Chinese Medicine View of Sleep

How long has it been since you’ve had a good night’s sleep, and how long has it been since you’ve felt that feeling of waking up refreshed? Lao Tzu said: “One yin and one yang is called the Tao”. In layman’s terms, sleeping is the process of recuperation, nurturing and storage, the process of collecting and absorbing energy; working and studying during the day is the process of releasing energy. Yin and Yang are half and half, one cannot be without the other. The Spiritual Pivot – Mouth Question says: “When the yang energy is exhausted, and the yin energy is abundant, the eyes will close; when the yin energy is exhausted, and the yang energy is abundant, you will be awake.” It means that if the yin energy is strong at night and the yang energy is weak, you should sleep, and if the yang energy is strong during the day and the yin energy is weak, you should wake up. Talking about the benefits of sleep can be too much, can eliminate fatigue, protect the brain, enhance the positive energy, promote child development, beauty, etc.. During sleep, the body’s essence and energy are internally guarded in the five organs, the five bodies are at ease, the qi and blood are harmonized, the body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure drop, the breathing and endocrine secretion are obviously reduced, thus the metabolic rate is reduced and the physical strength is restored.

Since sleep is so good, how should I sleep? The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine says: “Eat and drink in moderation, get up and live in moderation.” The word “up and about” means the work and rest of people, and “regular” means regular, meaning that people should have a regular sleep and rest. According to what rule? The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine in the four qi tune Shen Dazheng said: spring March …… night sleep and get up early; summer March …… night sleep and get up early; autumn March …… early sleep and get up early; winter March …… sleep early and get up late, must wait for daylight. So it’s not right to get up on time every day, to be the same step as the sun rises and falls on heaven and earth, spring and summer day is long and night is short, should sleep late and get up early, winter day is short and night is long, should sleep early and get up late, especially winter morning is too cold, should wait until the sun comes out and then get up. That late to bed, early to bed about what time to sleep, about how long to sleep is considered healthy? Generally speaking, adults should be kept at 7-8 hours of sleep, while children need to sleep for 8-12 hours due to growth and development.

9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. is the time of the day, when the Sanjiao meridian is flourishing, Sanjiao pass all the veins, sleep at the time of the day, all the veins are moistened. So regardless of the seasons early or late sleep, before 11:00 p.m. should fall asleep, note that it is asleep, not start to go to bed to sleep, sleep at night, then the son and ugly hours in a deep sleep, the most helpful liver blood. If you sleep after 11 o’clock, you can not sleep, because 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock is the time of the son, is the foot Shaoyang bile meridian circulation, Shaoyang also known as Xiaoyang, at this time began to slowly fill the Yang, Yin began to gradually weaken, so it is difficult to sleep after 11 o’clock. Chinese medicine also believes that you should not sleep in the morning, about 7:00 defecation helps detoxification of the large intestine meridian, which can make you look better. Therefore, it is said that women should go to bed early and not stay up late if they want to maintain a good appearance and have less chloasma.

To sleep well, the environment of sleep should also be noted. The room where you sleep should not be too big, mainly for gathering Yang Qi. Friends who have been to the Forbidden City can find that the ancient emperor’s bedroom is also less than eight square meters, surrounded by a mantle, and sleep on one side of the bed must be against the wall. Because the hut to gather gas, so that you can sleep solid. Before going to sleep, but also close the doors and windows, because after people fall asleep, the circulation of Qi and blood is slow, the body temperature drops, the windows go to the wind, the wind into the tendons, cold into the bone, get up in the morning, the body yellow, face yellow, the back of the neck that tendon hard, sore bones, and even some people began to fever, which is the wind and cold invaded the tendons and bones.

Before going to bed should not do strenuous exercise, especially night running, qi and blood hot after difficult to sleep, you can run after dinner or morning running, you can do proper stretching at night; should not eat a lot, or you sleep when the qi and blood all surge to the stomach to digest food; anything that makes people excited, do not go to bed, you can do something quiet, such as reading a book, painting, listening to soft music. After waking up, the morning is the time when Yang Qi is born. After waking up, you can do the right amount of exercise (such as stretching three lazy backs, three deep breaths – getting up on your side – rubbing your waist, stretching your neck and shoulders) to help your own Yang Qi to be born. Noon is the most floating yang between heaven and earth, popularity is also the most floating, when the lunch break, you can lead the yang to the root. So if you have the conditions should take a nap at noon, but nap sleep time should not exceed half an hour.

If you stay up too late for a long time, you will not be able to cross the yin, so you will be depleted outside, so staying up late is the most depleted yang, yang depletion will be poor health, it will be difficult to live long. The main reason for this is that the liver and gallbladder are in charge of the night, so the liver can not produce blood, blood for the rest of the hair, so it is easy to cause baldness, but also easy to cause the liver can not return to the blood, toxic blood can not be discharged, fresh blood can not be produced, the bile and can not change the bile, the accumulation of months, it is easy to let people suffer from gallstones, cysts, big three yang, small three yang and other diseases. Staying up late can also hurt the kidneys, the kidneys are the foundation of the innate, the kidneys are the main reservoir of essence, on time and have enough sleep people with strong kidney essence, their essence is also sufficient; and stay up late people on the fire, easily cause irritability, anxiety, depression, concentration can not focus on diseases.

I hope everyone can have a good habit of work and rest and live a healthy life.