• Healthy adults
should avoid eating solid
foods for 4 hours before bedtime.
• The
last meal of the day should
be light, easy to digest and
warm.
•
Beverages should be warm, light
and caffeine free. Not overly
stimulating.
• One
cup (that is 8 ounces) of
boiled milk with a teaspoon of
sugar can be taken at bedtime,
before brushing and
flossing. Carbohydrates
encourage the release of
seratonin (the neurotransmitter
of happiness to help you
sleep).
• 12-16
minutes of smooth slow
diaphragmatic breathing will
rebalance the nervous system.
•
Breath only through the nose.
•
"Alternate Nostril Breathing"
is the finest method to remove
all tension from the body
and mind.
• Write
stuff down. Take 10 minutes and make a list of
things that you must remember
to do tomorrow. CLear your mind
by making a good list.
•
People, events, music, news. All of these
can replay in your dreams,
thus ruining the chance to get
to sleep. Deal with it
(with them). Write down your goals for
tomorrow.
• Too
much comfort makes it too
hard to get out of the
bed.
• A
lousy bed makes it too difficult
to rest deeply.
•
Pillows can be a curse or a
blessing. Be
practical. Think of what you are doing to your
neck, jaw and face by how
you sleep.
• The
difference between sleep
& rest is huge!
• Rest
begins with conscious breathing
that allows the autonomic
nervous system to rest. Rest requires
you to stay awake, breathing
slowly, smoothly and
continuously through your nose.
• Sleep
is that unconscious state
where the autonomic nervous
system is fully alert and
makes sure that we keep
breathing and our heart keeps
pumping.
•
Adjusting our bedtime for optimal
health is a biological
necessity. We really cannot "go to bed
whenever we want." All of us know that if we stay up
past 11:30 PM, the fire of
the mind awakens and then it is
easy to stay up past 1
am.
•
Ayurvedic Medicine tells us
that the fire of metabolism
peaks from 10 am 'til 2 PM,
and again from 10 PM until 2
am. Thus, have your
heaviest meal at high
noon so that your body will
burn it up. And make sure
you are in bed, sound asleep,
by 10 PM (10:30 PM at the
latest) before the fire flares
up again.
• When it becomes easy to fall asleep
by 10 PM, then waking can
occur by 5 am. (Come on,
that's 7 hours of sleep folks!
That's enough.)
• When you wake up, immediately stand
up. Do it gently,
but do it right away.
• Have some warm water - a couple of
glasses. Then move around.
• Move, stretch, pace, bend.
Gently remove the
stiffness from the body.
• Now it is time to visit the
bathroom. Pass your stool and urine with ease
and speed. No straining,
no lounging on the toilet. When it is time to go, it is time to
go. Otherwise, do
not force anything. Just come back
later.