How to get Sound Sleep?
H
ave you ever thought about sleep, in whose deep ocean we sink all our sorrows, worries and difficulties for some time, and then waking up refreshed and rejuvenated, begin to tread on the walk of life with renewed energy? What a fantastic gift of nature to man sleep is! Shakespeare has described sleep as - “Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast …’(Macbeth). Even after death, we continue to evolve and get a new life in the form of a happy, playful child. Similarly, every morning after sleep, we get a new consciousness and a new experience and start our activities again. What a beautiful play this is! How great this grace of goddess of sleep upon humans is! We go to her lap tired, lost and weary of all problems of the world, and return with new life, new energy, enthusiasm, and happiness. It has been bestowed upon us as a birthright to receive a new life daily, and surely, no other gift of the world can match up to this. If a person has to stay awake for a few nights together, he may die or go mad. So important sleep is for our life! Sleep is a gift of nature; we neither have to pay for it nor bear any pain to receive it. Yet many people are not able to benefit from it fully. They always complain of sleeplessness. They even go on medication for sleep but still do not receive the benefits that can be earned naturally. (It is advisable that pills for sleep should never be taken without prescription. These may have an adverse impact on the body and may further increase the problem of insomnia.) Our scriptures describe the following fundamental
characteristics to earn a good sleep – “One who is virtuous, untouched by sensual desires, and is contented would always fall asleep at the right time.” Indeed, only a virtuous person who has control over senses can enjoy all the benefits of sleep. He always gets sleep in time, just as the sun sets in time daily. Why do we not get sleep, and why is the whole society afflicted with sleeplessness today? This is because our conduct is degenerating day by day, and we have got addicted to sensual gratification. If a fire of unfulfilled desires rages within, how can we receive a healthy, good night’s sleep? There is no doubt that for healthy sleep, our body and mind need to be balanced and healthy, and our daily routine has to be well organized. Whoever abandons a simple lifestyle and adopts a complicated and unnatural lifestyle has to suffer from sleeplessness naturally. Many people are very reflective by nature. Day and night, their minds keep fussing about something or the other. They keep rolling in their bed, and as they close their eyes in the night, finding quietude, their
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. - Benjamin Franklin Akhand Jyoti
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JULY-AUG. 2020
