If waking up ready for the day feels like a foreign concept, midday crashes a regular occurrence and restlessness at bedtime a trend, it may be time to reset your body clock. According to Ayurveda one of the keys to good health is living in tune with nature’s cycles, most importantly the daily rhythm that governs your physiology. Known as circadian rhythm this 24-hour biological cycle governs the optimal time to fall asleep and wake up as well as other essential bodily functions like hormone release, digestion and body temperature. Framed another way (some 5,000 years before researchers we able to prove this phenomena), Ayurveda outlined this pattern with the language of the doshas, specifically the qualities present as various times of day that influence how we experience it and what we need to consider to live aligned, aka. balanced, versus out of sync. When integrated, this information has the power to drastically improve everything from your productivity and resolutions to your sleep quality and digestion.
Overview: Each day, we cycle through six 4-hour time zones—three during the daytime and three at nighttime. Each time period is dominated by one dosha, and thus influenced by the qualities of that dosha. In total, we see/experience each dosha twice in a 24-hour cycle.
6-10am Kapha
Kapha governs stability, structure aka.l it’s all about the body. If you wake up feeling heavy, this is the time to move—stretch, walk, workout—invigorate, stimulate and warm your body from the inside to prepare yourself for the new day ahead. If you generally wake feel tired, pay attention to what time you’re rising. Even though getting enough sleep matters, when you wake up matters, too. Getting up in the latter half of this window means trying to rise up through heaviness (the qualities of water & earth) whereas rising in the first half of this time frame means you have the qualities of stability to provide a solid foundation for the start your day.
Despite popular thought, this is not the best time for a huge meal, which can make you feel more heavy and sluggish, like Kapha itself. Instead, eat a light but nourishing breakfast (oats vs pastry), and if you’re not hungry, wait. The best rule is to pay attention to your body and respond accordingly.
10am-2pm Pitta
Pitta governs transformation and digestion. When it’s in charge, it is time to eat—and to go big. In the U.S., people tend to have small lunches and compensate by feasting at dinner. However, circadian rhythm shows us that at a biochemical level, this is not the way the body is designed to function: We have the highest digestive capacity midday, which is without a doubt the optimal time to have a larger meal. That said, large doesn’t mean stuff-your-face-then-fall-alseep-at-your-desk big, rather enough nutrient-dense food that both agrees with your GI system and fuels you until dinner. Now, according to Ayurvedic wisdom, transformation is both food into substance and processing of the mind. Think of it as your mind “lit up” or “on fire”, able to move through tasks quickly and efficiently. If you pay close attention to your focus this time of day, you will notice that you feel primed to check things off the to-do list — to get things done and take care of business.
2-6pm, Vata
Vata governs movement, including the nervous system and sensory experience. When you’re rested and in balance, this is a time to be creative, think abstractly about problem-solving,
However, if you didn’t sleep well the night before or had a small or poor quality lunch, you can feel your energy dip around this time. This can look like sugar cravings, mental fatigue, feeling ungrounded, being easily distracted. To make the most of this time of day, create a calm environment and reduce mental stimulation. Talk a refreshing walk, sip warm herbal tea, do a body scan to check-in with yourself. Vata is the most delicate of the doshas, the one that is fastest to go out of balance (it is movement, afterall). Yet, if you can pay special attention to it during this time frame, you will reap its wonderful rewards: flow, creativity and connection to the subtle realm to name a few.
6-10pm Kapha
The second time we see Kapha—the energy of stability and structure—it is to support you winding down, grounding after an active day so that you can prepare for a restorative night’s sleep. The early side of this window is a good time to exercise, but not too vigorously; choose a type of exercise that helps stretch and relax your body like yoga, walking or swimming. To align with your digestive rhythms, eat an early dinner and keep it small. (Rule of thumb: the lighter you eat in the evening, the more refreshed you will feel the next morning.) Keeping dinner light and stimulation low (ie tv, phone, computer) makes all the difference when it comes to sleep quality, which as you know, impacts how you’ll feel tomorrow.
An evening routine goes a long way in making the most of this window. Just as you do in the morning, create a flow that feels repeatable. Simple things like dimming the lights, lighting a candle, taking a bath and/or journaling can go a long.
10-2am Pitta
The second time we see Pitta—the energy of transformation and digestion—is to clear out and reset your system, ie. “digest” everything that happened within the body during the day. For this to happen, you need to be asleep during this timeframe so as not to interfere with this essential function. If you’re awake, not only does this process not happen, but you’re also likely to misinterpret this Pitta energy as hunger, the digestive fire we feel between 10am-2pm. It’s important to know that eating late forces the body to digest food at a time it’s prime for something else, and it is this inefficiency that leads to waking up groggy, tired and heavy due to the undigested food still in your system. As you can see, when you eat and when you sleep has a huge impact on you’re likely to feel the next day!
2-6am Vata
The second time we see Vata—nervous system, sensory expression, it is the other side of movement—receptivity. In Eastern spiritual traditions, this is considered the best time of day for meditation, prayer, chanting and spiritual practices. If you are generally asleep during this time (as most of us are), you may have dreams that contain valuable insights and understandings. Something else you may notice is that if you wake during this time, it is difficult to fall back asleep. This is because your natural sleep hormone is waning as your body slowly moves towards being fully awake. To prevent tossing and turning—missing out on both rest and insights—be sure to get to bed early. You may even begin to wake early enough to enjoy the subtle and clear energy of this time of day.
