What Is The Right Time To Sleep? How To Plan Your Sleep?

The number of people having difficulty in maintaining a regular night sleep pattern is increasing day by  day. Unfortunately, most of them are youngsters, who fail to sleep early and wake up early. If your daily routine becomes irregular at a very young age, it surely fails to lay a good foundation for your future health and life. Try to follow these tips to sleep at a fixed time at night, preferably by 11 PM

Video explanation

Why 11 PM is the right time to sleep?

There are many factors to decide the time to go to bed. For most of us, it is better to fix the sleeping time to not-later-than 11 PM.  As per Ayurveda, sleep is influenced by Kapha Dosha.
Those with Kapha body type sleep more. Those with Pitta or Vata body type, usually sleep less.

If you divide the night into three parts, the first part of night, – about 9 pm – 12 mid night is dominated by Kapha. So, irrespective of your Dosha body type, you will have some sort of Kapha dominance during this period. Hence, if you sleep within this time, the chances of you getting good night sleep is very high.

Do not wait till 12
Though Kapha time may last till 12 mid night, it is not wise to wait till 12 at night to go to bed. Between 10 – 11 is the good time to sleep. Hence, ideally, it is best to go to sleep before 11 pm. If you delay your bed time beyond 12 o clock, the middle one third of the night is dominated by Pitta, which is not conducive to sleep.

Avoid Pitta imbalance:
This means that, people who sleep late, usually suffer with Pitta imbalance disorders, such as migraine, burning sensation, gastritis, grey hairs, hair loss, worsening of skin diseases, worsening of blood toxins, etc.  This also means that, if you have these disorders already, better to sleep early, or your symptoms may worsen.

Enabling you to wake up before 6 am
Sleeping by 11 pm also enables you to wake up by 6 am. This will give you a good rest of about 7 hours of night sleep, which is quite ideal. Waking up by 6 has its own distinct advantages.
Read here –
7 reasons why you should wake up early in the morning

Best Medicine For Obesity, Allergy, Rheumatoid Arthritis etc – Wake Up Before 6 am
How To Wake Up Early In The Morning? – 10 Ayurveda Tips

So, now you know that it is good to hit the bed, at least by 11 pm. Let me workout a plan for you to help you do so.

Plan to sleep by 11 pm 

If you have the habit of having coffee/ tea at night, it should be before 7:30 pm. No beverages after that.
Have Food on or before 9 pm. This will give you a good gap of 2 hours, between dinner and bed time, which is idea. This helps to avoid indigestion disorders.
Unless very thirsty, avoid drinking anything after 10:00 pm.
Do not watch TV / internet half an hour before sleep. By 10:30 pm, your laptops, tablets and phones should be far away from you.
10:30-10:40  pm –After keeping all the gadgets away, exercise for 10 minutes. It can be a few easy Yoga exercises, or just walking.
By 10:40, stop talking to all your family members. More you talk, more you activate thinking process, more the brain will be kept engaged. This will delay brain relaxing. This will delay sleeping.
10:40 – 10:50 pm – Read your favorite book or magazine (not on your phone or tablet)
Okay, we are left only with 10 minutes to finish brushing etc. Let us finish that and hit the bed on time.
Make sure to keep the room dark.
If you have trouble sleeping, do not even switch on dim light while sleeping.
Keep the phone etc away from your bed.

Other tips:
Avoid spicy foods and foods that cause bloating causing foods at night, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, carbonated, high acid drinks, dairy products, potato maize, pasta, chewing gum.
Avoid sweets and fried foods at night. Know why
Take cold water bath in the morning.
Drink good amounts of water throughout the day, based on your thirst. A well hydrated body will help in better energies and better sleeping habits.

A request to youngsters

I have seen this late sleeping disorder in youngsters. So, here is a friendly chat to them –
I get that you are busy, you have your own priorities, your relationships, your friends, your hobbies, classes  and what not.
I understand that whenever someone gives free advice, you get annoyed pretty easily. (used to happen to me as well).
I understand that you have your own world, completely different than anyone else.
But,
You can also lead a disciplined, healthy and energetic life, which enables you to achieve whatever your future dreams are.
Or, you can lead a haphazard irresponsible life, where you can achieve a few things, pretty quickly, but you may not live long enough to enjoy those achievements.

I know that it is 24X7 world. Talk about a live-life-to-the fullest hardcore professional? Like you, I also work for 10 hours, 12 hours, 15 hours a day. But definitely not at the cost of my health.
You concentrate on all the aspects of your life. – Your friends, hobbies, classes, tuition, studies, relationships, affairs and what not. But have a little concentration on your health as well.  All the best for that.

Sleep, Darkness, Melatonin, Eyes

Sleep – Darkness – Eyes – Modern problems 
There are many types of sleep. One such thing is tamo bhava nidra. One of the meanings of Tamas is darkness. Darkness brings sleep. 
There is a hormone called Melatonin, which is needed for deep and sound sleep. As the dusk manifests, with the darkness, the melatonin starts secreting, putting us into a good night sleep. This setup has worked well for human beings for thousands of years. Ever since we dawned the form of Homo sapiens, this has been the case, until recently. 
Now, with lights flashing around, we dipping our faces into the phone screens way past midnight, added with the complexity of communications that we engage in social media… all these are very new to us. For the past 1,00,000 years we didn’t have this problem. In the past 20 years, we have been in this difficult situation all of a sudden. We do not know how to cope up with it. 

For the eyes to function properly, full bright light is always not required. During the course of evolution, we were exposed to darkness, dim light throughout our existence. Now, there are lights everywhere. 
We used to gaze at long distances to detect and thwart any dangers in the jungle, under dim light conditions. Now, there is a 24 hour bright light problem, added to that, we do not see far things at all. We are prisoned in the cubicles of our apartments and offices. This has caused enormous amounts of strain to our eyes. 

Added to these eye and melatonin problems, if I start explaining the relationship complexities of modern age, this newsletter will never end. 

Solutions: 
Try to use dim light during evening hours, except when reading. 
Try to make the bedroom totally dark during sleep. 
Try to gaze at far things, preferably greenery as often as you can during the day. 
Do not touch the phone once you decide to sleep. Switch off wifi and mobile data at night. 
You do not require bright light all the time. 
Train your eyes, train your body and mind for the worst case scenarios. Test your mind and body often with exercise and fasting. 
Live as close to nature as possible.