MIND, SLEEP, REST and THE REST

 MIND, SLEEP, REST and THE REST

 A very intricate relationship among the items listed above forms an ensemble. Indeed it is an enigma of sorts if we attempt to understand any of them in isolation. It is a circle-- in that where to begin, how to proceed or how to disconnect one from the other are all –aspects of personal preference with no order to proceed along. The intertwining of these products is perhaps exclusive to humans. I choose to call them products because each of them results from several reactions/ interactions that are mentally processed. Yes, it is the thought fabric that connects the factors and products which constitute our day-to-day variations in sleep or rest or loss of these.

  MIND

 A brief reference can clarify my line of thought. Mind is a faculty which has no shape or size or location to pinpoint a structure as the ‘mind’. Yet, it is the mind which rules our emotions and sustains the human element named ‘Alter Ego’. The ‘Alter Ego’ is the natural ‘regulator’ within to guide our actions , reactions and interactions based on a pattern  typical to a person groomed under specific criteria called values ; values together bundle themselves into an arrangement- the value system deciphering the innate quality of ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ as per the habitual priorities of the individual. The ruling criteria determining those priorities are the ‘Means’ and the ‘End’; these two are prioritized as to which should justify the action based on the option: i.e., ‘means justifying the end’ or the ‘end justifying the means’.  For the same set of criteria, different minds use different options based the individual’s commitment. So, many determinants work for the mind.

 A crucial /cruel feature of the mind is that it doesn’t obey any guideline. No one can subjugate the mind to ‘stay quiet or remain static’ except by serious training.. The moment anyone wakes up from sleep, well before any other system activates, the mind begins its run, hops territories, runs through ‘fantasies of delight’ or despair and does not seek or need the person’s concurrence to begin ‘activity’. In fact, mind right away begins its work and tries to formulate the day’s agenda, no matter how rich or poor the person is. It runs riot, and switches ends endlessly and stays alert in its place and can deliver a ‘feedback’, at the right place and time.  N          o wonder, the faculty [mind] is equated with Horse for rapid movement through territory; some rate it for a ‘monkey’ as it hops territories until something urgent holds it down.  When thought predominates a person’s mind, the faculty for ‘sleep/ sleep-induction loses grip over the person’s need-based help. At other times, Sleep /staying awake are like a flip-flop change. Sleep-inducing controls open up when no serious thought occurs. Thus, sleep has certain controls which regulate the readiness or otherwise –as given by the gravity of thought in a given situation.

SLEEP

 Sleep is nature’s gift to living systems- big or small and has profound influence over health, especially for humans.  A sense of exhaustion overwhelms a person who has not had the right share of sleep for a day or two or more. With physical exhaustion, mind tends to lose focus and drifts; every other sense like ‘hearing’ or viewing becomes somewhat weak and literally the body begs for sleep. Just after a few hours of good sleep, the person feels rejuvenated and fit for work though the day. Sleep has a tonic effect over general alertness and suggests a state of fitness by mind and body, until the next quantum of rest [sleep] is due. Actually, sleep is the  best organized form of rest for the youngest to the oldest.

 REST and the rest

 Truly, rest signifies a peaceful state of body and mind for a few hours every day. The quantum or duration of sleep for a person depends on the volume of work carried out in the preceding few hours. Rest usually means doing no activity and keeping all faculties under some hibernation. At that phase all organs and systems become sedate and stay quiet with no movement or speech. Such peaceful hibernation helps our immune system to be alert and so sleep is a sign of good health. Ironically there is nothing of a rest without sleep; nothing of a sleep, without a thoughtless phase of the mind. There is no semblance of ‘MIND’ without thought process; thought process is served by memory and memory by observation.  This is what I had implied by the expression ‘Ensemble’ in the beginning of this topic. I hope, some idea about these faculties and facilities are presented here.

Prof. K. Raman