Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-02-01
The Wooing of Sleep.
from Good Words.l

An endeavor to go to sleep is a mis-
take. For example, when the will
makes an effort to dull the ear, the men
thrown into condition of listening and
tension. The power of hearing is not
diminished, but, as it were, restricted in
it's range III it's heightened sensibiity-
as the vibrat1le capacity of musical
reed may be raised by reducing the
length of the fibre along which its vibra-
lions are propagated. Noises that would
not have previously been noticed, are
perceived, and become sources of annoy
ance. This intensify1ng of the sensation
is the attempt to go to sleep, of which
most persons are conscious, is doubtless
due to the quiet that prevails in the
house and bed-chamber; but there is also
an increase of the Susceptibility of the
perceptive faculty, frequently to such an
extent that the ticking of watch or the
tapping of an insect behind the wall pa
per Will not only be heard, but will be
actually painful. So it is with sight;
when the eyelids are closed the inner
mental sense of vision becomes increas-
ingly acute, and the field of sight is soon
crowded with grotesque and rapidly
changing images. The worrying effect
this phantasmagoria is too familiar ex-
perience of the sleep-waiter. All the men
tai senses are alike stimulated and their
acuteness intensified by the endeavor to
lower the sensibiGty of the sense organs
The mental sense of smell may be rem
dered 80 keen that the scarcely percept-
IDLE odor of the bed linen will prove Of
fensive. Taste may be So stimulated
that the natural moisture of the mouth
becomes loathsome. General sensation
may be so intensified that the rough
thread in sheet, or little stream of
cold air finding it's way under the cover
let will occasion the most Irritating ex-
perience. In short the whole process of
attempted sense-subduing is unnatural
and opposed to the dictates of nature
No such effort ought to be made. Exter-
nal quiet should be secured, if quiet be
personally agreeable, and whether light
or darkness be preferable must depend
On the idiosyncrasy. No control ought
to be exercised over the senses. The
eyelids should not be closed but allowed
to droop when weary. There should be
no resolution to disregard sounds, or to
suppress sensations Of any kind. The
surroundings being propitious and con-
sonant with the F'feelings,' or, still bet
ter, disregarded, mind and body should
be left to take their chance of sleep,
without the striving, which, in truth, is
the cause of wakefulness. This iswhy it
often happens that persons who cannot
sleep in bed by night will drop off to
sleep readily in chair by day., It is the
effort to sleep that keeps off slumber,
and when there is no effort sleep comes
naturally. If the endeavor to sleep is
made, as soon as it commences exEs ectan-
cy begins, and, paradoxical as it may
seem, the consciousness is kept awake to
watch for sleep! This watchfulness, aris-
ing out of the eagerness of the desire for
sleep and the intensity of the effort to
WOO it, throws the mind into a state of
tensive anticipation incompatible with
somnolence. Then comes the period of
restless and irritated disappointment, in
which the mind is so vexed, the brain so
excited, and the organism, as a whole,
thrown into such 3 state of irritability,
that the best thing to do is to rise
and take bath, or wash from head to
feet, with the double purpose OF aIlaying
the excitement and inducing a more
peaceful mood by physical exercise.