Formula for a sound sleep
It is a well-known fact that beggars sleep better than emperors; labourers sleep better than intellectuals. An article in an American woman’s magazine says that as many as 50 million Americans suffer from so-called insomnia.
According to this article, insomnia, after the common cold and headache, ranks number three for visits to the doctor.
Another online health magazine, Health Channel, claims that over one-third of people experience insomnia from time to time. People who suffer from insomnia are normally frustrated or annoyed by it. Paradoxically, this very emotional state contributes to keeping them awake.
Insomnia is not a disease, it is a byproduct of affluence. As a society grows richer, people do not work hard. Modern lifestyle heavily depends on, caffeine, entertainment and gadgets, which have made life comfortable. Too comfortable to sleep, perhaps. In the race for conquering nature, modern living has become anti-nature. Nature has designed the body to work hard, at least for eight hours. Unless man works hard for eight hours he does not earn the right to have a sound sleep.
Nature never intended that a few people should have all the riches in the world and most others should be poor. Looking at the intentions of nature, it wanted a classless society where everybody works hard. But this is not what has happened.
I feel sorry when a millionaire riding his BMW or a Mercedes looks jealously at a stonecutter sleeping soundly on his cart, oblivious to the noise and filth of the market.
Osho gave some tips to non-sleepers. First, if the people suffering from insomnia want to get rid of it they should not think of it as a disease. Visiting a doctor is meaningless. They should start working in their garden instead, or do some manual work without feeling ashamed. And forget all about sleep — it will come. It always comes, you don’t have to bring it.
Second, do not judge your sleep. It is the quality of sleep that matters, not the quantity. A deep sleep for a shorter time is much better than long hours of disturbed sleep.
Another Osho tip is quite startling: “Stop socialising!” Because it is hypocrisy. This fake and meaningless activity fills your mind with social garbage, puts pressure on your real nature. You pay the price by sleeplessness.
And fourth: “There should be more meditation centres, especially for people who are suffering from insomnia. Meditation will help them relax. And when they come to meditate they should be told, ‘Meditation alone will not do; it is half of the work. The other half is hard physical exercise’.”
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