INSOMNIA
Maha Bharatha mentions that four types of people suffer from sleeplessness: Thieves, people who have powerful enemies, persons with unfulfilled desires and those who lost everything.
If the author had to rewrite the epic now, he would have added “students” as the fifth category. Unlike in olden days where education was a simple daily chore, it has become a nightmare with existing hard-hitting competition.
“Sleep is the best meditation” says a modern philosopher. Sleeplessness (otherwise called insomnia) has four facets: 1. Not able to sleep on getting into bed 2. Sudden awaking in the middle of the night and inability to sleep again 3. Unable to ‘stay in sleep’ 4. No refreshed feeling on waking up in the morning.
Students require 8 hours sleep and elders 7. If you are deprived of sleep for two to three days, you can compensate with a deep sleep the next day and feel fresh, but continuous deprivation of sleep leads to daytime sleepiness, a nuisance that weakens your productivity, concentration, memory and slows-down your reflex actions and decision making power. It also leads to physical problems like cold and other diseases.
Sleep has many phases like entering, deep, drowsy and awakening stages. In-fact deep sleep for few hours gives the satisfaction of complete sleep. Great people follow it and avoid hypersomnia i.e. spending more time in excess sleep.
1. Tips: Sleeping pills aren’t meant for long-term. They cause side effects and even rebound insomnia. Instead manage your stress and anxiety that are the main reasons for sleeplessness. Do you know that stress and time management go together? Complete your schedules in time and sleep at the same time every day. A consistent routine before bed sends a signal to your brain for better sleep. Reading a book for few minutes and stepping into sleep is good.
2. Create a suitable environment, cool temperature and good ventilation. If you are allergic to light and sound use eye-masks and ear-plugs available in the market. Listening to prerecorded class lessons and light music also helps.
3. Close your eyes and imagine a peaceful place. Breathe slowly, making each gasp deeper than the previous. Starting at toes, tense all the muscles as tightly as you can, and then completely relax.
4. Avoid watching the small screen lying on the cot. Television actually stimulates the mind rather than relaxing it. Never watch stimulating late night news before sleep.
5. Don’t break your sleep routine on weekends. Late Saturday night-outs and in turn late wake-ups next day, leads to a disturbed Sunday night. You become more irritated and cranky on Monday.
6. If you are not overweight, a bedtime snack or banana and a cup of milk support you for better sleep. Avoid eating a large meal within two hours of bed. In the midnight if you are awake suddenly and get sleep for more than 15 minutes, get out of bed and do a quiet activity. Don’t lay there worrying. “It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep” says Dale Carnegie
7. Napping for few minutes in the afternoon keeps you fresh afterwards. But don’t sleep for long time disturbing the body clock. Sometimes we cannot keep our sleep gates open due to rigid and long work during the previous day or deprived of previous night sleep. Instead of sleeping early and suffer late in the night, go for a walk or shopping or engage in any other work.
8. Regular exercise for twenty to thirty minutes helps you sleep better. Consider eliminating caffeine after four in the evening. Students who smoke to be awake for late night studies should know that nicotine causes sleep troubles in numerous ways.
PERCEPTIONS
She rejected his proposal for marriage saying she considered him a friend only. Later she loved another guy and their marriage was fixed.
The pitiable, unshaven and gloomy ex-lover attended their wedding. As he stood at the corner of the hall and watching the proceeding, the unexpected happened. The bridegroom was bending to tie the wedding knot, but collapsed and died with heart stroke.
There was pandemonium but the bride recovered early, looked around and went to her ex-lover, “If you are you still willing, we will marry here on the same dais now”. He could not believe but gladly accepted. She requested the priest to continue the proceedings.
The disapproval:
Even before the speaker could hardly finish, the participants shouted, “No... How could she do that? Ghastly... Unethical”.
The motivator asked, “So... for how much time she should wait?”
A participant rose, “At least for thirteen days from her husband’s death”. Another one disagreed arguing that the deceased had not yet tied the three knots. Another girl rose, “After the memories of love vanished, may be after a year” she said. The motivator smiled, “She forgot him in a second. Hence she proposed the other guy.” But nobody was willing to take it.
He continued, “Now I present the other version. It was her twenty-fourth birthday. According to a will she inherits her uncle’s property if she marries before that date. This poor girl urgently needs money for her mother’s kidney transplantation. She has to take a decision unwillingly,” he paused for a moment and asked “Now you tell me whether she is correct?”
The audience unanimously approved her decision. Then the motivator said, “Here are three sutras. Who are we to decide when she should marry? Secondly, never fix other’s standards with your values. Finally, never form opinions without knowing the full facts.”
He concluded with a fine proverb about ‘perception’: “You can complain because roses have thorns below them, or rejoice because thorns have roses above them”.
