:00 p.m. Likewise, the best time to wake up is before 6:00 a.m. But most importantly, Ayurveda suggests going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
In the beginning, you will have to adapt to it, but with time and consistency, you will regulate your sleep pattern and thank me for it. Of course, there will be exceptions, but don’t let those late nights and alarm snoozing be the gold standard.
For better sleep, Ayurveda highly recommends massaging the soles of your feet, ear lobes, and crown of your head with warm oil before going to bed. For step-by-step instructions and benefits of self-massage (Abhyanga) click here.
Ayurveda’s #2 Tip for better sleep: Sleep-Friendly Diet
If you are having problems getting a good night’s sleep, Ayurveda recommends paying attention to your food choices throughout the day for a few days, weeks, or even months if necessary. Then, notice if there are any habits that you can change.
Ayurveda Suggestions:
- Going to bed at least three hours after dinner.
- Having moist and natural fatty foods like warm milk, preferably cow’s milk, before bed and less hot and spicy food before sleep. For a better understanding of the six tastes of Ayurveda click here.
- Eat less pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes, a tiny bit of sour and salt, and sweet. According to Ayurveda, sweet is very good for a good night’s sleep.
Foods to quit for better sleep:
- Dry foods like chips, crackers, and cereals
- Hot and spicy foods
- Pungent foods
Foods that are good for better sleep:
- Natural oily foods such as avocado, banana, cane sugar, sweet fruits, squashes, and nuts
- Dairy – Fresh boiled and sweetened cow’s milk and its products – sweet cream, fresh butter, and yogurt sweetened with jaggery or cane sugar – are preferred over cheese and buttermilk.
- Warm, spiced milk, however, milk is best drunk when it is still warm, and best to have it alone. Buffalo milk is known to be especially effective for sleep. Next, Goat milk. In Ayurveda, only the liquid from mammary glands is considered milk. Thus almond, soy, and rice milk are not considered milk according to Ayurveda.
- The best spices to add for better sleep are turmeric, cardamom, and nutmeg.
- Ayurveda highly recommends sugarcane products for better sleep. It is best to replace highly processed white sugar, aspartame, saccharine, and other artificial sweeteners with organic cane sugar.
- Super good for sleep is jaggery, an unrefined sugar obtained from evaporating cane juice. You can find jaggery online or in health food stores. It is similar to any sweetener, and you can use it in tea and milk.
- For better sleep, it is better to drink wine over hard liqueur. Ayurveda prefers rice wine made from fermented rice starch, and the older the wine, the better the sleep.
Ayurveda’s #3 Tip for better sleep: Sleep-Friendly Bedroom
How you arrange the place where you sleep matters a lot; it impacts your Gunas. Your bedroom can be thought-provoking (rajasic), depressing (tamasic), or uplifting (sattvic).
Your bedroom is not the place for clutter and gumbo. On the contrary, your bedroom should be cozy, peaceful, and perfectly fitted to your taste. Make it a quiet room that invites sleep and rest, waking you up with vitality in the morning. Always keep it clean and tidy.
Ayurveda Suggestions:
- You may have beautiful artwork and naturally scented candles or flowers. And a sexy well-draped comfortable bed with lots of cushions is the icing on the cake for a good night’s sleep.
- The temperature should be comfortable; never too hot nor too cold.
- Before lights out, always set the stage for sleep. For example, you can dim the lights or light some candles as you prepare for some Zs.
- If you have a desk in your bedroom, quiet this activity area by closing the laptop or any gadgets before you hit the sack.
- Some soothing sounds, such as soft music or wind chimes in the background, is never a bad idea for a good night’s sleep.
Ayurveda’s #4 Tip for better sleep: Sleep-Friendly Mindset
First of all, it very important to realize the benefits of sleep. To me, sleep is my best friend. When I have a good night’s sleep, I feel more vibrant and alive the next day, there is so much more flow, and everything seems to work for me and fall into place.
Sleep is not just a mere break from your everyday life. It is so much more than that. It is a time for you to withdraw and let go of the world, the senses—a time for your body, mind, and consciousness to rest deeply.
When you know the importance of sleep for your overall well-being, you will, without a shadow of a doubt, begin to honor this siesta time every night.
Ayurveda Suggestions:
Watching TV, horror films, listening to aggressive music, or exercising (including yoga) before beauty sleep activates rajas, so is a no-no according to Ayurveda.
Yoga is an excellent exercise for calming rajas but not when it is done right before sleep. Yoga poses increase healthy Rajas and Sattva but what we need before going to bed is more Tamas.
For this reason, Ayurveda recommends only savasana or the corpse pose, which is more relaxing before dozing off to sleep. Lying in corpse pose, listening to a short guided meditation right before bedtime is a sure way to calm down rajas and take you to seventh heaven.
If you are ready for a good night’s sleep, try my favorite Guided Meditation for better sleep.
Summary
To recap, Ayurveda’s top 4 tips for better sleep are:
- Sleep-friendly bed and wake-up time
- Sleep-friendly diet
- Sleep-friendly bedroom
- Sleep-friendly mindset
Having a good night’s sleep is often overlooked but an essential source of energy. When we have a good night’s sleep, we feel better, and when we feel better, we have more energy, and we rise above all the ups and downs in life with faith and confidence.
If you enjoyed this article, you’d love to read how to create an evening routine that works for you.
So, which one is your favorite of Ayurveda’s top 4 tips for better sleep? Make sure to leave us a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.