Summer is hot and alive. The terrain is naturally green and lush, and the days are long and humid. Summer is abundant with yang energy. It is all about action. In Chinese medicine, yang is similar to pitta dosha. The energetic nature of the summer is social, hot, light, bright, filled with excitement, and joy.
High-speed summer metabolism burns up your bodily reserves of energy. As you sweat throughout the day, and cumulatively over the summer months, your storehouse of fluids & electrolytes becomes depleted. Sooner or later, summer leaves you exhausted from all the activity. You might feel as if the sun has baked you dry. Just imagine soil in the desert. It is cracked, dry and light in color. In contrast to dark rich soil of late spring and early summer, this late summer soil is thirsty for water.
In this depleted state, you might find it difficult to fall asleep. Your body, on a hot summer night, wide awake staring at the ceiling, may not have enough cool moisture or grounding minerals to allow you to relax. Fiery pitta burns calm kapha in the summer, which can keep rest at bay. Your body lowers your body temperature at night so that it can fall asleep, but if it is 80 or 90 degrees outside at bedtime, you might find it hard to cool down enough to drift into sleep. Your mind may feel scattered, your nerves jittery, your skin dry.
Remedies
Fortunately, you can easily rehydrate with cooling, grounding water and replenish your electrolytes by adding a pinch of salt and sugar to the mix. When you are frustrated by the heat and not being able to fall into slumber, have a glass of cool water. A pinch of salt calms down a scattered mind and helps if you are easily dehydrated. In hot, tropical countries like India, salt cookies are as popular as sugar cookies to maintain equilibrium under the withering summer sun.
Magnesium rich foods may help your muscles relax after dinner. Magnesium is cold in nature, so it helps sleep but also cools you down systemically. Tropical fruits like bananas and coconut water may be supportive because of their cooling nature. You might also experiment with cooling fruits juices like pear juice, blueberry juice, and pomegranate juice.
Try this "gold milk" recipe on a late night of insomnia and see if you fall right into dreamland. Mix 8oz of milk with turmeric, ghee and maple syrup then drink it down to invite the yin & kapha qualities of heavy, cool, and liquid into the body. Milk is high in magnesium and is naturally calming. Turmeric helps you fully digest the milk proteins. Ghee further lubricates your dried out summer body and skin.
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