The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-09-18
Natural Sleep.

The most perfect and refreshing-in a
word, natural-sleep Is that which COM
bines the whole series in such healthy
proportions rs an orderly and active
life will establish, by a constitutionally
equal distribution of work, looking to
the comparative powers of the several
parts of the system, the opportunities
for rest, the food supply, and the meas
ure of strength each department of the
mental and physical organism of the in
dlvidual enjoys. This wise adaptation
of work to the different energies, so that
each shall Tighten the task and contrib
ute TO the efficiency of the others, is a
duty to self which every step forward in
the march of intellect and the progress
OF civilization seems TO make it increas-
ingly difficult to discharge.
To sum up, sleep is a rhythmical func-
ton Of life. 1t is performed by the
nervous system either through a single
center or by the several centers connect
ed with various parts or organs of the
body, from the supreme cerebral cen
ters which control the immediate APP
paratus of intentional thought to the
ganglia that regulate the work of the
Viscera. | believe the sympathetic sys-
tenn plays conspicuous part in the pro-
ductiOn of the phenomenon, and this is
why the due performance OF the func-
tions is so readily prevented as it is, by
disorderly action in almost any part of
the body, even when there is no sensa-
ton of pain or uneasiness at the seat of
the disturbance. Persons who do not
sleep well and regularly are peculiarly
liable to functional disorders; and, con-
versely, those who are subject
to the anomalous maladies and
SymtOms too often set down to
l.tvf H. -s..f., L
haceable with care to some special
ganglion of the sympathetic system Gor
example, uneasiness in the "pit of the
stomach or aching pain i'm the lower
lumbar region of the spine), are dis
turbed or disorderly Sleepers. Sleep is
a nerve state, whether the part sleeping
be the brain, or certain parts of that
organ, the muscular system, or the
viscera. The notifications which take
place in the vessels supplying the organ
or system that sleeps are the effects or
consequences, instead of the causes fits
condition.
Habit greatly helps the performance
of the initial act; and the cultivation of
n habit of going TO sleep in a particular
way, at particular time, will do more
to procure regular and healthy sleep
than any other artifiee. The formation
of the habit is, in fact, the creation or
development of a special center or COM
bination in the nervous system, which
will henceforward produce sleep as n
natural rhythmical process. If this were
more generally recognized, persons who
suffer from sleeplessness of the sort
which consists in being simply ''unable
to 90 to sleep - would set themselves
resolutely to form such habit. 1t is
necessary that the training should be
specific, and include attention to details
1t is not very important What a person
does with the intention of going to sleep;
but be should do precisely the same
thing, in the same way, at the same
time, and under as nearly rs possible
the same conditions, night after night
for n considerable period-say, three or
four weeks ut least. The result will
amply reward the effort
Position affects sleep. A constrained
or uncomfortable posture will often pre-
vent repose. Lying fiat on the back
with the limbs relaxed would seem to
secure the greatest amount of rest for
the muscular system. This is the posi-
ton assumed in the most eXhauSting dis
eases, and tits generally hailed as Il token
of revival when a patient voluntarily turns
on the side; but there are several dis
advantages in the supine posture which
impare or embarraSs sleep. Thus, in
weakly states of the heart and blood
vessels, and in certain morbid conditions
of the brain, the blood seems to Gravitate
to the back of the head, and to produce
troublesome dreams. In persons who
habitually, in their gait or work, StOop,
there is probably some distress conse-
Quent on Strengthening the spine Those
who have contracted chests, especially
persons who have had pleurisy and re-
tain adhesionS of the lungs, do not sleep
well on the back. Nearly all who are
inclined To snore do SO when in that
position, because the soft palate and
uvula hang on the tongue, and that or
Gan falls back so as to partially close the
top of the windpipe. 1t is better, there
fore, To- lie on the side, and i'm the absence
of special chest-diseaSe, rendering it
desirable to lie on the weak side so as TO
leave the healthy lung free to expand, it
is well to choose the right side. because
when the body is thus placed the food
gravitates more easily out of the stomach
into the inteStineS, and the weight of the
liver does not compress the upper por-
ton of the intestines. A glance ut any
plate of the visceral anatomy will show
how this must be. Many persons are
deaf in one ear, and prefer to lie on a
particular side but, if possible the right
side should be chosen, and the body
rolled a little forward, so that any saliva
which may be secreted shall run easily
out of the mouth, if not unconsciously
swallowed. Again, sleeping with the
arms thrown over the head i to be dep
recated; but this position is often assum-
ed during sleep, because the circulation
is then free in the extremities and the
head and neck, aud the muscles of the
chest are drawn up and fixed by the
shoulders, and thus the expansion of the