Let the night be for sleeping
There is a concept in Hinduism called Brahma Muhurta which begin 96 minutes before sunrise and lasts for 48 minutes once it begins. So if sunrise is at 5:30 am then the Muhurta begins at 3:54 am. It lasts until 4:42 am.
So one muhurta is 48 minutes and the night consists of 15 muhurtas with Brahma Muhurta being the 14th. Night ends with sunrise.
People who wake up at Brahma Muhurta can begin their day with the least amount of disturbance around. The mind is a clean slate while you can fill it up with tasks for the day. You can meditate or perform suryanamaskar or even head out for a walk as soon as the sun rises. Cosmic energies are at their peak and there is no distraction to pollute your thoughts. You can go about doing your activities without speaking too. Studying during this period is most rewarding.
Which is why I was stumped when a friend working in the corporate explained his routine to me. He winds up office work at 7 pm. Then to unwind his friends head out to Sector 29 for that pint which goes on till around 11 pm. From there he heads to the bed and wakes up by 8:30 am and gets ready to go to the office by 10:30 am. The concept of Brahma Muhurta is not for me, says he.
Our body clock has already been set
With lakhs and lakhs of years of evolution. It all began 50 lakh years ago. The first intelligent humans Stone tools appeared 28 lakh years ago and modern humans appeared 50,000 years ago. Compared to that the industrial revolution was just 250 years ago. Even those days we had the sun as the guide for our lives. But the IT industry decided otherwise. They decided to push the limits by even challenging the body clock. So begin 1990s all of a sudden we had the big IT corporates, swanky corporates and the late night and late mornings. In contrast to the Industrial Revolution we had the IT couple, both husband and wife working those odd hours. Kids began following the timings of parents and we have sleepy kids going to school.
Understand the body clock
Our body clock is setup with the sun. Four hours after sunset, melatonin starts kicking in. That is the time when you have to unwind, preferably with your family. Here is how it should go. By 7 pm dinner should be on the table and the oldies that is the parents should be ready to sleep.
Lights around the dinner table should be a soft golden glow and not those harsh tungsten lights, so common in homes in India these days. Dinner should be a family affair. I still remember rotis make before hand and placed in a steel bin, lid tightly shut and all the warm rotis packed in a thin white cloth. In contrast some cultures require the rotis to be baked hot and served at the table. That means one or two family members have to work in the kitchen. That is detrimental. Dinner has to be laid on the table and each member has to serve himself or herself. Table is the place to talk, share jokes and laugh. Post dinner, it is change of clothes and playtime. It can be a board game or play with a pet or even a pillow fight. All that again in soft yellow dim lights.
By 8:30 pm the lights should be ready to go out. You will be ready to receive the first wave of deep sleep. That will give you 8 hours of comfortable sleep.
Welcome the sun
Waking up at Brahma Muhurta means that you can get ready for a walk as soon as the sun is up. Sun rays on your skin will set in motion the various processes within your body. Vitamin D will trigger all that. It helps absorb nutrients and controls the flow of calcium. That is the reason why people also call it a hormone.
With pre and post sunrise activities done, you are ready for the day by 6:30 am complete with all the physical activities.
What’s the problem then?
Indians have slowly slipped into the 11 pm slot. Dinner starts at 8 pm. There are different time slots assigned as per age groups. Women members are assigned to kitchen duties. So instead of being one activity, it is now a group of activities across a wide time band. If guests come, there is additional chaos. Dinner at times is served at 11 pm. So any chance of catching the first wave of sleep at 11 pm is gone.
The big fat Indian wedding is always in the evening. Dinner is again served late night. Food is usually rich and heavy and you end up sleeping and digesting good together at the same time.
Stomach acids erode the insides of the stomach and a fresh lining is laid every night. Imagine this lining being laid and the food being digested at the same time. What a heavy strain on the body.
How to
Avoid the big fat India wedding dinner altogether. These are modern times and people will understand. Do not go looking for free wedding food.
Want to hang on with relatives? Go for the good old fashioned picnic instead. Beach, park, adventure hike, anything that takes you away from modern to nature. Bad cell phone reception places are a boon here.
Joint families usually tend to get late to sleep. It is more to do with the things planned which get late. You need to push things upwards into time. Take all the family members on board. Kids need to be given deadlines. One step at a time till you reach the goal of sleep by 10 pm. That should be the first target.
One way to fight the problem is first find out the one main reason for delay and take care of it. For eg if one member of the family is reaching late and every one is waiting for that member, then the family should stop waiting and get on with their routine.
