By Jessica Mascle At one time in my life, my inability to fall asleep consumed my being. Every night would come and there I was wide awake, anxious, and even sometimes in panic. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t my doctor figure this out for me? I prayed, I cried, I confided in anyone that woul...
By Jessica Mascle
At one time in my life, my inability to fall asleep consumed my being. Every night would come and there I was wide awake, anxious, and even sometimes in panic. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t my doctor figure this out for me? I prayed, I cried, I confided in anyone that would listen. I was desperate and surely driving my friends and family crazy.
I decided, after ten years of misery, to try something new. I learned about ayurveda and sought guidance from a qualified practitioner and wouldn’t you know? I started to feel change.
Ayurveda is an ancient healing science from India. It is said to be at least five thousand years old. Ayurveda is the sister science to yoga which is wildly popular now in American culture gaining millions of new practitioners every year. In ayurveda, yoga is used as a tool for healing. Ayurveda teaches us to tune into ourselves at a very deep level and to listen to what our minds and bodies need. It forces us to ask, “What is the root of my problem?”
How did ayurveda help heal my struggle with insomnia? Below are my four recommendations for improving your sleep using ayurveda.
Know Your Dosha
According to ayurveda, each of us are made up of the five elements: space, air, fire, water, and Earth. Although we all have them all, each of us is born with a different proportion of these elements. An energetic dancer, abundant in the air element. A passionate activist full of fire. These elements form biological energies called doshas. When space and air come together they form an energy called vata. Most of us have one or two dominant doshas- some of us are vatas, some pittas, and others kaphas. Still others are vata-pitta, kapha-vata etc. This means that our mind and body systems behave in certain ways based on the amount of the elements and their qualities within us.
In regard to sleep, vatas tend to have irregular sleep patterns. Their sleep tends to be lighter and they get less of it. Vata’s dreams are full of chasing, falling, and adventures. They are prone to awaken in the night and have a hard time falling back asleep. Pittas have issues with being hot at night. Their dreams are intense, vivid, and passionate. They may have a hard time falling asleep because they are overly ambitious and can’t stop “working.” Kaphas are heavy sleepers who love to cuddle in the covers. Their dreams are serene and romantic. They may struggle more with waking up. Learning your dosha is enlightening in so many ways, but especially for people struggling with sleep.
Tailor Your Diet and Digestion
Once you know your dosha you can begin to explore the types of foods that either help you or work against you when it comes to sleep. “You” is the operative word here as it is very important to understand that, what is good for one person when it comes to diet and sleep is not good for others. For pittas (the fiery ones) spicy foods can spell disaster at bedtime. But, for kaphas (the earthy ones) spicy foods can help them get out of bed easier. For vatas, sweet heavy foods can help them sleep through the night, but again, for kaphas, those same foods will prove it difficult to get out of bed the next day.
In addition to eating for your dosha, ayurveda places a great emphasis on keeping a balanced digestive fire. According to ayurveda, all the food and drink we consume, the experiences and sensory information that we take in every day, and all of our past traumas and repressed emotions need to be digested completely for us to be healthy. When we have not fully digested and assimilated these things we are too “full” all the time. When we lay down to fall asleep or when we awaken in the middle of the night our minds may race with the millions of things we need to do, or we begin to obsess about a situation that happened at work that day. Both examples illustrate the consequences of not being able to properly digest our lives. Ayurveda teaches us how to eat the right foods for our mind/body types and how to kindle our digestion so that our days and lives are continually processed, assimilated, and cleansed.
Follow the Ayurvedic Clock
Just as animals and plants behave certain ways at different times of the day, during seasons, and during different stages of their life cycle, so should we. According to ayurveda, from 6AM to 10AM is the kapha time of day. The qualities of this time are heavy, slow, and dull. It is beneficial for all of us, especially kaphas, to get up before this time begins. If we can, we enjoy the benefits of waking during vata time which starts at 2AM and ends at 6AM. The qualities of this time of day are clear, light, and mobile. Getting up at this time gives us some extra momentum. At 6PM we start the kapha time of evening and it goes until 10PM. Going to bed during these hours is advantageous. At 10PM, pitta hours begin and these are the hours it seems some can easily catch a “second wind.” During this pitta window from 10PM to 2AM our bodies and minds set out to digest all our food and experiences from the day so, it is most important that we are asleep at these times. Come 2AM, vata time starts again and it is not unusual to wake for the bathroom and to be unable to fall back asleep.
Also, the stage of your life cycle plays a role in sleeping. From ages 25-55 are the pitta years of life. We are ambitious and focused on achieving our goals and for some that means sleeping issues. After this stage we enter the vata stage of life as things dry out and become subtler and light. It is not unusual for people in this stage to also struggle with sleep issues.
Regulate Your Nervous System
There are two parts to your autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system serves as your fight or flight response. It is what “protects” us in the face of real or perceived danger. The parasympathetic nervous system is our relax response. It gives us the ability to assess a situation and be at ease with it. In people with sleep issues, often the sympathetic nervous system is ”stuck” on and the parasympathetic nervous system is underdeveloped.
Creating routines throughout the day are great ways to soothe the sympathetic nervous system and to stimulate the parasympathetic. Routines help because they take a lot of guesswork off our nervous system. Our nervous system doesn’t have to worry and wonder about when you will eat, sleep, or wake it already knows. Bedtime is a great time to start some routines according to ayurveda. Not eating past 7PM, omitting media after 9PM, using massage oils, aromatherapy, taking warm baths, journaling, breathing, and relaxation practices are especially beneficial as bedtime rituals.
Learning to cultivate a smooth, even, deep breath has a soothing effect on your nervous system. Also, any deep relaxation practice like a body scan will help calm your nervous system and bring a sense of stillness and peace to your mind and body. If you think you have an issue related to an overstimulated sympathetic nervous system, classes like hatha yoga, restorative yoga, yin yoga, and yoga nidra may help you immensely.
If you are frustrated with sleep and looking for a natural way to compliment what you are already doing to promote sleep health, consider ayurveda. Learn and explore what your mind/body type or dosha is. With this knowledge, you can tailor your diet to support your efforts to sleep better. By working to cleanse and kindle your digestion you will feel clearer and more at peace; sleep will come more readily and upon waking you will feel refreshed. Take the time to design some routines and practices that support your unique needs and desires, like keeping bed and wake times that honor the ayurvedic clock. Establish a yoga practice that helps pacify imbalances, kindles your digestion, expels wastes, connect you with your breath, and learn to relax your body and mind.
Be on the lookout for a series called IN Balance: a new 6-week series focused on teaching you how to use sleep, nutrition, and movement to create a more balanced lifestyle at START WITH SLEEP. In this series you will learn how to use yoga and ayurveda to get a great night’s rest. https://www.startwithsleep.com/