In Bed by 10pm

Per Ayurveda, anything you take in (food, conversations, music, people, movies, anything through the senses) requires digestion, or "agni" (pronounced "ugg-knee"). Though we digest throughout the day, our brain and liver does a lot of work on digestion of impressions and removing of toxins from 10pm to 2 am. Therefore, the recommendation is to be asleep by 10 pm to give our body the chance to process. The adage in Ayurveda is that the sleep you get between 10pm and midnight counts double. Have you ever noticed that even when you get the same amount of hours of sleep (e.g., 10 pm - 7 am versus 12am-9am) you'll often wake feeling less rested when you go to bed later?

I have to admit, having been a night owl most of my life, I was SUPER resistant to this teaching. When I first learned it, I decided to try it out, and it took me many weeks to go to bed before 10. I had to turn my bedtime back by 15 minutes per week for a couple of months. Now, having been in a routine of bed by 10 for over a year and a half, I have to say I find it very nourishing; I wake most days without an alarm around 7 and feel rested (I need A LOT of sleep). This may or may not fit you-- as with all these teachings, practice and see what fits!