Sleep rejuvenates, replenishes, restores and promotes good health and proper growth. In this age’s over—stimulating and stressed out lives, our body and minds are often stressed out and remains tensed throughout the day. People tend to wake up exhausted even after a proper sleep of about 8 hours. Either (s)he has troubled sleep or light sleep or exhaustive dreams due to which the energy is still being expended hence the restful state of deep sleep may never be reached.
Loss of sleep, or insomnia, interferes with our capacity to work and think clearly as our bodies feel heavy, lethargic and sometimes achy even after a long sleep. The appetite is weakened and digestion is impaired for almost everyone who has troubled sleep.
According to Ayurveda, it is advisable and more prudent to avoid sleeping with our head towards the north or towards west as the directions our head faces while sleeping has a very strong and ‘stimulating’ effect on our health and well-being- both physical and mental. It is always advisable not to fall asleep during the day as it produces Ama and causes disturbances in the circulation of blood and lymph, bile distribution and causes a bad case of gas. It causes disturbances in respiration, heaviness in the head, and other problems.
According to vedic scriptures, sleeping on the left side aides digestion, promotes functioning of the right nostril which heats and activates the body while sleeping sitting up provides the most alert sleep and sleeping on the right is relaxing, as it activates the left nostril, which cools and relaxes the body. Always wash your hands, feet and face and lightly massage the feet with a little oil before going to sleep as it helps in relaxing the nerve endings to allow the negative impacts of the day to dispel.
The Indian Ayurvedic tradition believes that sleep positions decide the kind of energy we allow into our lives. According to Vishnu Purana, it is beneficial to lie down with the head placed east or south.
Earth’s magnetic pole stretches from north (positive pole) to south(negative pole). Humans have an inborn magnetic compass, with the positive pole at the head and the negative pole at the feet and as like poles repel and unlike poles attract, similarly when we lay our heads on north, the two positive sides repel and there is a struggle between the two as magnetic field of the body and earth are not in harmony which results in the disturbed blood circulation resulting in mental conflict and a troubled sleep causing headache or heaviness.
Earth revolves from west to east, and sun’s magnetic field enters earth from east, which then enters our head and exists through feet when a person sleeps with his/her head facing east promoting cool heads and warm feet; but when the head faces the west, it results in cool feet and hot head.
Further studies have also suggested that sleeping in East-West position has shorter REM (Rapid eye movement), compared with North-South sleepers who got more REM.
By : Archa Dave
