The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-03-31
Iygiieqiic.
How to Sleep.


healthful sleep. Huferland gives the fol-
lowing directions
ist. The place where one sleeps must
be quiet and obscure. The less our SEN
ses are acted upon by external impress
sions, the more perfectly can the soul
rest. One may see from this how i'm
proper the custom is of having a candle
burning in ones bedchamber during the
night.
Cd. People ought always to refectthat
their bedchamber is a place in which
they pass great part of their lives; a.
least, they do not remain in any place so
long ia the same situation. Ii is of the
utmost importance, therefore, that this
place should contain pure, sound air
A sleeping apartment must, consequent
ly. be roomy and high neither inhabited
nor heated during the day and the win
dows ought always to be kept open, ex-
eept in the night time.
Sd. One should eat little, and only
cold food for supper, and always some
hours before going to bed.
4th. When a-bed. one should not lie in
a forced or constrained posture, but al
most horizontally; the head excepted,
which ought to be little raised. Moth
ing is more prejudicial than to lie in bed
half sitting. The body then forms an
angle; circulation in the stomach is
checked, and the spine is always very
much compressed. By this custom, one
of the principal ends of sleep, a free and
uninterrupted circulation of the blood, is
defeated and in infancy and youth, de-
formity and crookedness are often eonse-
quences.
9th. All the cares and burdens of the
day must be laid aside with ones clothes;
none of them must be carried to bed
with US and in this respect, one, by Gus
tom, may obtain very great power over
their thoughts. am acquainted with no
practice more destructive than that of
studying in bed, and of reading till one
falls asleep. By these means the soul is
put into too great activity, at period
when everything conspires to allow it
perfect rest; and it is natural that the
ideas thus excited, should wander and
float through the brain during the whole
night. 1t is not enough to sleep physi-
cally; man must sleep also spiritually.
Such a disturbed sleep is as insufficient
as its opposite-that is. when our spirit
ual part sleeps. but not our corporeal
such for example, as sleep in a jolting
carriage on a journey.
9th. One circumstance in particular,
must not here omit to mention. Many
believe that it is entirely the same if one
sleeps these seven hours either in the day
or the night time. People give them
selves up. therefore, at night, as long as
they think proper either to study OF
pleasure. and imagine that they make
everything even when they sleep in the
forenoon, those hours which they sat up
after midnight. But I must request
every one. who regards his health, to
beware of so sedueing an error. 1t is
certainly not the same whether one sleeps
seven hours by day or by night and two
AoUio ocoAiO oiCOp OStoic HitOHl8i1t are Ol
more benefit to the body than four hours
in the day.
As the vital energies droop and decay
in the advance of old age, sleep becomes
of the utmost importance. To the aged
regularity in sleep is of more conse
quence than quantity. The old may
possibly require a little more than the
young, but the excess is to be guarded
against as being still more deleterious
Regularity in all the functions of life is a
great safeguard in the down-hill of life
Many an individual lengthens out a life
of usefulness to a great extent in Wig
orous old age by systematic adherence
to the rules Of order in sleep and food
and exercise, and to the temperate re-
straint of appetites and passions. To
grow old happily, men must be temper
ate IN diet. regular in every habit, cheer
ful in disposition, and upright in princi-
pie Couram.