Eating too much food induces sleep and laziness and creates various disorders in the body,

Meditation Yoga

Chapter 6, Verse 16

nāty-aśnatas-tu yogo’sti

na caikāntam-anaśnataḥ

na cāti svapnaśīlasya

jāgrato naiva cārjuna

Verily this yoga is not for him who eats too much or sleeps too much; neither is it for him who gives up sleep and food, O Arjuna.

Eating too much food induces sleep and laziness and creates various disorders in the body, due to the accumulation of undigested matter. The body only needs a moderate amount of food. When you eat too much, not all of it gets digested and the excess stays in the body and creates imbalance. Then you can’t concentrate while doing meditation. That’s why some people need a siesta after eating. Abstaining from food also acts on the mind, the senses and the vital organs. When the sadhaks, the devotees sit for sadhana, their mind is focusing on food. If you say, “Today I will not eat!” That day the food will look much more appealing than usual, the smell will be stronger than usual, and your stomach will start growling. This will disturb the mind and when the mind gets disturbed, it can’t concentrate, and so this interferes with the practise of meditation. Bhagavan says that when you sit for meditation, your mind should be fixed on God and not on food or on a siesta.

Lord Krishna also says that one shouldn’t sleep too much. A reasonable amount of sleep helps to rest, refresh and strengthen the body. But as I said before, sleeping too much makes one feel drowsy, lazy, and not well, and due to that, one can’t concentrate in meditation. Then it becomes serious! You lose control, or you go into depression, or you start looking like a vampire with red eyes. Here Bhagavan also says that to abstain from sleep doesn’t contribute to a successful meditation. If you don’t sleep, your body will get exhausted. You will not be refreshed and then there will be complete disorder inside you. So a little bit of sleep is very important so that the body can refresh itself in the divine energy. During sleep, you completely lose your ego identity, and by losing the ego identity, you are fully absorbed into the Divine. Then the Divine energises every cell and every vital organ in the body, so that when you wake up, you feel fresh, you are full of energy, you are ready for another day.

Bhagavad Gita