When sleep eludes you

You went through a day full of physical and mental activity, experienced a gamut of emotions, including joy and sorrow, calmness and anger. By nightfall, one would assume you would fall asleep exhausted, the moment your head touches the pillow. But you find yourself wide awake, going over the day's events and experiences, worrying, agonising, feeling sad, helpless, and you just cannot relax and so you cannot sleep. This happens to many of us who are even a little bit sensitive. We are human, after all. Yet consistent sleeplessness - due to whatever reason - can damage both your mental and physical health, adversely impact your decision-making abilities, skew your perspective and generally mess you up.

Taking deep breaths helps. It may sound like a panacea for most ills, but the fact is that we forget to breathe right when we are disturbed or busy, and that impairs body functions. Take deep breaths, inhale, exhale unhurriedly, and automatically, you begin to relax, somewhat. If possible, try to empty your mind of all thoughts, plans, schedules, unfinished tasks, conflicts and so on. Relationship issues are a huge sleep deterrent. Try to push everything aside and just focus on your breath. A good night's sleep works wonders - you think more clearly, you feel energised, you become hopeful, you can get through the day, howsoever challenging it is. But if you spend a sleepless night, everything goes out of kilter. Tempers fly. Work remains unfinished because you are unable to focus or concentrate. You feel weak and tired. Practice of pranayam or any deep-breathing exercise is, indeed, a good way to begin.