Topic by G. Subramanian
Quality of Sleep is no more subjective as it used to be earlier ; some of us must be having our own personal experiences or scientific inputs that we can share.
This is also a topic ignored by many which isn't right as per any Physician.
That is another reason for me to select this topic, to make it beneficial on a proactive manner offering insights & probable paths to resolutions.
Most importantly, please discuss with your respective spouses to ascertain what they feel on this aspect & you should also share your opinion about them.
Responses
Venkat Raghavan
The Subject of Sleep in Science, Sastraa, Self.
The SCIENCE
Sleep is the period of repair of life. From the link SPK posted, one can see how during deep sleep (the stage 3 and 4 stages of NREM sleep), the body repairs itself, boosts immunity and grows cells.
Similarly during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, the MIND repairs itself!
Dreams occur most intensively during REM sleep and dreams are an effort of mind to repair itself. It is an effort to make up for unfulfilled desires, live some deep seated anxieties - so there is an outlet, and also imagine a future. Children have more REM sleep than adults.
What NREM does to body REM does to mind. The more Tamil TV serials a person watches, less REM sleep she/he would need (the last line is my own finding!) :)
The SASTRA:
Sleep not later than first Yaama (Jaamam) in the night (Jaamam is three hours, the first Jaamam of the night is from sunset 3 hours). So sleep by 9 pm the latest.
Wake up before brahma muhurtham. (Brahma Muhurtham is 1.5 hours before sunrise). So by 4 am normally in India. That will give approx. 7-8 hours sleep. (Don’t ask me how it works for people in the very north or very south hemispheres where day lengths vary dramatically depending on the season)
The Sastra also says to take the last meal of the day by sunset.
my SELF:
I belong to the category of people who usually need reading a book to induce sleep and wonder at people who can sleep within 5 seconds of hitting the sack. (I tell Sriram that he must be a punyaatmaa).
I have learnt what to do and what not to do entirely through experience. There was a period immediately after I moved to Dubai (20 years ago) when on some nights I would just not get to sleep at all, until early morning. Needless to say, the next day is completely screwed. This happened every now and then until one fine day I discovered the reason. Those were the days I ate in a joint where alongwith food I consumed Coca-Cola or Pepsi. It was caffeine!! I stopped drinking not just Colas but any Soda then on. Even today, if I had coffee at home or office after 4 pm I am guaranteed not to sleep.
I have a sweet tooth. Occasionally if I gobbled more than a couple of laddus or Gulab Jamuns plus icecream, it kept the system up until very late.
In other words, keep away from sugar closer to sleeping time. Which I did. In general, the earlier I ate my dinner, better the sleep was. Alcohol induces sleep for me. But the quality of sleep with alcohol is just not the same.
Last but not the least: working late on PC kills my sleep. From the time I close the PC, minimum one hour of reading the book (or more even) is essential for me!
I am sure meditation and Yoga help a lot too.
Srinivasan
One discourse that caused a sort of explosion in my concepts was on this fact that when one is in dream one thinks of it as waking state and would while in that dream state, recall different dreams as if from the past (i.e past for the dream world). Dream is always recollected as a form of past experience in the present moment.
Whatever state one is in, the present moment is always taken as the wakeful state. No one ever looks at a snake in a dream and whistles softly ' oh dream snake'. While we have no problem is saying we are awake in the present moment, no one ever say, 'i am dreaming' in the present moment. So there doesn't seem to be anything like a dream except as a form of RECOLLECTION of the past in the present moment. The apparent sense of continuity of existence that one experiences in life is based on the belief of a flow of time.
There only is an un-moving present moment and an experience of being without a sense of time, in reality. Sense of time is therefore absent in sleep. It is supplied by mind (i.e waking/dream). Then arise ideas of past present and future and flow of time. This again gives rise to a sense of historicity of one's existence and therefore creates an (illusory?) sense of reality to past and hence thinks of future as a projection. But past and future are mere creations of mind in the present moment. For example when you dream, there is a sense of permanence to the world experienced there, which seems to have historicity and a past as an unbroken continuum for a very very long period.
So the present waking experience with a sense of history and reality is no different from the similar sense of reality and continuity ascribed to fleeting dream experiences. So a series of fleeting dis-connected worlds and events are experienced but at each moment it is experienced as if it is real with a sense of permanence etc supplied at each moment, to the events then occuring. The so called waking state seem like a series of meaningless disjointed dreams apparently made to look real like the dream world is made to look real, when it lasts. There only is an eternal present moment (eternal need not be there in the last sentence as it pre-supposes time - which is not required in an un-moving present moment - taken as the nature of reality) Enakke naan ezhuduradhu thala suthuthu. I resisted writing on this subject Words are really inadequate medium for this subject. But then i felt like writing again and so be it even if boring and laborious.
That is the advantage of yahoo groups !!! Let me also add, that this is not spirituality. This is logical non-sense that precedes traditional advaitic teachings to people interested in the subject. Otherwise it is skipped.
Bharani
Sleep - A very essential topic for everyone.
It is a known fact that Sleep-deprivation is a notorious form of torture used to extract the truth from hard-core terrorists. If that is the effect on hard-core terrorists, we can imagine what lack of sleep can do to normal human beings.
An un-disturbed, sound sleep for at least 7 hours everyday certainly rejuvenates the entire system. Luckily, I can fall asleep as soon as I hit the sack. Like Venkat and Srini, I too avoid taking caffeine late evenings.
A few years back, me and another colleague used to take turns every month, doing 24X7 On-call support for critical applications for our Users in US, Canada, and Europe. On certain nights when there were quite a few issues to resolve, I would get to work the next day droopy-eyed and just unable to focus. Oh what a relief it was to pass off the support system to Cognizant, India.
As Srini said - Dreams are a reflection of what our mind thinks. After the 10th Std Exams, I had a dream that I was swimming under-water, and then came up with a silver trophy. I made note of this dream in my diary. A month later, when the results came I had won a State rank! But the funny thing is - I don't know swimming!
Wishing everyone a good night's sleep for a long and happy life!
This is also a topic ignored by many which isn't right as per any Physician.
That is another reason for me to select this topic, to make it beneficial on a proactive manner offering insights & probable paths to resolutions.
Most importantly, please discuss with your respective spouses to ascertain what they feel on this aspect & you should also share your opinion about them.
Responses
Venkat Raghavan
The Subject of Sleep in Science, Sastraa, Self.
The SCIENCE
Similarly during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, the MIND repairs itself!
Dreams occur most intensively during REM sleep and dreams are an effort of mind to repair itself. It is an effort to make up for unfulfilled desires, live some deep seated anxieties - so there is an outlet, and also imagine a future. Children have more REM sleep than adults.
What NREM does to body REM does to mind. The more Tamil TV serials a person watches, less REM sleep she/he would need (the last line is my own finding!) :)
The SASTRA:
Sleep not later than first Yaama (Jaamam) in the night (Jaamam is three hours, the first Jaamam of the night is from sunset 3 hours). So sleep by 9 pm the latest.
Wake up before brahma muhurtham. (Brahma Muhurtham is 1.5 hours before sunrise). So by 4 am normally in India. That will give approx. 7-8 hours sleep. (Don’t ask me how it works for people in the very north or very south hemispheres where day lengths vary dramatically depending on the season)
The Sastra also says to take the last meal of the day by sunset.
my SELF:
I belong to the category of people who usually need reading a book to induce sleep and wonder at people who can sleep within 5 seconds of hitting the sack. (I tell Sriram that he must be a punyaatmaa).
I have learnt what to do and what not to do entirely through experience. There was a period immediately after I moved to Dubai (20 years ago) when on some nights I would just not get to sleep at all, until early morning. Needless to say, the next day is completely screwed. This happened every now and then until one fine day I discovered the reason. Those were the days I ate in a joint where alongwith food I consumed Coca-Cola or Pepsi. It was caffeine!! I stopped drinking not just Colas but any Soda then on. Even today, if I had coffee at home or office after 4 pm I am guaranteed not to sleep.
I have a sweet tooth. Occasionally if I gobbled more than a couple of laddus or Gulab Jamuns plus icecream, it kept the system up until very late.
In other words, keep away from sugar closer to sleeping time. Which I did. In general, the earlier I ate my dinner, better the sleep was. Alcohol induces sleep for me. But the quality of sleep with alcohol is just not the same.
Last but not the least: working late on PC kills my sleep. From the time I close the PC, minimum one hour of reading the book (or more even) is essential for me!
I am sure meditation and Yoga help a lot too.
Srinivasan
Whatever state one is in, the present moment is always taken as the wakeful state. No one ever looks at a snake in a dream and whistles softly ' oh dream snake'. While we have no problem is saying we are awake in the present moment, no one ever say, 'i am dreaming' in the present moment. So there doesn't seem to be anything like a dream except as a form of RECOLLECTION of the past in the present moment. The apparent sense of continuity of existence that one experiences in life is based on the belief of a flow of time.
There only is an un-moving present moment and an experience of being without a sense of time, in reality. Sense of time is therefore absent in sleep. It is supplied by mind (i.e waking/dream). Then arise ideas of past present and future and flow of time. This again gives rise to a sense of historicity of one's existence and therefore creates an (illusory?) sense of reality to past and hence thinks of future as a projection. But past and future are mere creations of mind in the present moment. For example when you dream, there is a sense of permanence to the world experienced there, which seems to have historicity and a past as an unbroken continuum for a very very long period.
So the present waking experience with a sense of history and reality is no different from the similar sense of reality and continuity ascribed to fleeting dream experiences. So a series of fleeting dis-connected worlds and events are experienced but at each moment it is experienced as if it is real with a sense of permanence etc supplied at each moment, to the events then occuring. The so called waking state seem like a series of meaningless disjointed dreams apparently made to look real like the dream world is made to look real, when it lasts. There only is an eternal present moment (eternal need not be there in the last sentence as it pre-supposes time - which is not required in an un-moving present moment - taken as the nature of reality) Enakke naan ezhuduradhu thala suthuthu. I resisted writing on this subject Words are really inadequate medium for this subject. But then i felt like writing again and so be it even if boring and laborious.
That is the advantage of yahoo groups !!! Let me also add, that this is not spirituality. This is logical non-sense that precedes traditional advaitic teachings to people interested in the subject. Otherwise it is skipped.
Bharani
It is a known fact that Sleep-deprivation is a notorious form of torture used to extract the truth from hard-core terrorists. If that is the effect on hard-core terrorists, we can imagine what lack of sleep can do to normal human beings.
An un-disturbed, sound sleep for at least 7 hours everyday certainly rejuvenates the entire system. Luckily, I can fall asleep as soon as I hit the sack. Like Venkat and Srini, I too avoid taking caffeine late evenings.
A few years back, me and another colleague used to take turns every month, doing 24X7 On-call support for critical applications for our Users in US, Canada, and Europe. On certain nights when there were quite a few issues to resolve, I would get to work the next day droopy-eyed and just unable to focus. Oh what a relief it was to pass off the support system to Cognizant, India.
As Srini said - Dreams are a reflection of what our mind thinks. After the 10th Std Exams, I had a dream that I was swimming under-water, and then came up with a silver trophy. I made note of this dream in my diary. A month later, when the results came I had won a State rank! But the funny thing is - I don't know swimming!
Wishing everyone a good night's sleep for a long and happy life!