Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-09

OK SLEEPING.
There are thousands Of busy people who
cie every year for want of sleeD. L
may be that too much sleep i1Jurt some;
ou', a an excitable people ard in cur in
Tense business hsliis, there Is far more
mischief from want Of sleep than from too
much OF it. Sleeplessness becomes A
disease. II is the precusar Of insanity.
When # does not reach 70 that SAD result,
| It is still full of peril, as well as Of suf-
fering. Thousands Of men have hf4,, in
debted for bad bargains, for lack OF co,1r-
age, for ineffecfiveness, 70 loss Of sleep.
It is curious that all the popular poeii.
cal representations Of sleeping and waking
are the reverse of the truth. We speak
of sleep as 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 emotion, any
volition, wastes some part Of the nervous
substance, precisely as flame IS pro-
duced By wasting the fuel. II is tie
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 ifs
minimum. Sleep repairs the wastes
which waking hours have made. It re-
builds the system. The night is the re-
pair-shop of the body. Every part OF
the system Is silently oVerhauled, and all
the organs, tissues, and substances are re-
plenishe1. Waking consumes, sleep re-
pairs; waking is death, sleep is life.
The man who sleeps little, repairs litlle;
if be sleeps poorly, he repairs poorly. If
he uses up in the day less than ne accu-
mulates at night, he will gain in health
and vigor. If he uses up 81 that he gains
at night, he wiz Just hold his own If be
uses more by day than he gztherz At night,
he will lose. And il this last process be
long continued, he must succumb- a
man who would be a good worker
must see to it that he is good
sleeper. Human life is like water
mill; sometimes the stream Is 50
copious that one needs care bus little
about his supply. Now, often the stream
that turns the mill needs 70 be econ
omized. A dam is built 10 hold : larger
supply. The mill runs the pond pretty
low through the day; but by shutting
down the gate, the night reflls the pond,
and the wheel goes merTily round agsin
the next day. Once in while, when
spring rains are coDious and freshets over
flow, the mill may run night and day;
but this is rare. Ordinarily the nil
should run by day, and the pond gil up
by night.
A man has as much force in him as he
has provided for BY sleep. The quality
of action, especially mental activity, de-
ponds upon the quality Of sleep. If day
time is the loom in which men weave
their purposes, night is the time when the
threads are laid in and the filing pre-
pared.
Men need, on an average, eight hoursof
sleep day, OF one-third of their whole
time. A man OF Emphatic temper
ment may require nine. A nervous
temperament may require but sew
en-, or six, and instances have been
known in which four hours have been
enough. The reason IS plain. A lympha-
tic man is sluggish in ali his functions.
He moves slowly, thinks slowly, eats
slowly, digests slowly, and sleeps slowly;
that is, all the restorative acts of his sys-
tenn go on slowly, in analogy with his
temperament. But q nervous man sets
quickly in everything, by night or by
day. WheE awake, he does more in an
hour than sluggish man in two hours;
aud so in his sleep. He sleeps faster, ard
his system nimbly repairs IN six hours
what 1t would take another enc eight
hours to perform
Every man must sleep according to his
temperament. But eight hears is the
average. If enc requires 9 little more or
little less, ne viii find it out for himself
Whoever by work, pleasure, sorrow, or
by any other cause. Is regularly diminish
ing his sleep, is destroying his life. A man
may hold out for q time. But Nature
keeps close accounts, and no man
can dodge her settlements. Fancy an
impoverished railroad that cannot keep
the line in order, nor spare
the engines to be thoroughly repaired.
Every year, line and equipments deie
riorste. Bysand by comes crash, and
the road is in q heap of confusion and
destruction. So it is with men, They
cannot spare Zine to sleep enough. They
slowly run behind. Symptoms Of gene
raj waste appear. Premature wrinkle,
weak eyes, depression of spirits, failure
of digestion, feebleness in the morning,
and Overwhelming melsneholy--these and
other signs show a general delapidati0n.
If, new, sudden calamity causes an
extraordinary pressure, they go down
under it. They have no resources 10
draw upon. They have leen living up
to the verge of their whole vitality every
day. There is great deal of intemper-
ance besides that of tobacco, opium, or
brandy. Men are dissipated to Oyertax
their system all day and undersleep every
night. Some men are dIssipsted BY physi-
cal stimulants, and some by social, and
some by professional and comm rciaL
But q man who dies of deliriltn1 troDle7ls
is no more drunkard and a suicide than
the lawyer, the clergyman, the author,
OF the merchant that works excessively all
day, and sleeps but little all night.