Doctors advise that we should get at least 8 hours of sleep each night to stay healthy. But trying to go to sleep can sometimes be difficult. You may be spending more time trying to get some sleep than actually sleeping.For thousands of years, Ayurveda has provided remedies to calm your mind and put your body into a restful mode. Let us see how some of these Ayurvedic sleep-enhancing drinks are made… Our first drink for better sleep is Moon Drink – a traditional Ayurvedic recipe. It is made with Ashwagandha, milk, cardamom and cinnamon.Ashwagandha, which means ‘the scent of horses’, is a magical herb that is believed to reduce stress and enhance sleep quality. It is widely available in medical stores in powdered and tablet forms. Cinnamon helps to relax your muscles. Cardamom has a sweet aroma and is known to reduce bloating and restlessness.Milk is popular as a soothing night-time drink because it contains tryptophan, which helps to increase melatonin levels and induces sleep. To make this drink…Warm 1 cup of milk.Add 1 teaspoon of Ashwagandha powder or crush 1 tablet of Ashwagandha into the milk.Add half a teaspoon of cardamom powder and half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder. Stir the milk and your Moon Drink is ready.Our second drink is the traditional Haldi Doodh – also known as Golden Drink.
This is made with warm milk, turmeric, nutmeg, and saffron.Turmeric is known to heal wounds and inflammations and provide protection from infections.Nutmeg and saffron are helpful in treating anxiety-related health issues. To make this drink…Heat 1 cup milk.Stir in 1 teaspoon of turmeric, half teaspoon of nutmeg powder and a pinch of saffron. This Golden Drink has an extremely calming effect on your body and mind.
Our third drink to induce sleep is Yashtimadhu Drink and is also called Liquorice Drink.It is made with milk and yashtimadhu which is called ‘liquorice’ in the Western world. Yashtimadhu is available as pieces of dried root, powder and tablets. Ayurveda often uses Yastimadhu to deal with anxiety because it calms down overactive nerves that may make one restless. It is also used to treat a variety of health issues including respiratory conditions and digestive imbalances.This drink is very simple to make…Mix one teaspoon of yashtimadhu root powder or crush 1 yashtimadhu tablet in a cup of cold milk. Drink this in the morning on an empty stomach to improve the quality of your sleep. You have seen that all these drinks can be made in less than 5 minutes and the ingredients are also simple. Try them all on different days and find out which one helps you to sleep better. In addition to having one of these drinks, cultivate a bed-time routine such as … reading inspiring books, playing soft music, meditating and praying. Once your body gets used to such a soothing routine, you will find it much easier to sleep peacefully all night. Authored by: Dr Hansaji Yogendra, The Yoga Institute