Sleep or nidra is one of the biggest healers of animal life across the universe. Sleep deprived person has a shorter life than a starved person. One can live longer without food than without sleep. Sleep heals and repairs the body, the indriyas or the sense organs, the man or the mind, the buddhi or the intellect, and the jiva or the soul that resides in each body.
As infants, the babies tend to sleep over 20 hours a day in its initial months of life. This is required for the body to grow without wasting its energy on any activities. Therefore in a matter of months the child grows 2 to 3 times in weight and dimensions. The primary factor is the sleep that allows thebody to grow.
As the child grows, the sleep requirements reduce, their sleep patterns change and their activities tend to start expanding. Grownups and adults sleep long hours if they have had a grueling day or if they have had any sickness. They sleep long in order to overcome the exhaustion and the body needs that amount of rest to recover well. It also helps in recuperating patients where it gives time and energy to heal itself, conserving energy from other activities also detaches the mind from the sickness.
Sleep durations vary from person to person; however, there are certain variables which need to be factored;
i. Sleep patterns alter with change of seasons
ii. Long winters, delayed sunrise cause people to sleep longer
iii. Early sunrise, the summers, help finish the sleep earlier in the mornings
iv. Very hot summer afternoons require sleep to cool off heat
v. Infants, pitta constitution persons, emotional persons , aged folks tend to sleep more
vi. Vata constitution persons, erratic behavioral persons tend to sleep less
vii. Pre menstrual days, pregnant women, post delivery mothers tend to sleep more
viii. Post sexual interaction, the sleep demand increases
ix. Depressed people, fatigued people tend to sleep longer hours
x. Sleep is more after a heavy meal
xi. Sleep is deprived if one is hungry or starved
xii. Intoxication by alcohol or other form of drugs increase sleep, but if there is high excitement
due to intoxication, it might keep one awake for a very long time.
xiii. Physically demanding exercise, trekking, cycling, travel (jet lag), biking for long hours can
temporarily alter sleep patterns
xiv. Anger, vengeance, sorrow, hurt, heart break can keep sleep away
What is sleep?
It is a state of being, when the body is shrouded in kapha, the mind is engulfed in tama guna and it willingly withdraws from active functioning. Such a situation induces deep sleep. Deep sleep is a state where you are unaware of your identity, you are unconscious of the surroundings and yet aware of its existence when you wake up the next morning.
Sleep is that state where the man or the mind, the buddhi or intellect, the indriyas or sense organs do not exist. Only life exists during the sleep time. In deep sleep, there is no recall of the sleep itself, only the fact that there was good sleep.
If the mind is severely active (raj guna), alert and driven by obsessive thoughts, it leads the person away from sleep.
The panch pran or the 5 vayus – pran, udan, vyan saman and apan operate the entire body functioning in an efficient and coordinated manner. The intense demands that we expect from our own bodies are ably handled by the vayu. Any deviation from the functioning can lead to pathology or a disease over time.
During sleep, the panch pran are dormant and the entire focus is on healing the body, indriyas and the mind. The sanskaras or influences of the satva, raj and tama gunas of the previous day are nullified by sleep. Therefore one gets up fresh and hopeful the next morning devoid of the influences of the prior day. People with perpetual depression or obsession prefer to sleep for a long time, because, there are no thoughts to torment them in deep sleep.
To summarize, sleep is;
i. A great healer of the body to maintain good health, avoid diseases
ii. A calms and refreshes the mind
iii. Staves off unnecessary thoughts
iv. Improves physical and emotional health
v. It is closest to the state of bliss in spiritual terminology
Dreams
The semi conscious mind under the influence of raj and tama gunas, tend to partially activate the mind to go a trip of events. This trip is called dreams. Since the mind is not awake, it is never reality, since we are in sleep and yet recall it the next day or during the dream, it is neither sleep.Sucha state is called the dream state of being.
It often occurs if there are severe impressions etched on the mind during the previous day, or, some events or personalities that have left a lasting impression. It also occurs when the vat tends to go high due to urge to pass urine or stools while in sleep. Flatus, pain or discomfort due to indigestion also leads to mind going into active mode to cause dreams.
* This is the Doctor’s interpretation of the Ayurvedic Texts based on his experience of over 32 years, and that there can be further discussion on the issue.
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