BENGALURU: You can manifest your best self through embracing good vibes and a disciplined lifestyle. Journals these days are all the rage, since they help us connect with our inner self. But there’s another way to unlock this door. Sleeping is integral to our holistic well being. It doesn’t just help us strive for a well balanced life but is also an approach to achieving better productivity and happiness.
Or as Mita Vijay, founder of wellness studio Bodhsara, says, “Sleep plays a great role in keeping us healthy. Sleep helps repair and heal our heart and blood vessels, which impacts our overall health. Our body and mind recovers in deep sleep.” This year, the sleep industry is predicted to be huge with people investing big time in their sleep routines, bedroom rituals and essentials like aroma oils, salt lamps, mattresses that promise to be the ‘bed of dreams’, cushions and pillows with memory foam, soft ones as well as orthopaedic pillows for spondylitis and much more.
Brands are also offering solutions to creating Zen vibes through Feng Shui, crystals, architecture, interiors, and more. For instance, ITC hotels has not only trademarked ‘Sleeep’ but has also come up with sleep experiences like packages designed to rest and recharge, which includes blackout curtains, sleep music, spa treatment, a ‘work-down’ call, and more.
Our sleep patterns are guided by our habits. So, an evening bedtime routine might help make your life more productive. Turning to no-work mode as you return home from office relieves the stress. Spending quality time with family whilst playing board games or cooking also helps keep anxiety at bay, which could be one of the main reasons of sleep disturbances. This kind of an evening routine helps promote organisation and planning, and naturally, the day that follows is more productive. Here are some other things to try:
1. Music is a contributing force to releasing stress, tension, and preparing your body for sound slumber. So incorporate soothing music in the sleep ritual.
2. There are certain aromas known to induce a good night’s sleep like lavender (which has a calming effect) while rose has a restful one. A blend of essential oils available in the form of a pillow mist or oil for lamps and candles help to ease out and soothe the nerves.
3. There’s nothing more relaxing than a grandmother’s touch on our head or back. Loving gestures like these coupled with aroma oils, along with a glass of milk, can also help a lot.
Milk and certain other foods like poppy seeds and chamomile tea are known for their sleep inducing properties.
4. Don’t underestimate the power of gratitude. Writing a journal or speaking aloud of how wonderful the day was, thanking God before a meal, or being able to thank nature for being kind and giving makes life easier. Let’s thank people around us who contribute in their own way to our mundane life.
5. The first few moments of the morning set the pace of the day. Being still and meditative in the morning helps to kickstart the day with positivity.
World Sleep Day is celebrated in March to magnify the importance of sleep. So let’s make sure we don’t snooze on the quality of our sleep, thus allowing ourselves to be more creative and energetic through out the day.
(The author is a social media influencer)