Modern people are annoyed because it is difficult to fall asleep at night. Ancient people would sleep, and there was a lot of exquisiteness. The ancients believed that sleep is not only rest, but also a method of health preservation, a realm, and a kind of learning.
People set "falling asleep at the right time is the most beneficial to health."
Han Yuefu's poem "Peacock Flying Southeast" has the verse "After the dying dusk, the lonely man is fixed".
As early as the pre-Qin era, the ancients had summed up a set of "sleeping principles".The Yellow Emperor's "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics" can be said to be the "guiding document" of the ancients' sleeping, which talks about the importance of sleeping and sleeping, among which the "Four Tempering Spirits" points out that the time of sleep is not immutable, and it should move according to the times: in spring and summer, it should be "night and early to get up", autumn is to "lie down early and get up early", and winter should be "early to lie down and get up late". This "sleeping principle" is still valuable even in the modern era of fast-paced life.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, people paid more attention to sleeping. In 1972, the excavation of the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha unearthed a batch of Han Jane, including the medical book "Ten Questions", which disclosed the understanding of the people of the time about sleeping: "If you don't lie down in the past, you won't be able to return for a hundred days." ”
So, what time did the ancients go to bed at night? Broadly speaking, it is eight words: "The sun rises and the sun sets." Specifically, it is the time when "people are determined". What time is it set for? The ancients divided the 24 hours of the modern day into twelve units: midnight, rooster crow, Pingdan, sunrise, eclipse time, mid-day, mid-day, sunset, sunset, sunset, dusk, and people's determination; With the twelve earthly branches, the corresponding time is: sub-time, ugly time, Yin time, Mao time, Chen time, Si time, noon time, Wei time, Shen time, unitary time, Xu time, Hai time. The time of human determination is the time of the sea, which is equivalent to 21 o'clock to 23 o'clock in modern times.
Rending, also known as "Dingdusk" and "Night", means: the night is deep, people should stop activities and sleep peacefully. In the story of "Peacock Flying Southeast", which occurred in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there is "after the dying dusk, the lonely man is at the beginning", indicating that people began to sleep at that time.
The ancients believed that the ** time should not be overnight at the latest, that is, from 23 o'clock to 1 o'clock in the morning of the next day. In the "Ministry of Affairs" of Ming Zhaoqian's "Five Miscellaneous Works", it is said: "You can't read at night." Xie Zhaoqian believes that if you read a book, "when you are a person, all the blood will return to the heart, and if you can't sleep, the blood will be exhausted and you will get sick." "In today's words, staying up late to study will seriously overdraft your health. Xie Zhaoqian saw someone reading all night, tired and vomiting blood, and felt incredible.
For the time to get up, the ancients advocated "waking up early", even in the emperor's house. According to Jiang Shaoyu's "Song Dynasty Facts Garden" in the Song Dynasty, Song Taizong maintained good sleep habits, "going to bed late at night and getting up with five drums". The courtiers who need to go to the court get up earlier, so there is the pain of "courtiers waiting to leak five colders".
Five more "getting up is the best for health."
Su Dongpo, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, was happy to sleep in a fake sleep, "the taste of a few moments, its beauty is endless".
As far as sleep is concerned, many famous people in ancient times have some experience. Su Dongpo, a literati in the Song Dynasty, was a master who could sleep, and he once talked about the wonders of sleeping with Li Diao, who was also a literati. Li Diao recorded Su Dongpo's lofty remarks at that time in "Conversations with Teachers and Friends", entitled "Dongpo Says and Sleeps Samadhi".
Su Dongpo has a quirk when sleeping, even if the bed is a little unstable, he can't sleep, and he can't sleep until he is stable. When he lay down in bed and began to sleep, he "watched and listened" and "must not squirm", he said that this was done "by focusing on it".
Su Dongpo never slept lazily, and "got up at the beginning of the fifth watch" every day. But when he got up, he didn't immediately go to work and study, but combed his hair and washed his face, dressed neatly, and then found a clean couch to lie down with his eyes closed for a while, which was called "fake sleep". Such a "false sleep", that is, what we call "squinting for a while", is tantamount to returning to Longjue. Su Dongpo is happy to fall asleep, and he is very wonderful, saying that "the taste of a few moments is endless; The taste of the night is incomparable".
Judging from the notes left by the ancients, in all dynasties, the people of the Song Dynasty were the best at sleeping, and they also slept out a lot of theories, which may be related to the current situation in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, he was more particular about sleeping than Su Dongpo, and he was a famous thinker named Chen Tong. Chen Tuan has a biography in the "History of the Song Dynasty", listed in the category of "hidden" characters, he played an important role in the history of the development of Taoism in China, known as "Chen Tuan Ancestor". There is a story about Chen Shu that is worth mentioning. It is said that one day Chen Tuan couldn't find his way home in the mountains, so he randomly found a cave and spent the night in it. Since he usually pays attention to health, he goes to bed early at night. However, because of something on his mind, he couldn't sleep. So, he tossed and turned in bed, trying to figure out a solution to the problem.
At this time, he suddenly heard a loud noise outside the cave, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly got up and hid in a corner of the cave, for fear of being discovered. After a while, he slowly calmed down and began to think about what he had just heard. Suddenly, his heart lit up, and he felt that he should be able to take advantage of this opportunity to find his way home.
The next morning, Chen Tuan got up early, followed the sound he heard, searched and searched all the way, and really found his way home. He happily returned home and immediately wrote about the experience in an article to remind everyone to pay attention to their health.
From this story, we can see how much sleep is emphasized in the health regimen of Chen Tuo's ancestor. Not only does he go to bed early, but he also listens to some soothing ** before bed to help him sleep better. This regimen may be something we can learn from and do something relaxing before bed to help us fall asleep better.