Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-04-09
Cold Feet i'm Bed.

As the blasts OF Winter still lin
gers with the many attendant dlscom-
forts and annoypnces of q chilly,
frosty atmosphere, it is becoming TO
fortify ourselves against the in
huences and effects of cold. Its bet
ter to be So clothed as to feel little
too warm, rather than 10: warm
enough. One Of the common obsta-
cles to personal comfort is cold feet
particularly cold feet at night. When
abed one feels that he ought to he
comfortable. We may succeed, per-
hsps, during the day In maintaining r
a passable degree OF caloric in our
extremities, but at night we may
groan in sleepless torture until the
small hours with icy feet. A con-
tributor to the British Medical Jour
nal gives a few simple suggestions
on this seasonable topic, which we
copy here for the benefit of our
coId-footed readers:
The association betwixt cold feet
and sleeplessness is much closer
than is commonly imagined. Per-
sons with cold feet rarely sleep well,
especially women. Yet, the number
of persons so troubled is very con-
siderable. We now know that, if
the blood-supply of the brain is kept
W, sleep is impossible. An old the
ologian, when weary and sleepy
with much writing, found that lie
could keep his brain active by i'm
mersing his feet in cold water; the
cold drove the blood from the feet
to the head. Now, what this old
gentleman accomplished by design,
is secured for many persons much
against their will. Cold feet are the
bane of many women. Light boots
keep up bloodless condition of the
feet in the day, and in many women
there is no subsequent dilatation of
the blood-vesse.s when the boots are
taken off. These women come in
from q walk, and put their feet to
the fire to warm-the most effective
plan of cultivating chilblains. At
night, they put their feet to the fire,
and have hot bottle in bed. But
it is all OF no use; their feet still re-
main cold. How to get their feet
warm is the great question of life
with them-in cold weather. The
effective plan is not very attractive
at first sight to many minds. 1t
consists in first driving the blood
vessels into firm contraction, after
which secondary dilatation follows.
See the snowballer's hands! The
first contact with the snow makes
the hand terribly cold; for the small
arteries are driven thereby into firm
contraction, and the nerve-endings
of the finger tips feel the low tenn
perature very keenly. But, as the
snowballer perseveres, his hands
commence to glow; the blood-ves-
sells have become secondarily dilated,
and the rush of warm arterial blood
is felt agreeably by the peripheral
nerve-endings. This is the plan to
adopt with cold feet. They should
be dipped in cold water for brief
period; often just to lmlnerse them
and no more is sufficient; and then
they should be rubbed with a pair
of hair fesh-gloves, or rough Turk
ish towel till they glow, immediately
before getting into bed. After this
hot-water bottle will be successful
enough in maintaining the tempera-
ture of the feet, though without this
preliminary it is important to do so.
Disagreeable as the plan at first
sight may oppear, it is efficient; and
those who have once fairly tried it
continue it, and find that they have
put an end to their bad nights and
cold feet. Pills, potions, lozenges,
"night-caps," oil narcotics, fail to
enable the sufferer to WOO sleep sue
cessfully; get rid of the cold feet, and
then sleep will come OF ITSELF
chronological Journal.