Ayurvedic secrets for a perfect night's sleep

Despite how essential sleep is for our health and well-being, so many of us struggle to create a sleep routine that truly supports rest and restoration.

So here are some Ayurvedic secrets for better sleep:

1. Aim to be asleep before 11 PM. In Ayurveda, this is crucial because after 10 PM, the body's Pitta (fire) energy becomes dominant, making the mind more active and analytical.

2. Practice “Review of the Day”. Reflecting on the events of the day can help process lingering emotions or thoughts. Gently reflect on your day from start to finish. It creates a sense of ease and prepares your nervous system for a more restful night.

3. Adjust your wake-up time. Sleeping in too long can leave us feeling heavy, sluggish, and mentally foggy — a sign we’ve woken during Kapha time (after 6-7 AM), when the body's energy is slow and too grounded. Waking during the lighter Vata time (before 6-7 AM) supports clarity, vitality, and a more vibrant start to the day.

4. Try a warm foot bath or massage before bed. In anxious times, soak your feet in warm water with sesame oil, or give your feet a nice massage. In warmer seasons, sunflower oil can be a good alternative. This grounds Vata, which tends to cause restlessness and insomnia.

5. Incorporate restorative poses. Spend 5 minutes in Child’s Pose (Balasana), focusing on deep belly breathing. If your forehead touches the floor, visualise a connection from your head to the earth, releasing worries and tension.

6. Wind down at least one hour before bedtime. Treat yourself like a baby — speak softly, dim the lights, avoid screens, and move slowly. These cues tell your nervous system it's time to shift into rest mode.

7. Maintain a weekly meditation practice. Nightly is amazing. Once a week is still a win. Meditation keeps the nervous system in check and brings a sense of ease to your evenings, improving sleep quality.

8. Practice yoga nidra. This guided form of deep relaxation induces calmness, releases stored tension, brings deep rest to the body, and quiets mental chatter. Even once or twice a week can make a noticeable difference to your sleep.

9. Aim for regularity. Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day helps align our internal clock with natural cycles of light and darkness. Years ago, Professor Russell Foster, a sleep expert from the University of Oxford, highlighted this point by stating: "We are supremely arrogant species; we feel we can abandon four billion years of evolution and ignore the fact that we have evolved under a light-dark cycle.”

Sleep in Ayurveda: A foundational pillar

In Ayurveda, sleep is considered one of the three sub-pillars of health, along with diet and personal conduct. These three together support the doshas, and swasthya, or balanced health. An imbalance in any of these pillars can disrupt the harmony of the body and mind — think of it like a three-legged stool: kick one leg out, and your whole system wobbles.

One of the classical Ayurvedic texts, the Charaka Samhita — which dates back more than 2,000 years — profoundly illustrates the importance of sleep:

“From sleep [and lack of it, respectively], pleasure and pain, nourishment and emaciation, strength and weakness, knowledge and ignorance, life and death can derive.”

This verse highlights that in Ayurveda, sleep is sacred!

Rest is radical self-care

Getting good sleep isn’t just about feeling rested — it’s about honouring your body, aligning with nature, and letting your systems reset so you can be the radiant, vibrant human you’re meant to be.

We've seen magic happen when clients make just one or two of these changes. Sometimes all it takes is adjusting your bedtime by 30 minutes, sticking with it… and voilà — you start experiencing a sense of balance, clarity, and vitality in your life.

Basically, good sleep = life upgrade. Poor sleep? It directly impacts your physical health, emotional balance, and mental clarity. So yes, sleep isn’t just nice — it’s vital.

Struggling with sleep or to keep a regular sleep routine? Talk to us, and see how we can support you through our programs.