Insomnia

 Ayurveda for Insomnia- Reset Your Sleep Clock

Are you staying asleep the whole night? Or, you get up at midnight or very early in the morning? Or, you feel tired when you wake up?

If your answer is ‘YES’ for all the above questions, it means you are suffering from insomnia. 

Insomnia is a common sleeping disorder that does not let you sleep properly. It makes you feel tired. It also affects your work performance. This disorder mostly occurs in adults.

What Doesn’t Let You Sleep?

Stress, changing of sleeping schedule on a regular basis, physical illness, neurological problems, or mental health disorders(like depression and anxiety) are some major causes of insomnia.

Stress: Researchers found that sleeping quality can be harmed by having stress in our life. Most people experience sleeplessness when they are facing some kind of difficulty in their life. Because these kinds of situations make it hard to sleep.

Changing Sleeping Schedule: Sleeping schedule varies from person to person because of many reasons, for example, traveling, changing the shift of work, etc.

It makes a person get off his sleeping track and he/she may feel insomnia. 

Physical Illness: Physical illness is also one of the main causes of insomnia. Physical illness such as fever, headache, pain in the body, fractured body part, etc. don’t let the individual sleep properly.

Neurological Problems: People suffering from diseases of the Central Nervous System(CNS) experience insomnia. Due to the damaged part of the brain, sleep disorder occurs.

Mental Health Disorder: Sleep problems or sleep disturbances can also be seen in bad mental conditions including anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.

Risks of Insomnia

• Negativity in emotions.

• Increasing the risk of accidents.

• Increasing the feeling of depression.

• Aging the skin.

• Increasing the weight. 

• Increasing mental health problems.

Types of Insomnia

Different people suffer from different types of insomnia. Mainly, there are two types of insomnia.

Short-term Insomnia: Usually the short term insomnia occurs due to a lot of traveling or stress. Once you will stop traveling and get out of your stress, the new schedule will be started and the short-term insomnia will be removed from life.

Chronic Insomnia: The complex condition of sleeping occurs in chronic insomnia. It not only disturbs the patient but also his/her family members, friends, and colleagues. If an individual has sleep disorder from the last three months, it means he/she is suffering from Chronic Insomnia.

Ayurveda- For Getting Rid of Insomnia

According to Ayurveda, Vata, Pitta and Kapha dosha are the main three types of sleep disorders.

Vata dosha: occurs when learning, retention, and recalling abilities become weak.

Pitta dosha: occurs when you will wake up very early in the morning and cannot fall asleep again. People having emotional trauma experience this dosha.

Kapha dosha: occurs when people sleep properly but after waking up they still feel fatigued, tired, and sleepy.

With the help of Ayurveda, insomnia can be treated in the following ways:

Purification of the body by Panchakarma or Sodhana procedures: To detox the whole body system, purification is the best way. The purification of the body is done by Snehana. It is a purification procedure that uses medicated ghee or oil.

Virechana (medicated purgation), Vamana (medicated vomiting), Vasthi (medicated enema), and Nasya (medicated nasal administration of medicine) are the different purification methods.

Sirodhara is done after doing all the above purification methods. It is done by pouring some medicated oils or buttermilk over the scalp. These procedures regulate sleep rhythm by regulating brain metabolism.

Taking Healthy Food: If we don't eat digestive food, it becomes toxins in our body. Therefore, we should always eat digestive food. Digestive food helps to maintain the metabolism of the body. One should reduce the salty and spicy food.

Yoga and Meditation: Yoga is beneficial for the treatment of any kind of disorder in the body system. Regular yoga practices help to reduce stress and increase sleeping efficiency.

Meditation is also very important to get rid of insomnia.

• Meditation helps in the following ways:

• Reduces the stress hormones from the body.

• Stops overtime and overthinking of the brain.

• Provides natural relaxation.

Prevention from Insomnia

We all are well known by the phrase “prevention is better than cure”. It suited well also for the case of insomnia.

Having good sleep habits or sleep hygiene helps to keep us away from insomnia. Here are some tips:

• Try to sleep at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Avoid taking naps during the day, because they may make it hard to sleep at night.

• Avoid using phones or e-books before going to bed. The light rays affect the eyes and also make it harder to fall asleep.

• Don't consume caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol late in the day. Infact, we should never consume all these.

• Do exercise regularly but not at bedtime. According to experts, we should do exercise  at least 3 to 4 hours before bed.

• Take a light snack before bedtime. It may help fall asleep.

• A bedroom should be comfortable: dark, quiet, and not too warm or too cold. 

• Don't overthink anything. Make yourself comfortable and happy.