Winning Sleep
This article talks about the growing issue of increasing sleep debt in generation Z. It also draws parallels from the Hindu Epic Mahabharata and its protagonist Arjuna.
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I guess all of us can agree here that Covid-19 has had a serious impact on us. The new normal as we say do not only constitute how we travel, or how we consume food but also the content we consume and in my case, the TV shows I binge. At the very beginning of the lockdown in India, two of the most popular shows in Indian history - Ramayana and Mahabharata were re-telecasted on Doordarshan, which also eventually led it to become the highest watched channel for that week. I jumped a little late on the bandwagon and very recently completed my binge run for the show.
Apart from my binge interests, like most of us, Covid also affected my sleep schedule. The absolute change in the lifestyle deeply impacted my sleep cycle and I often found myself sleep deprived in the first 6 months of the lockdown. And when I was facing all of this, struggling to sleep on time, I found out that Arjuna, the protagonist of the Indian epic Mahabharata was able to win sleep.
Disclaimer: There are multiple translations and renditions of the epic and you may find sources that put forward a conflicting take from what is being mentioned here. This piece is my take on the epic and is in no way written to oppose or hurt the sentiments of people who believe differently.
Now, what do we mean by winning sleep? Arjuna, also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is the main protagonist of the Indian epic Mahabharata. Sleep was optional for Arjuna, he was able to stay awake for days straight and chose to sleep throughout the day in smaller intervals. This is very similar to what we call polyphasic sleep schedules. It is also said that Arjuna was aware while he slept, that is he did not lose consciousness when asleep. Interesting stuff, this brings us to Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Nidra is a state in which the body and mind are deeply relaxed in sleep-like restfulness, yet with full conscious awareness. Moving on, because Arjuna had complete control over sleep, he was named Gudakesha. Gudakesha loosely translates to Lord of Sleep or One who control’s his sleep. Lord Krishna, while reciting Bhagwad Gita (which can be translated to the song of god) to Arjuna, referred to him as 'Gudakesha', meaning one who has conquered sleep.
Now that we have the context of where the phrase "Winning Sleep" comes from, I would like to address a growing problem in today's generation. Now all of us are not demi-gods like Arjuna and need our fair share of sleep every day. GenZ apart from being titled as the loneliest generation ever has not been sleeping enough. A 2016 report suggested that teenagers have been losing sleep every year. And this problem is very often, let me ask this, do you often find yourself crashing for over 10 hours on a holiday? I have found myself sleeping for even more. This my friends is an elementary symptom of sleep debt.
What is sleep debt you ask? Globally, there are more than 44 million debtors who owe more than $1.5 trillion in student debt. But is there another kind of debt that should be getting more attention? Over the past decade, scientific studies have shown that younger generations continue to exhibit a steady and continual decline in sleep duration and quality. Which essentially means that we are just not getting enough sleep. But why the term debt? Now it has been studied that the amount of sleep a person needs goes up if they have missed sleep in the past couple of days, if you don't sleep enough today, you would have to compensate by sleeping more the next time analogous to missing interest payments on debt.
That is, you are paying your body for all the work that it does for you by sleep, if you miss your payments, the body first will resist, will stop functioning properly very similar to the bank freezing your accounts, and will make you compensate by making you pay more the next time. Having talked about sleep, it would be unfair if we don't delve into the process of going into sleep. There are essentially four stages of sleep depending upon the state of your brain. The first two are called the light stage, post which you enter deep sleep. Deep sleep is when it gets harder for you to wake back up. During these three stages, your body tries to rejuvenate itself, repair damages if any, and work on growth and development. Interestingly, your brain goes into a passive mode in these stages.
The final stage is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This is when your brain becomes active again, and is also the stage where you do most of your dreaming. REM sleep is essential for learning and development for your brain. During this period, your brain transfers information from short-term memory to long term which is why all-nighters before exams are not a great idea!
Now that we understand the importance of sleep, how long can we go about it? an average human needs 8-10 hours of sleep every day for optimal function but given our notorious selves, we often go without sleep for days. The longest recorded time without sleep is approximately 264 hours or just over 11 consecutive days.
Following are some tips I found useful to help one catch back that circadian rhythm:
Having a constant sleeping schedule, even for holidays
Setting up a pre-bed routine to make it easier to fall asleep quickly for me it is reading a book
Disconnecting from electronic devices like mobile phones and laptops for a half-hour or more before bed.
Carefully monitoring your intake of caffeine and alcohol and trying to avoid consuming them in the hours before bed.
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