Scientific studies on sleep by human beings, covering the time taken and quality for its health benefits and other outcomes, have been carried out by research teams in many institutions across the world resulting in publications revealing some interesting features. The Kannada idiom that seniors often quote namely ‘Chinthe illadavanige santheyallu nidde’ (which translates to ‘one who doesn’t worry slips into sleep even amidst noisy crowd’) has a word of message for persons bugged by insomnia, experiencing difficulty in both falling and staying asleep even under conditions favourable to sleep, and suffering from fatigues, low energy, inability to concentrate, mood disturbances and decreased performance in work of various natures including physical effort.
Modern life, particularly in urban spaces, is marked by people forced to stand in queue, once they are outside their dwellings, awaiting their turn to board a bus or a train, get their automobiles fuelled, obtain admission forms in schools, get attention at the tables of babus in their offices, consult specialist doctors, pay bills at the counters of busy departmental stores, withdraw cash in banks and so on, not to forget performing last rites of kin at crematoria. In short, standing is an act that all able-bodied citizens cannot escape at one point of time or the other in daily life, yet doesn’t seem to have been bestowed studies by research teams to the extent that sleep has.
