Sleep & Ayurveda by Joyce Liew

We invited Joyce Liew to host an event in our showroom to explain more about Ayurveda and its relation to sleep.

Joyce Liew is a certified Pilates teacher and an Ayurveda practitioner. Ayurveda is a way of life that teaches us how to maintain and protect our health and vitality through understanding of our own constitution and our three doshas. The work in Ayurveda is to maintain the doshas in proportion to the constitutional balance of the doshas.

Ayurveda believes that sleeping soundly is of importance to our health and being able to have good sleep is a sign of good health.

We need good sleep because:

• Body and mind need rest. It's the only time when our tissues and muscles regenerate and repair; many metabolic processes occur only at night
• Our senses need rest especially after constantly being on handheld devices and on computers
• Insufficient hours of sleep may lead to sleep disorders

What is unhealthy sleep?

• Heavy sleep due to:  hangover from alcohol, Kapha aggravation, excessive physical exertion
• Insomnia or waking up during mid-sleep due to: Vata aggravation, mental agitation, worry, anxiety, depression, fear and/or pain

 Cultivating a sleep routine habit is key. Most of our diseases can be addressed by prioritising deep restful sleep in our treatment plan.

Basic Sleep Routine habits:

• Avoid screen time (TV, mobile phones, computer) at least 1 hour before bedtime
• Avoid caffeine or alcohol after dinner
• Avoid snacking
• Abhyanga massage (feet, neck, chest, stomach); warm bath;10-15 mins meditation or breathing exercises; pranayama
• Rasayana (warm milk, ghee, honey) or herbal tea