In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores sound sleep and the importance of creating the right conditions for healthy rest.

Good ways to encourage sound sleep are extremely important. Sleep is one of the three pillars of life: food, sleep, and sex. This means that you need to have good sleep if you want to have good health and, therefore, a good life.

Unfortunately, a large majority of people in the United States are chronically sleep deprived. This has well-established negative effects on the physical body, and it is something you do not want if you wish to live into a healthy and relatively disease-free older age.

The first thing to understand is that going into sleep is a process. Things should not happen in a sudden, jerky way. They should happen in a gradual and continuous manner. Before you even think about going to bed, at least for the last half hour, you should disconnect yourself from your devices. You should move toward less light, reduce sensory input, and gradually lower the volume of everything coming into your awareness.

Do not introduce strong or unfamiliar sensory experiences at this time. Even though aromatherapy can be useful for promoting the earth element and encouraging sleep, especially when applied to the feet, a strong or unfamiliar scent may create new mental connections and stimulate the mind instead of calming it.

For at least the last half hour before sleep, avoid strong sensory stimulation. Do not eat for at least three hours before going to bed. This allows the initial processes of digestion to occur so that the body can begin calming down rather than continuing to work while you are trying to sleep.

Your sleeping room should be as dark as possible. In the past, people did not have the ability to create bright light at night except through candles, and even then only to a limited degree. Today, we have the opposite problem of trying to recreate darkness. Use blackout curtains or eye shades if necessary. The darker it is, the better.

If there is traffic noise, earplugs can be helpful. Another option is a white noise generator, but it should be something that prevents identifiable sounds from reaching your ears, because recognizable sounds can draw your awareness back into the external world.

Sound and light are especially important. It can also be helpful to use a small amount of calming aromatherapy somewhere away from the bed, using something gentle like lavender or chamomile at a low concentration. This encourages the earth element and supports relaxation.

Massaging the bottoms of your feet with a little oil is also very useful. A gentle self-massage can calm the surface of the skin. Since Vata is the dosha most connected with the sense of touch, calming the skin helps your awareness settle inward.

When you lie down to sleep, begin with your feet and gradually imagine your body dissolving into the universe. Imagine your feet dissolving, then your legs, knees, thighs, hips, abdomen, chest, arms, hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders.

Do not try to imagine your head dissolving, because your head will not cooperate. Your head has its own ideas about things. Instead, imagine your head sinking down into your chest, which has already dissolved. Then the head will no longer be able to continue holding onto what it was trying to do, and it becomes easier to fall asleep.

If you are fortunate enough to fall asleep easily anywhere, that is wonderful. If you are not, then you need to consciously create a pattern that encourages sleep. When you lie down, you want the surrounding conditions to naturally tell your body that it is time to sleep.

Make this pattern second nature. In bed, do not watch television and do not read. At most, you may engage in some kind of romantic activity. Otherwise, the bed should be associated with calmness, rest, and sleep.