How to Reduce Insomnia With a Vata Ayurveda Mind-Body Type

Vatas are one of three main doshas, or mind-body types found in Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old approach to medicine that originated in India. Ayurveda provides guidelines for diet and how to treat illness and disease. Vatas generally are slim, slight, with dryness and movement being a theme. They are gregarious when balanced; anxious, nervous or restlessness when not. Dry hair, skin and a tendency for constipation is common for Vatas who eat and sleep irregularly. Insomnia is common for Vatas as they may skip meals and decide to eat late, or suddenly rush out after work to do hours of errands, arriving home tired but revved up mentally. Insomnia is seen as a Vata aggravation. Here are some ways to ground Vata energy to ensure good sleep and better health.

Instructions

• 1

  Start with determining what you feel is the optimal amount of sleep for you. Optimal means that once you rise in the morning you feel well-rested mentally and physically. If you can manage with 5 hours but need 4 cups of coffee or cola drinks to function, that suggests sleep deprivation.

• 2

  Craft a realistic schedule for when you can get to bed regularly every day. Regular eating patterns as going to bed at the same time daily will ground Vata anxiety and restlessness that can contribute to insomnia. Your waking and sleeping times may vary on the weekends, but do not go to extremes: if you wake up at 7 a.m. Monday to Friday, try for no later than 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

• 3

  Get to sleep by no later than 10 p.m. during the work week. Going to bed after that time will make it easier for Vatas to be awake as late as 2 a.m. once they get a second wind. This is partly because Ayurveda has a clock that corresponds to the three doshas. Pitta, a fiery-activating time, runs from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Getting to bed by 10 p.m. will greatly help Vatas get adequate rest.

• 4

  Reduce caffeine several hours before you plan to sleep. If you consume caffeine in any form, coffee, green tea, cola or energy drinks, drink them in the early part of the day. Everyone has a different sensitivity to caffeine: notice how much caffeine you consume and how long its effects last. It may be that you cannot drink caffeine after 3 p.m. or you disrupt your sleep.

• 5

  Eat a small, carbohydrate-heavy snack 2 hours before you would like to sleep. Vatas generally are thin and have the luxury of snacking after dinner. Eating carbohydrates such as whole-grain bread slathered with butter or moist muffin, oatmeal or hot cocoa can help you fall asleep.

• 6

  Write down all the things you are afraid you will forget or not get done the next day before you go to sleep. Keeping a notebook by your bed, jot down the “to do” list or priorities for the next day or any crucial appointments. Doing this will give you a mental break: you have written down reminders and can look at them the next day. One less thing for the active Vata mind to turn over endlessly as you try to get to sleep.

• 7

  Establish a sleep ritual. Kapha hour is from 6 to 10 p.m.; Kapha is associated with a heaviness and is conducive to sleep. After eating your carbohydrate-rich snack, turn off the TV and the computer and lower the bright lights. Reduce any sources of overt stimulation. Vatas are especially sensitive to sound and touch: playing very mellow music and dimming or turning off lights will signal sleep.