Explore how Ayurveda can improve your sleep quality by understanding your dosha and how it relates to your sleep patterns.
Many people have their tricks for falling asleep quickly. Some like a cool room, light covers, and white noise. Others prefer slumbering beneath a heavy blanket with black-out shades and pin-drop silence. And then there are those who seemingly fall asleep with little fanfare—they require no particular routine, sleep aid, thermostat setting, or blanket configuration for solid slumber.
There’s a reason for why different methods work for different people, according to Ayurvedic medicine. That is to say, it may not just be about preference. The ancient Indian medical system credits a person’s dominant dosha, or energy force (more on this later), for shaping how they sleep. For instance, maybe they struggle to catch shut-eye. Perhaps they habitually snooze past their morning alarm. Knowing your dosha can help you understand your sleep struggles—and provide insight into how to improve them. For example, your dosha can inform you of the best temperature for your bedroom, the types of covers to consider, and even how much (or little) sleep you really need.
To understand this better, we talked to Nidhi Pandya, an Ayurvedic doctor and creator of Inner Climate Method®, to learn what a dosha is, how to identify your dosha imbalance, and how to harness this information to improve sleep.
Read more: 5 Ayurveda Principles for More Balanced Sleep
First, what is a dosha?
In Ayurveda, a dosha is an energy force that influences a person’s mental, emotional, and physical self. Each person has a combination of three—Kapha, Pitta, and Vata.
A balanced body has an equal amount of each dosha. However, many people have one that’s more pronounced, and this imbalance can manifest as certain mental and physical characteristics or symptoms. For instance, the Kapha dosha, which is connected to so-called “building” forces, may show up as elevated cholesterol, psoriasis, or difficulty losing weight. An elevated Vata dosha, which is associated with movement, may present as anxiety. An imbalance of the Pitta dosha, associated with warmth and metabolism, may show up as rashes, inflammation, or heartburn.
How do you figure out what your dosha is?
If you’ve ever researched your dosha online, you’ve likely stumbled upon a few quizzes. And while these can be fun, Pandya recommends learning more about the different doshas and the characteristics associated with each in order to uncover your own. After all, knowing your dosha is really about knowing your imbalance. Once you understand what your imbalance is, you can begin learning practices and habits to improve it.
If you want to work with someone to improve your imbalance, Pandya recommends working with an Ayurvedic doctor (not a coach or practitioner).
Here are a few signs of each imbalance. (For a proper and in-depth diagnosis, consult an Ayurvedic doctor.)
Signs of a Kapha imbalance: Excessive sleep, extra mucus, lethargy, congestion, trouble waking up in the morning
Signs of a Vata imbalance: Anxiety, dry skin, bloating, restlessness, trouble falling asleep
Signs of a Pitta imbalance: Anger, hot flashes, heartburn, irritability, heat sensitivity, perfectionism
Read more: How Your Chronotypes Rule Your Sleep
How does your dosha impact sleep?
Knowing your dosha imbalance can help you understand your sleep tendencies. Let’s dive into how each one may be affecting your nightly rest.
Kapha: Because this is the “building” dosha (think structure and steadiness), an imbalance can present as lethargy, congestion, and slow digestion, among other things. “When it comes to sleep, those with Kapha dominance tend to drift off easily”, Pandya says. However, they struggle to wake up.
Kapha-dominant people also tend to feel sedentary and lethargic when they do wake, despite getting a lot of rest, and they may want to take a nap during the day. Again, this is a Kapha-dominant person’s tendency. If this sounds like you, you may have a Kapha imbalance.
Pitta: “Pitta-dominant people are task masters”, Pandya says. They have mental to-do lists that can keep them up at night.
Because Pitta is associated with heat, they are sensitive to their bedroom’s temperature and light. Pitta-dominant people are also more likely to wake in the middle of the night if they are too hot. The plus side to this: Thanks to their drive (a Pitta’s heat is associated with ambition), they are likely to wake as soon as their morning alarm sounds.
“Pitta means business,” Pandya says. “They have heat in their mind. They’re driven. … Unless they’re burnt out, they will wake up (with an alarm).”
Vata: People with a Vata dominance are the most uneasy in bed, Pandya says. They usually wake up before sunrise, have trouble falling asleep and rest for fewer hours than they should. A Vata-dominant person is also more likely to experience anxiety if they wake up in the middle of the night.
“They need the most sleep, but they end up sleeping the least,” Pandya says. “They also say, ‘We don’t need much sleep,’ but the truth is their body needs much.”
Read more: How Temperature Affects Sleep
Tips for improving your sleep, based on your dosha:
Now that you have a better understanding of your dosha and how your imbalance influences your sleep, here are tips for improving your rest.
Kapha: Kapha-dominant people tend to think they need a lot of sleep—they can sleep late and have a tendency to take naps. But Kaphas tend to feel lethargic if they sleep too much. To maximize energy, Kapha-dominant people should try to wake up earlier. “If you wake up earlier (as a Kapha), you will have more energy throughout the day,” Pandya says.
Pro tip for Kaphas: Kapha-dominant people tend to become congested easily. Because of this, they can benefit from keeping a humidifier in their bedroom.
Pitta: Remember, a Pitta-dominant person is a taskmaster. So, in order to feel relaxed enough for sleep, it’s important for a Pitta to feel organized and ready for the following day. One way to do this is to journal before bed. Getting thoughts down on paper helps remove them from your mind before you try to drift off to dreamland. Pitta-dominant people should consider keeping a journal on their nightstand so they can write down any tasks that pop into their head, Pandya says. Again, this practice welcomes rest.
Pitta-dominant people can also benefit from white noise, water sounds (like mountain rain or a waterfall), lavender essential oil, and cotton sheets or pajamas. Because Pittas tend to run warm, it’s important to cool the bedroom and turn off all lights (Pittas are photosensitive, Panya says). This includes lights from a phone or television. “Keep all the gadgets away. Keep all the lights out,” she says. “You use blackout blinds and just keep your room cool.”
Pro-tip for Pittas: Avoid eating spicy food before bed. Because Pitta-dominant people run hot, spicy food can keep them up late.
Vata: Because Vata-dominant people have a racing mind and struggle the most with sleep, it’s important to create a sense of calm and stillness ahead of bedtime. If you believe you have a Vata dominance, there are a few ways to achieve this. First, create a bedtime routine. Prepare for sleep a couple of hours in advance by dimming the lights and playing soft music. “Ritual is very, very important,” Pandya says. “Dimming down that noise in the mind and in the day.”
Other wind-down activities to consider: Ask your partner for a foot massage, read a boring book (save the steamy romance for another day), cool the temperature of your bedroom, and sleep under a heavy blanket. “The weighted blanket just really grounds their nervous system and prevents all this excess, unnecessary movement,” Pandya says.
Vata-dominant people are also likely to wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety. If that happens, don’t turn on any lights. Instead, stay in bed with your eyes closed, Pandya says. You can also do a sleep-specific meditation—like Yoga Nidra—to help yourself fall back asleep.
Pro tip for Vatas: Sleep longer than you think you need. Pandya says that most Vatas think they can run on less sleep because they have active nervous systems, but the opposite is true.
Read more: The Best Acupressure Points For Better Sleep
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