Review Article
Year: 2017 | Month: May | Volume: 7 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 368-381
Improving Sleep Quality through Heartfulness Meditation- Technical Aspects and Benefits
Raja Amarnath1, Ghanshyam Verma2, Sugirtha Jenitha3, Chitra Rajan4, Jaya Prasanthi5, Ani Elizabeth6
1Associate professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Director - Critical Care Services,
2Assistant professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Incharge of Critical care services,
3Clinical researcher, Critical Care Unit,
Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chrompet, Chennai-44
4IIT-Chennai, Consultant-Environmental Sustainability
5Dip (Diabetology).
6B.Sc Nursing
Corresponding Author: Raja Amarnath
ABSTRACT
Sleep is a vital function of the body that is essential for our physical and mental well-being. In today’s world, sleep deprivation is becoming a major epidemic affecting both men and women across all age groups. Globalization and explosion of information through Internet, ever increasing competition in this capitalistic world and endless social engagements have led to an accelerated lifestyle in majority of the societies, consequently reducing the time to rest and sleep. Poor sleep affects all ages in terms of attention, concentration, learning, memory, creativity, productivity, emotional stability and physical health. Inadequate sleep is known to impair health and shorten the lifespan. A good quality sleep enhances memory, mood, immune system and fights infection, keeping mind, heart and blood vessels healthier. Sleep regulates several hormonal functions and autonomic nervous system and thus improves health. Currently available drugs to treat sleep disorders have many adverse effects ranging from dependence, tolerance, day time sedation and risk of Alzheimer’s disease etc. There is a growing interest in complementary therapies like meditation as an alternative to drugs in this regard. Meditation has been shown to improve the quality of sleep and also positively affect different medical conditions that are known to produce sleep disturbances, and thus improves overall quality of life.
Key words: sleep, insomnia, emotional stress, Heartfulness, Meditation.