We have forgotten how to truly rest

It had been a very long day at the office for me. And now an overwhelmed mother was expounding on her lists of grievances in regards to her 8-year-old son; the little boy sitting next to her. His sadness pulled him deeper into his chair as he listened to his mother’s itemized complaints. He didn’t fl inch, he just drooped. Item number five was how restless he was constantly in motion, unable to sit still.

For ages, parents have complained to me about how restless their children are, but on that late afternoon I heard "restless" in a completely new way. Restless. "Why does he get less rest than your other children?" I blurted it out. I was questioning myself as well as the boy’s mother. At that moment, even I didn’t really know what I meant.

I knew how irritable I became when I was overly tired. If I did not get enough rest I would probably be bouncing off the walls. Maybe that was little Curt’s problem also? If an 8-year-old is not well rested, could he be expressing his loss in aimless motions and mutterings? I looked up. Curt’s mom was staring at me With her jaw open. I had either sounded ridiculous or stumbled across a major clue. As our eyes met, she started nodding in agreement.

Less rest exactly! That must be it. Ever since Curt’s little brother had started whining at night, Curt had been more restless. Having a baby brother teething in the same bedroom may have been the very cause of Curt not getting enough rest. They moved him to his older sister’s bedroom and With in three days his restlessness had diminished by 75 percent, according to the follow-up email from his mother. We all need rest. If you’re lucky, sleep is restful; but for most of us, sleep is rarely restful. I ask my patients questions like: Do you wake up feeling dull and groggy? Do you feel stressed and rushed all day because, once again, you overslept? Do you feel that no matter how much sleep you get, it’s never enough? This is not how sleep is supposed to feel.

If that is your experience, then something needs to change. I am going to show you how and why your sleep habits may need improvement. At bedtime, many of my patients get dragged into unconsciousness. They go to bed so tired that they have no control over the experience and quality of their sleep. They collapse into their beds, only to wake hours later feeling like a slave to their sleep habits. To be happy and healthy, you have to stop being a victim to your dietary habits, your breathing patterns and your sleep patterns.

These activities are deeply embedded but they can be drastically modified for the better. Understanding boththe modern scientific and Ayurvedic suggestions for sleep will liberate you from the tormenting dullness and grogginess that poor sleep produces.

When I talk to audiences today, I always incorporate the topic of sleep. This is because we have forgotten how to truly rest. I always ask my listeners if they have ever slept eight hours and woken up exhausted. No matter where I am, the hands fl y up. "What were you doing for those eight hours?" I ask them. They are not exactly sure how those hours were spent all they know is that they were not restful. This universal experience of sleep shows that there must be a diff erence between sleep and rest otherwise sleeping eight hours would always leave you feeling rested.