English Dharma talk – I can’t sleep, please help me!

We had Dr Phang Cheng Kar giving a Dharma talk entitled “I can’t sleep, please help me!” to a full house of devotees on Sunday, 3 June.  He explained the cycles and stages of sleep and cleared some misconceptions on sleep.  These include how long we should sleep, should we take a nap, and whether sleeping is a waste of time.  He also shared some ‘sleep hygiene’ or habits that help one to have a good sleep, foods to take and avoid before sleeping.  For example, foods such as caffeine, chocolate, cheese, chilly and junk foods are to be avoided before sleeping.  It is a bad habit to sleep right after a meal.  Supplement of magnesium can be helpful in overcoming insomnia.  He also talked about the side effects of sleep deprivation and sleeping pills, and alternatives to sleeping pills.

Lastly, he taught us some sleep inducing exercises such as mindful body stretching, body grounding, body scan, Google-WWW-Yahoo technique, and radiating loving-kindness(metta).  He made the audience do a few sets of mindful body stretching and sang a loving-kindness song, making the talk very hands-on.   In a nutshell, the talk was full of information and practical advices.

Thank you, Dr Phang! Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu!