Hi, help us enhance your experience
Hi, help us enhance your experience
Hi, help us enhance your experience
919 Views
Dr KK Aggarwal 30 December 2017
The best description of the causes and treatment of insomnia comes from Vidura Niti a dialogue between Vidura and Dhritarashtra.
In the text, King Dhritarashtra said: “O Vidura, Sanjaya has come back. He has gone away after rebuking me. Tomorrow he will deliver, in the midst of the court, Ajatashatru’s message. I have not been able today to ascertain what the message is of the Kuru hero. Therefore, my body is burning, and that has produced sleeplessness. Tell us what may be good for a person that is sleepless and burning.
“My body is burning, and that has produced sleeplessness” is a typical description of anxiety and related sleeplessness, true even today.
Vidura said: “Sleeplessness overtakes thief, a lustful person, him that has lost all his wealth, him that has failed to achieve success, and him also that is weak and has been attacked by a strong person”.
He therefore described five basic reasons for insomnia and even in today’s science they are true. No new cause has been added in this list of stress induced insomnia.
The situations are:
Ayurveda describes sleep as an aggravation of Vata and Pitta dosha. The number one cause of the same is mental tension; suppressed feelings and acute bitterness. The above five situations again hold true to this effect.
Apart in Allopathy other causes of insomnia mentioned are constipation; dyspepsia; excessive intake of tea, coffee and alcohol and environment Factors-excessive cold, heat or change of environment. They are in most of the situations the effect and not the cause of insomnia.
The treatment of insomnia involves either suppressing the emotions with drugs or root level eradication of stress with proper counseling. Bhagavad Gita, Chanakya Niti and Vidur Niti are high level counseling books of ancient era and provide texts and sutras even true today.
Bhagavad Gita was a counseling when Arjuna went in an acute anxiety state and was not being able to decide whether or not he should fight with his near ones. He said: my legs are trembling, my bows are leaving me, by body is shaking, what should I do”. The principles of Gita today are incorporated as the principles of any counseling.
Chanakya gave principles of how to manage conflicts and win over others. One of his main teachings was that money earned by unfair means can only last for eight years.
Another answer to insomnia is learning meditation as described in Patanjali Yoga Sutra or Yoga Vashistha. It is based on the principle of concentrating on the present, which shifts the inner environment from sympathetic to para sympathetic mode. 20 minutes of meditation morning and evening provides the same biochemical benefit as gathered from 7 hours of deep sleep.
Here are some other sutras of Vidura Niti:
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this write up are my own).
{{Article_Title}}
{{Article_Author}}
{{Article_Title}}
{{Article_Author}}
{{Article_Title}}..
High 1-hour Plasma Glucose: Early Indicator of Type 2 Diabetes Risk..
Maintaining Liver Health to Optimize Glycemic Outcomes in Early Type 2.....
Hidden Hazard of Indoor Pollution in COPD..
Recognizing Pitfalls of Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound..
Risk Factors for Poorly Controlled Severe Preschool Wheeze..
{{Article_Title}}..
India Reports First Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) Cases in Karnataka..
Two-Year-Old Dies after Wrong Injection Administered by Private Compounder in Jaisalmer..
'Law of the Land' Paramount for Blinkit's Ambulance Services, Says PiyushGoyal..
India Monitors Respiratory Illness Surge amid Reports of HMPV Outbreak in China..
Chhattisgarh High Court Grants Permission for Minor Rape Victim's Abortion..