The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-01-21
Sensible Talk About Eating and
Sleeping.

An editorial in the New York Joa,aol
of Commerce attempts to demolish the un-
sound notion that it is unhealthy to eat
Just before going to bed 1t draws the pro
per distinction between midnight debauches
and giuttony. and the taking of healthy
food, and says:
Man is the only animal that can be taught
to sleep quietly on an empty stomach. The
brute creation resent all efforts to coax them
to such violation of the laws of nature
The lion roars in the forest until he has
found his prey. and when he has devoured
it he sleeps over it until he needs another
meal The horse will paw all night in the
stable and the pig will squeal in the pen re-
flsing all rest or sleep until they are fed.
The animals which chew the cud have their
own provisions for late meal Just before
dropping off to their nightly slumbers.
Man can train himself to the habit of
sleeping without preceding meal, but on
" after long years of practice. As he
comes into the world nature is too strong
for him, and he must be fed before he will
sleep. 4 child stomach is small, and when
perfectly filed. if no sickness disturbs it,
sleep follows naturally and inevitably. As
digestion goes on the stomach begins to
empty 4 single fold in it will make the
sleeper restless; two viii waken it; and
if it is hushed again to repose the nap is
short. and three folds puts an end TO the
slumber Paregoric or other narcotic may
close its eyes again, but without either food
or some Supplying drug it viii not sleep no
matter how healthy it may be. Not even
an angel who learned the art of minstrelsy
in celestial choir can sing a baby to sleep
on an empty stomach.
We use the soft-quoted illustration,
sleeping a. Sweetly as an infant. because
this slumber Of a child follows Immediately
after its stomach is completely flied with
wholesome food. The sleep which comes
10 adults long hours after the partaking of
food, and when the stomach Is nearly or
quite empty, Is not after the type of in
fantine repose. There Is all the difference
in the world between the sleep of refresh
ment and the sleep Of exhaustion.
Toslecp wen the blood that swells the veins
in the head during the busy hours must flow
back, leaving a greatly diminished volume
behind the brow that lately throbbed with
such vehemence. To digest well this blood
is needed At the stomach aud nearer the
fountains Of life Ii Is a fact established
beyond the possibility Of contradiction that
sleep aids digestion. and the process of di-
3 L.
Ii needs no argument TO convince US Of this
mutual relation. The drowsiucss which
always follows the weIl-ordered meal Is
itself testimony of nature to this inter-de-
pendenee,
The waste of human life by this lesson Is
very great The daily wear and tear Of the
body might he restored more fully than it
usually Is if this simple rule was no, ~
systematically violated Sleep Is wonder
fully recupera,ivc, but il may be shorn Of
half ils benefits by unfavcFshle conditions,
Foul air in the chamber leaves the sleeper
altaos, exhausted in the morning as when
weary with the days hbors he sank upon
his bed 4 gnawing stomach, empty Of
food takes out OF the nightly sleep that re.
frezshing sense of comfort which properly
belongs 10 IT, IL leaves the blood TO throh
in the heated brow. and hannts the sluni-
ber with an cver-pre~cnt source Of disquiet,
Ii Is IKE the sleep which the mother takes
while her sick child l. under the care Of
watchers in another RON An easy stom-
ach i Just ike an aching heart in it. effect
upon the nightly reIsse,
\ healthy person who gocs 10 bed on a
full stomach will always awake in the morn
ing with a better appetite for his breakfast.
II dinner is eaten in the middle of the day
and 4 light supper Is served at six in the
afternoon hearty lunch should be provid-
esl 4, ten in the evening, or jus, before the
hour Of retiring The rule should be to eat
at the h-s moment before going to bed
whatever the hour may be,
And this latest meal should not be oi
light viands, as this phrase Is commonly
understood. The les a person eats at any
time Of cake or pie, or the countless fun
meries that 20 10 make upa fancy tea-tahle
the better, bat none Of these should be eaten
at bedtime Cold chicken, cold rOast
beef, eorned beef, OF wholesome meat oi
any kind. with well baked bread and butter
(sauce and pickle win do no harm viii
serve the substantial requisites for this col
htl,.n Mix Is perhaps best of all where
the pure article can be obtained ''Bor-
dei 5 CONDENSED" viii supply il in the best
shape To cur taste. and IL this Is used should
be mixed with warm or hot water. instead
Of cold, eaten before it eools. With bread
and freit baked apples win serve when
berries and peaches fall this makes a whole
some evening meal.
All persons should be cautious when they
reform their habits in this respect. A
mauthfull or two each night at first is all
that should be attempted, gradually in
creasing the quantity until the luncheon
becomes a pretty substantial meal. If in
digestion follows at any time, chewing the
meat of one or two peach pits (for the prus-
sic acid in them) after eating, is better than
sending for doctor. With clear con
science and full stomach, any man in toll
erable health may derive from his nightly
sleep that recuperation which ought to
come from this sweet restorer of life's daily
wear and Waste