Why We Sleep, the popular book written by neuroscientist Mathew Walker, is Vasudha Rai’s bedtime companion. It also became a defining reference text when she was writing and researching her new book, Ritual (Penguin Random House). Rai elaborates on Walker’s thesis—humans are the only species who forcefully keep themselves awake—and advocates strongly for bedtime hygiene.  As she mentions “for no good reason, we always delay sleep”, one is reminded of the crime dramas, court intrigues and family feuds on OTT platforms, which have kept people awake in the post-pandemic world. We know how difficult it is to execute a lights-off policy in a household, when a “reel” or a WhatsApp forward or an online reunion doesn’t fail to push people in a vortex of stimulation before going to bed.

Rai’s book makes a passionate case for treating sleep as nutrition, a supreme immunity booster, an anti-ageing pill and a memory enhancer. In jest, she says we need to prep up for sleep, as we do while planning a vacation.  Sleep, not diet and exercise, is the main pillar of good health that we all seek, but refuse to submit to daily rites, which harmonise the natural energies of the night. Rai’s book urges readers to find the inner motivation to execute daily kriyas, which help in winding down as per the circadian rhythms. She shares her own routine—off-smartphone, off-caffeine, off-social media, in a world of light reading, gentle musical notes, journaling, and guided meditation—so as to inculcate the importance of a routine, any chosen routine, to purposefully (not reluctantly) end the wakeful hours. For those suffering from a sleep disorder—there are 80 known types—a somnologist’s appointment should be priority number one, Rai says, adding that sleep duration, posture, quality are make-or-break aspects.