Dinacharya- A Schedule for Health (3)

DOSHA: VATA 

TIME SEGMENT:

2 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Functions:

See first article in this series.

Activities:

Afternoon is the creative energy phase according to Ayurveda. Your body is using its energy to create nutrients from the food you had eaten earlier. Use the time to engage in less demanding tasks.

• Heat of the afternoon saps the cold energy of Vata. Vata individuals may feel sleepy or tired and need to rest. Take a 15 – 20 minutes power nap.
  
  According to TCM, the Small Intestines Meridian is strongest at 2 p.m. Doing less demanding tasks allow your body to devote more of its energy towards digestion and transportation of nutrients to the spleen for transformation.
  
  Your bladder starts to get increasingly full and by 4 p.m., the Bladder meridian is most powerful. The organ is responsible for storing and excreting urine passed down from the kidneys. However, the bladder meridian is more than a storage and waste removal system. This meridian is closely related to the functioning of the *autonomous nervous system, which modulates vital functions in your body. A Portion of its pathway runs along both sides of your spine, enters the brain and resurfaces above the eyes and down the front of the body.
  
  The two branches of the autonomous nervous system counterbalance each other. The sympathetic branch promotes activity, alertness, shuts down or reduces digestive activities.
  
  The parasympathetic branch promotes rest, sleep and good digestion and waste elimination. Therefore, when you feel sleepy after a meal, your parasympathetic system is very active.

• By 5 p.m., the **Kidney meridian starts to assert itself. It is strongest at 6 p.m.
  
  If you hold a sedentary job, take a walk or do light exercise before dinner.

• Eat a light dinner before 6pm or transitional Vata-Kapha phase to allow enough time for digestion before bed.

• Do not sleep immediately after dinner as this may interfere with proper digestion leading to accumulation of ama. Allow at least 3 hours for digestion before going to bed.

*The autonomic system mainly controls functions over which we have less conscious control.  These include the digestion of food, blood pressure, respiration, heart rate, chemicals secreted by the body etc. 

**For more information on the kidney meridian, refer to TIBBIT 1C- TCM hair health.

USEFUL LINK: Go to TIBBIT 1C- THE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM IN AYURVEDA AND TCM and scroll down to TIME CHART OF THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK for circadian rhythm schedule  according to Ayurveda and TCM.

In the next installment, we shall discuss the activities in the Kapha time segment.