Do you get sound sleep?
D.C. Sharma

THE latest research in the USA indicates that even security guards benefit from dozing on duty. Just half an hour of sleep helps improve their performance!

Another research at Harvard University reveals that the visual cortex is overloaded with continuous information. Sleep, howsoever little it may be, restores our cognitive abilities.

Is sleep really important? Yes. The metabolic process of the brain and the body needs regular periods of rest to recover. Sleep releases hormones that help produce red blood cells. Tissues are renewed. Dreams which occur during sleep help the brain sort out stored information.

Does our brain also sleep when we sleep? No, the brain doesn’t rest completely. The electrical activity of the brain continues even when we sleep. It can be measured by the electro-encephalogram (EEG).

Our sleeping pattern has two different phases. We have 80 per cent Non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep, and 20 per cent REM sleep. The REM sleep is the dream sleep. We have 4-5 rounds of REM sleep during one night’s sleep.

But how many hours of sleep do we require daily? Some manage with a few hours of sleep. Jawaharlal Nehru would have just four hours of sleep. Some may need 10 hours! But an average adult needs 7-8 hours of sound sleep at night.

The sleep pattern of an infant is different. He needs 14 hours of sleep. After the age of 12, the sleep pattern undergoes a change.

Sleeplessness haunts many people. They either find it difficult to go to sleep, or their sleep gets broken in the middle of the night. They keep waking, tossing and turning in bed. The older one grows, the earlier one tends to get up!

Insomniacs, beware! Try to avoid sleeping pills. You will not only get addicted to them but they will also have an adverse affect on your health.

If you are suffering from insomnia, check out if your full stomach is disturbing your sleep! Maybe you are taking too much tea, coffee or alcohol. Maybe you are carrying your daily worries to your bed, or maybe your sleeping or waking-up time is irregular.

For sound sleep, take regular, light physical exercise. A hot bath and a tumbler of hot milk before going to bed is useful. Make your bed room cosy. Read a good book before lying for sleep. Make yourself comfortable, and forget your worries.

If your trouble still persists, you are certainly under tension. But why worry? Perform shavasana for 5-10 minutes daily. Do it on the floor, lying on a warm blanket. Take deep, slow, steady breaths. Relax every organ, addressing each, one by one, just in your mind. Think of love, kindness, and warm relations with all. Think of the welfare of others. In helping others (even in imagination), you will forget your worries. Serene feelings will flow through you, making your mind tranquil!

Research shows how even westerners are benefitting from our age-old yogic practices. Shavasana alone can revitalise our entire system. By bringing harmony to life, it restores regular sound sleep at night!