The A K Factor || 7 Rituals for a Good Sleep

Whether you wish to fulfill your personal goals or your professional dreams, a good health plays a key role in helping you to do so. You pick any spiritual, business or self help book and one thing common across all these books would be the emphasis on importance of staying healthy. While there are multiple factors like food, exercise, stress management, etc. that determine how good or bad your health could be, one of the most understated factor is sleep. A sound sleep is an integral pillar of your good health. It gives your body and mind the right kind of rest they need to recover, enabling you to focus better, have a clarity of thought, better decision taking abilities and perform at your Peak in your field.

While you sleep, there are numerous activities performed by your body. These activities include cell repair, muscle and hair growth, fat burn, etc. In addition, sleep also plays a key role in repairing immune system [1], hormonal balance, detoxification, regulating metabolism [2] and the list goes on. However, its not just the hours of sleep that regulates all the chemical and biological functions in our body but its also the quality of sleep that determines how well these functions are carried out.

Here is what late Kobe Bryant had to say about importance of sleep

Following are the 7 rituals that can help you achieve a good quality sleep ;

Eat 2-3 hours before sleep: While most of us are used to sleep only when we have a full stomach, our bodies were never designed to sleep that way. After we eat, the digestive system starts its function of chemical breakdown of the food that we ate. It hence becomes imperative that by the time we are on bed, our digestive system is at rest. This ensures that our energy, while we sleep, is routed to other body functions, as mentioned above. Hence, eat light, eat early and take a 10-15 min walk, if not more, after your dinner.

Turn off electronic gadgets at-least an hour before going to bed: While we sleep, one of the key hormones that enable deeper state of sleep is Melatonin. Blue rays from all our electronic gadgets affect melatonin secretion. Hence it’s always a good idea to get away from all your electronic gadgets at least an hour (if not two) before going to bed. In addition, switch from bright to dim lights in the surrounding to prepare for a good sleep.

Take a shower before sleeping: Sleeping is no less than a sacred activity considering the benefits and healing power that it has to offer. A good hygiene ritual including shower, tidy clothes and a neat sleeping environment gets you ready for a good sleep. Shower also helps regulate your body temperature and blood pressure to a point that is ideal for a good sleep. Also make sure you manage to sleep in a noise free environment so that there are no disruptions.

Read a book before sleeping: In yogic science, knowledge is considered to be the most powerful tool that can calm your mind. Before you sleep, you must ensure that you have a peaceful mind. Since the last few minutes before you sleep, the door to your sub-conscious mind is opened [Reference from the book ‘The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind’ by Joseph Murphy], reading is also going to benefit you by wiring your subconscious mind for positive outcomes. Listening to podcasts can be an alternative to reading books.

Journaling: When you write a journal, you empty your mind. That’s again a powerful tool that will help you get rid of your thoughts while you are trying to sleep. If you have a busy next day, you can list down your to-do tasks, organize and prioritize them. Looking at your tasks in an organized way will give you a sense of peace and help you take your mind off these activities.

Pranayama: Pranayama, in simple terms, are controlled breathing exercise that has impact on major bodily systems. It helps in bringing harmony between body, mind and soul. Practicing pranayama before sleeping helps in making your mind stable and hence ideal for sleeping. It also helps you overcome any sleeping difficulties that you may have. These are 4 powerful breathing exercises that you can follow.

A disciplined sleep routine: Sleeping and waking up at almost same time every day would help you fix your sleep cycle; thus you can achieve deeper state of sleep.

A quality sleep helps you rejuvenate and have high energy levels the very next day. It can also help you bring down the amount of sleep that you need. Also, everyone’s body is different; hence you may need more or less number of sleep hours than your friend needs. You can start by following some of these rituals for few weeks and then decide for yourself what works and what do not. The idea of being disciplined sounds like taking away the freedom from you but interestingly, it’s the other way round. When you put discipline in anything, its then that you actually take control of things as opposed to these things controlling you. This is when you take small but constant steps towards a healthy lifestyle.

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