ABSTRACT
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 388 Current Knowledge and Understanding ................................................................................................. 388 Ayurveda: The Art of Healthy Living .................................................................................................... 389 Tridosha: A Simple Theory to Handle Complexity ............................................................................... 389 Sleep: An Ayurvedic Perspective ........................................................................................................... 390 Diet ......................................................................................................................................................... 390 Sleep Disorders: Clinical Consequence of Affected Sleep .....................................................................391 Nutritional Intervention for Sleep Disorders ..........................................................................................391 Serotonin, Melatonin, and Nidra ............................................................................................................391 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 392 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................. 393 References .............................................................................................................................................. 393
Human beings spend approximately a third of their lives asleep. There was a time when the importance of sleep was undermined. It was considered a mere necessity and part of one’s daily routine, most often taken for granted. It was thus never viewed as a signicant area for active research. Now, however, there is increasing realization based on scientic data that sleep, much like eating, is essential for both the physical and mental health of individuals (Swick, 2005; Cirelli and Tononi, 2008; Rial et al., 2007). There is mounting scientic evidence to indicate that sleep not only inuences a number of physiological functions, but is also a causative factor for a number of neurological and other diseases (Lautenbacher et al., 2006; Bollinger et al., 2010; Bianchi, 2013; Sharma and Kavuru, 2010). For example, an association between sleep and the onset of obesity has been reported (Bollinger et al., 2010).
