Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-02-16
On Sleeping.
ny HENRY WARD BEEcHEB


There are thousands of busy people who
die every year for want of sleep. 1t may
be that too much sleep Injuries some but in
an excitable people, and in our intense busi-
ness habits, there is far more mischief for
want of sleep than from too much Of it,
Sleeplessness becomes disease. 1t is the
precursor of insanity. When it does not
reach that sad result, il is still full Of peril
as well as of suffering Thousands of men
have been indebted for bad bargains, for lack
Of courage, for inetfectiveness, to loss of
sleep.
1t is curious that all popular poetical rep
reservations of sleeping and waking are the
reverse of the truth. We speak Of sleep a.
the image of death, and Of our waking hours
as the image Of life. But all activity is the
result Of some form of decomposition in the
body. Every thought, still more, every mo-
tion, any volition wastes some part Of the
nervous substance, precisely as the fame is
produced by wasting the fuel. II is the
death of some part of the physical substance
that produces the phenomena of intelligent
and voluntary life.
On the other hand, sleep is not like death
for it is the period in which the waste Of the
system ceases, or is reduced to its minimum
Sleep repairs the wastes which waking hours
have made. 1t rebuilds the system. The
night is the repar-shop of the body. Every
part Of the system is silently overhauled. and
all the organs, tissues, and substances are re-
plenished. Waking consumes, sleep replaces;
waking exhausis, sleep repairs; waxing is
death, sleep is life. The man who sleeps lit
tic repairs little; if he sleeps poorly, be re-
pairs poorly. If he uses up in day less
than he accumulates at night, he will gain in
health and vigor If he uses up all that he
gains at night, he will just hold his own. IL
he uses more by day than he gathers at night,
he will lose. And If this last process be long
continued, he must succumb. A man who
would be good worker must sec to il that
he is a good sleeper. Human life is like q
mill sometimes the stream is so copious that
one needs care but little about his supply.
Now, often, the stream that turns the mill
needs to be economized. A dam is built 10
hold large supply. The mill runs the pond
pretty low through the day but by shutting
down the gate, the night refls the pond, and
the wheels go merrily around again the next
day. Once in a while. when spring rains are
copious and freshets overflow. the mill may
run night aud day; but this is rare. Ordi.
narily the mill should run by day, and tbs
pond fill up by night.
a man has as much force in him as he has
provided for by sleep. Inequality Of action,
especially mental activity, depends uESa the
quality of sleep. If daytime is the loom in
which men weave their purposes, night is the
time when the threads are laid and the 6ling
prepared
Men need on an average eight hours oil
sleep day, or one-thrd Of their whole time.
man Of lymphatic temperament may require
nine. nervous temperament may require
but seven, or six, aud instances have been
known in which four hours have been enough.
The reason is plain. A lymphatic man Is
sluggish in all his functions. Hemoves slow
ly, thinks slowly, eats slowly, digests slowly,
aud sleeps slowly; that il, all the restorative
acts of his system go on slowly, in analogy
with his temperament. But nervous man
acts quickly in everything, by night or by
day. When awake, he does more il IN hour
than sluggish man in two hours and 40 in
his sleep. He sleeps faster, and his system
nimbly repairs in six hours what II would
take another one eight hours 10 perform.
Every man must sleep according 10 his
temperament. But eight hours is the aver
age. IL one requires little more or less,
he will find it out for himself Whoever BY
work, pleasure, sorrow, or by any other cause
is regularly diminishing his sleep is destroy
ing his life. A man may hold out for .
time, but Nature keeps close accounts. and
no man can dodge her settlements. We have
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