Chennai: Do you leave your cellphone next to your pillow and pop in a pill to sleep? If yes, you may be breaking your ‘sleep cycle’.
 
Doctors at the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College Hospital (GYNMCH) found that a majority of patients complaining of sleeplessness were guilty of taking the pill before hitting the pillow and allowing the mobile phone to jar them out of sleep forced upon them by the avoidable pill.
 
Almost 100 new patients queue up at the GYNMCH with complaints of sleeplessness every week.
 
An insomnia study is on in a batch of 50 patients, aged 25 to 35, to know how gadgets, such as the cell phone, affect sleep. They are also taught yoga asanas that are known to help redeem their sleep debt — a term for describing the accumulated loss of sleep as against the ideal eight hours of sleep per day.
 
“These young people have been sleeping with their mobile phones and consecutively accumulating sleep debt. Most turned to the sleeping pill and some of them even increased the doses to no avail. We told them to leave the mobiles outside the bedroom, practise some simple asanas such as Bhramari Prana­yama, and changed diet a bit”, said Dr Y. Deepa.
 
She has healed a 27-year-old techie who was dependent on the pill for six years and could come out of it after two months of treatment.
 
Another doctor S. Ishwariya said high exposure to bright light, such as the computer screen, would affect the secretion of a hormone called melatonin that secretes in the pineal gland in the brain. “
 
This affects sleep, besides causing optic nerve irritation and migraine. “This headache is an alert that the body badly needs rest”.        
 
Fight insomnia with yoga

 
When you miss your sleep at night, there is no need to sleep throughout next day to compensate for it.
 
A 20-minute brisk walk in the early morning would recharge the body and set your biological clock back on track.
 
This is the advice given by the doctors in the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College Hospital (GYNMCH) at Anna hospital premises in Arumbakkam.
 
Dr Selvameenakshi said, “All the vital organs would receive energy from the cold morning air. Regular walks would strengthen muscles and joints. All of us require minimum six hours of sleep at night.”
 
GYNMCH doctors said sedentary work and regular consumption of fast food and lack of sleep would be a deadly combination, which would result in blood pressure, obesity and heart diseases at a very young age.
 
GYNMCH doctor Selvameenakshi said, “Persons who suffer from sleep disorders should go for morning walk regularly. Drinking water mixed with a spoon of honey an hour before bedtime and avoiding spicy dinner would induce sleep.”
 
Doctors say that chronic sleep disorders could be treated with yogasanas and naturopathy treatments, which could be done at home by the patients on their own. They say that yoga and walking are the best medications to fight sleep disorders.

 
Siddha treats sleep disorders with simple remedies 
 

Renowned siddhars Agathiyar, Therar and Yugi Munivar have penned several songs on sleep apnea and effective treatment methods to cure the disorder.
 
Doctors in the government siddha college said siddhars classified sleep as an essential urge, which should not be controlled.
 
Quoting siddha medical literature, Dr S. Suganthan said, “Sleep is a sign of health. It reduces stress, boosts memory and energises the body to be alert throughout the day. Loss of sleep would cause laziness, headache and affect thinking and clear speech.”
 
He said daytime sleep should be avoided. “Instead of sleeping pills, physical exercise and walks during the day should be tried.” Another doctor, S. Shailaja, said taking oil bath once in four days is the best therapy to overcome sleeplessness.
 
“After oil bath, you will feel sleepy. When oil bath is taken regularly, sleep disorders would not recur ever. Honey and vendhayam (fenugreek) are natural sleep inducers. Add them to your food whenever needed,” she said.
 
Siddha doctors say that books like Siddha Marthuva Surukkam and Siddhar Udal Thathuvam, Vyasa Bhagavan Sareera Suthiram and Yugi Muni Sareera Suthiram written by siddhars have many treatments to fight sleep disorders and a few therapies could be tried at home.