Scientific explanation of factors influencing the 4 pillars of TEEN AAHAAR MANTRA
A) Sleep
B) Exercise
C) Food
D) Thought process

Our body is greatly influenced by the above 4 pillars, be it in a healthy or diseased state

All the above 4 pillars are required for better health, are known to many of us, but when and how to accomplish it is not known. For example, many people blame and doubt food as a culprit for many health issues but that may not always be true. People also categorize food as healthy and unhealthy but what really matters is at what time and how many times you eat, which makes it healthy or unhealthy. Each of the 4 pillars mentioned above are equally important and if any 1is inadequate, then the remaining 3 are less useful in keeping you healthy. It is like all or none phenomenon. Let us see how the 4 pillars mentioned above help us stay healthy and how to follow them to fulfill the criteria in quantity, quality, and time.

Each pillar consists of instructions on how and when to achieve it, along with some scientific reasoning on why to follow the instructions. Though there are many factors and reasons, only a few are mentioned here. To know in detail, you can consult any HOMOEOPATHIC DOCTOR or can talk to DR SANJAY CHAUBE or email or WhatsApp your queries.

A) SLEEP
Sleep is one of the important factors for health. The following are a few instructions along with the scientific reasons to achieve maximum benefit from sleep

1) Minimum sleep required.:
Ideally 7 to 8 hours sleep is a must for adults and 8 to 10 hours for children everyday depending on the type of work and age.
Reason: Reason: Sleep consists of 2 types of cycles occurring alternately and they are REM and NREM cycles. Both these cycles are important, of which NREM cycle is longer as compared to REM cycle in early sleep while REM cycle becomes a little longer than NREM in the latter period of sleep. 3 to 4 cycles of NREM and REM are required to label sleep as good sleep.

In NREM sleep, parasympathetic nerves are more active than sympathetic nerves and that is the reason in NREM sleep (usually in early period of sleep) the following happens:
. Heart rate goes down,
. Blood pressure decreases
. Muscle tone decreases slightly leading to whole body relaxation, and many other important changes also occur in this stage.

In REM sleep, sympathetic is more active than parasympathetic nerves (usually in the later period of sleep) which causes the following:
. Increase in heart rate,
. Increase in blood pressure,
. Increase in muscles tone.
. Increase in secretion of cortisol and decrease in secretion of insulin leading to increase in the blood sugar level, etc.

In REM cycle, many important functions like memory consolidation, muscle repair, bone growth etc. occur. In short duration or a disturbed sleep, proper repetition of NREM and REM cycles do not occur, which may lead to incomplete or imperfect repairing of the body, delayed growth, improper bone formation, and behavioral disorder, etc. Short duration of sleep carries high risk of high blood pressure and other cardiac illnesses, diabetes, thyroid, etc

2) Time of sleeping and waking up
In today’s era of gadgets, screens, and job in MNC’S, punctuality is at its worst, especially pertaining to self, which causes a negative impact on health. Still keeping all this aside, we should try to be in bed by 11pm and wake up by 6.30 am. It is advised to not stay awake after 12 midnight and not keep sleeping after 7 am. One should not stay awake and work in night shifts continuously for weeks or months.
Reason: staying awake late at night and waking up late causes imbalance of many hormones and neurotransmitters like melatonin (secreted in dark), serotonin (secreted by light stimulation), cortisol, etc. These imbalances may lead to hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, obesity, and inability to cope with day-to-day stress, etc. Sun (daytime) is the sign of activeness while Moon (dark) is the sign of sluggishness. So, at dusk, we should slow down our activities and sleep at night.

3) Temperature
The room temperature should not have a greater difference from the surrounding temperature. The room should be:
a) As airy as possible
b) If air conditioner (AC) is being used, the room temperature should be set 2 to 4C higher in the cold weather and 2 to 4C lower in summer compared to the surrounding temperature.

Temperature adjustment is very important, because the body should not be exposed to the same temperature in the room throughout the year irrespective of the external temperature or to extreme difference of temperature between indoors and outdoors. This will have a bad impact on the body temperature regulatory system producing bad effects in the body such as
. Body’s temperature regulatory system is hampered due to which water drinking, sweating, urination, etc. is hampered affecting solute (solid) and solvent (liquid) balance in the body.
. Throughout the year if we stay in cooler surroundings by using A.C. in the house, car, office etc. then the body’s heat combating and heat-bearing capacity weakens and may get disrupted with an increase or decrease in the level of some hormones leading to diseases. Even we tend to eat more in colder climates so the chances of becoming obese increase
. If the body is exposed to extreme cold in summer (staying in A.C.) and to the cold weather in winter, it will disrupt the heat –cold cycle (because body is not exposed to warm temperature in the summer) of the body leading to hormone imbalance thereby vulnerable to many acute and chronic diseases. This may put an extra burden on the thyroid gland leading to death of cells and thyroid diseases.

4) Effects of sleeping in the day and night.
Always complete 7 hours of sleep in one stretch at night and not during the day.
Reason: In the daytime, our body secretes neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin in greater quantities by stimulation from sunlight and due to physical activity. These hormones help us stay awake, alert, physically active, and maintain good muscle coordination, etc. In the dark, the body manufactures more melatonin which makes us sluggish and sleepy. So, if we sleep in the daytime and stay awake at night the secretion cycle of cortisol, dopamine, serotonin, and melatonin, etc. gets disturbed leading to many mental and behavioral diseases and makes us prone to hypertension, impotency, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, depression, ADHD, etc.

5) Brightness in the room
Our room should be dark or have dim lights with the source of light not in front of the eyes
Reason: Darkness stimulates the body to produce and convert more melatonin from serotonin, leading to decrease in serotonin levels (brightness or light stimulates secretion of serotonin)

Excessive light in the room at night, while going to sleep, will keep the serotonin level a little higher and the melatonin level lower and this will affect getting early and good sleep. Less melatonin level in the night time has a negative impact on the body. Some of the functions of melatonin are:

Melatonin makes the body sluggish and helps us fall asleep faster and deeper making it a good sleep. Melatonin helps maintain the circadian cycle. In animals it has been proven that it controls sexual behavior and so less melatonin in humans may be linked to impotency, libido, infertility thus indirectly affecting reproduction and sexual function. If its rate of secretion is decreased, it may increase our blood pressure, disturb sleep wake cycle pattern and cause insomnia or sleeplessness, cause depression, lower immunity, decrease will power, raise blood sugar, and decrease sexual drive and interest, etc.

6) Bed position
While sleeping your face should not be directed south and it is advised to sleep a little away from the wall. Bed should not be attached to any wall of the bedroom or as far as possible we should not sleep close to the walls because every object emits heat from radiation at night which it has absorbed from the surroundings during the day. So, the wall and our body both radiate heat at night and if we are sleeping near the wall, the body may lose less heat or even absorb heat from walls and thus disturb our sleep making it as a bad sleep.

7) Mattresses
Mattresses on bed should be thin in summer and slightly thick in winter
Reason: Thin mattress in summer helps the body lose heat through convection i.e., by increasing air circulation between the skin, clothing, mattress, and the surrounding air so you feel less warm, relaxed, and sweat less. Thick mattress in winter reduces heat loss by decreasing convection i.e., by decreasing air circulation between the skin, clothing, mattress, and the surroundings and heat is retained in the body, so we feel warm and relaxed and get good sleep.

8) Clothing
Wear thin clothes in summer and slightly thick clothes in winter
Reason: Thin clothing in summer helps the body lose heat through convection by increasing the air circulation between the skin, clothing, mattress, and the surrounding air so you feel less warm, relaxed, and sweat less. Thick clothing in winter reduces heat loss by convection so we feel warm and relaxed.

9) Air
As far as possible, sleep in a well-ventilated room in summer
Reason: It helps to reduce heat in the room and from the body by convection and radiation and helps to keep the body and room cooler.

10) Objects in the room.
Do not keep too many objects in the bedroom or at the place where you sleep.
Reason: Every object absorbs the heat of the sun from the surroundings during the day and at night the same heat is radiated in the surroundings making the air in the room warmer. This will reduce the speed of heat loss from our body by conduction, convection, and radiation and make us feel less comfortable or relaxed during sleep making it a bad sleep clubbed with bad dreams. So, less objects, less heat absorption in day time and less radiation at night. Wooden furniture is advisable in the room because they are bad conductors of heat and so they absorb and radiate less heat.

11) Emptying Bowel and Bladder
Always pass urine and clear your bowels before going to sleep.
Reason: Filled bladder or bowel especially bladder keeps giving signals to the brain in sleep to void urine and few may actually pass urine in sleep. It may also cause unwanted dreams or make one get up to pass urine thus disturbing our good sleep

12) Use of gadgets
Use of any gadgets/screens like mobile, laptop, listening to music, watching movies before sleep is not advisable.
Reason: At sleep time, most body functions become sluggish, some brain areas become less active, and some others become more active. Gadgets activate most of our brain areas, creating hindrance in getting sleep when you go to bed. Light emitted from the screen enters the eye and through optic nerve stimulates the secretion of serotonin and reduces the secretion of melatonin (melatonin helps us to get sleep faster and deeper). This excess serotonin keeps us awake and gets activated at night leading to too many thoughts and bad dreams. The aftereffects of the watched movie or song heard delays our sleep.

13) Eating and drinking
- Sleep after 30 minutes to 1hour after dinner. Do not drink anything including water 15 minutes before going to sleep. Avoid alcohol, coffee, and tea after sunset; they act as stimulants and interrupt sleep.
Reason: Lying down just after eating may cause reflux of stomach contents into the throat and it may loosen the lower esophageal sphincter if it happens repeatedly. It may cause acid reflux diseases followed by gastritis and lead to ulcers in the future.
- Drinking water just before sleep may disturb the later sleep because of the urge to urinate during sleep

14) Things to be done when waking up from sleep.
- After waking up from sleep in the morning, turn to one side and then sit on the bed from the lying position. Rising from lying on the back position to the sitting position directly, increases the abdominal pressure and may cause abdominal hernia or other abdominal diseases
- Drink a little water in sitting position. (as advised in the water section)
- Never rise from sitting to standing position at once. Sit for half a minute and then stand on the ground. If we stand at once, it may cause postural hypotension (low blood pressure) and you may fall. Suddenly rising from lying to sitting and then to standing position, the body does not get enough time to correct the blood pressure resulting in improper perfusion of blood to the brain. This reduced blood supply to the brain for a fraction of second causing giddiness or loss of consciousness.
- Empty your bladder immediately after waking up

15) Good sleep effects on the body.
- Sleeping is the most important part of our life where there is no voluntary activity or muscle movements. Some parts of our brain are very active during sleep and it carries out many important functions as summarized below :
. Builds cognitive (intellectual) reserve, like thinking, reasoning, or remembering, etc
. Consolidation of memory
. Increase in concentration.
. Helps remain happy and depressive thoughts are abated or minimized
. Proper repair of wear and tear in the body that had taken place when we awake.
. In children, proper sleep is a must for good growth of bones and muscles and overall body development.
. Good sound sleep of approximately 7 hours consists of proper repeated NREM and REM cycle, which reduces the risk of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease like heart attack, etc.
. Hormones, especially sexual hormones like testosterone, estrogen, progesterone in children and in puberty, is released in pulses, especially at night during sleep, which is very important for sexual growth in both males and females.
. Less and improper sleep in females may cause menstrual problems like irregular cycles, amenorrhea, painful menses, excessive menstrual flow, etc.
. Good sleep increases the chances of better control on hunger by appropriate secretion of leptin, ghrelin, and other hormones thus helps to control and avoid obesity and its complications.
. Good sleep increases sensitivity to hormone at the receptor level, which plays an important role in glucose metabolism and thus decreases the chances of having diabetes mellitus or helps better control of diabetes mellitus with less medications, controls high blood cholesterol levels, reduces weight, promotes estrogen and progesterone hormone sensitivity thus decreasing the chances of infertility in females, etc

Many other factors are also important to make or sleep as good sleep, you can view it in our you tube channel