Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-03-23
INSOMNIA.
How to Woo SIumber-The Panaeea
for sleeplesS1ess

SANNPhNEsHcSs.
Insomnia is one of the most common
and perplexing of the disorders which
afflict the human race. Even healthy
persons are at times troubled with sleep
lesSness, while the nervous and ailing
often trace their unhappy physical con-
ditiOn to the impOSSlbility Of getting
their required rest at night. The most
skilliul physicians have no panacea for
sleeplessneSS. Some persons can sleep
at will, no matter what the hour of the
day or the cares and responsibilities of
business or life. Napoleon /. was noted
for the ease with which he wenttO sleep.
For weeks at a time two hours sleep
out of twenty-four was sufficient for
him. He is reported to have said:
different matters are arranged in my
head as in drawers; / open one drawer
and close another as / wish. If
desire to repose | shut up all the drawers
and sleep. / have always slept when
wanted rest, and almost at will"
This happy faculty is not common, al
though in normally healthy persons,
whose habits are regular, sleep comes
almost rs soon as the head rests upon
the pillow. The newborn babe spends
most of its time asleep, while, as rule,
robust persons require less sleep than do
those who are weak. According to John
Wesley, who gives it as his experience
after sixty years close observation, a
man in health requires form six to seven
hours sleep, anda healthy woman from
seven to eight. The great founder of
MethOdiSm, who dabbled in therapeutics
Mt times, declares that sleep sis prefer
able to any medicine which L have
known, both for preventing and remov-
ingnervOus,d disorders" Indeed, medicine
is of very little avail in such eases. The
physician who preScribes opium, choral
or bromide of potassium, except in very
peculiar cases, knOwShe is doing wrong.
He is injuring his patient permanently,
and aggravates the trouble heis pretend
ing to remove. In sleep it is only the
brain and nervous system which are at
rest. All the functions of the body go
on as usual. The nervous centers are
repaired and strengthened, and doubtless
the brain is in some way revitalized by
the "HhOney-dew of slumber." Much of
the difficulty in dealing with insomnia
is the reaction of the mind upon the
body through the brain. Business cares,
mental distress or q heavy sorrow will
make a person waEeful, even when all
the physical functions are in perfect or
der.
What, then, is Il wakeful person to do
if medicine is of no avail? There are
certain hygienic rules which it is well to
bear in mind, as well as certain practices,
some OF which are apparently whimSic-
al, but which really do sometimes induce
slumber. During sleep the blood in the
head becomes leSSened in quantity.
There are physiological reasons for
believing that a normally healthy per-
son should sleep after every hearty meal.
Digestion requires flow of blood to the
stomach, so as to stimulate the ma
chinery by which the food is aSsimilated
i'm the system. Hence, all through the
brute creation sleep follows the taking
of food.
The siesta, or the nap after dinner,
which is the custom of the well-tO-do in
all hot countries, is a sensible and
healthy practice. 1t is true that people
who partake of their principal meal
between daylight and dark, and who
do not usually eat before going to bed,
are often disturbed in their sleep when
they take q late supper: but this is be-
cause they have broken III upon a habit.
The stomach and all its related organs
rebel at an unexpected demand upon
them. A habit of late eating once
established tends rather to help sleep,
for the blood is withdrawn from the
brain by the demands Of the digestive
department of the system. One of the
cures for dyspepsia Is in forming the
habit of sleeping after the partaking OF
the principal meal of the day. 1t has
been given the uncOuth term of the
''hOg cure" for gastric disturbances.
To induce sleep the head should be
placed somewhat higher than the rest
Of the body. If wakefulneSs is appre-
hended an application of cold water to
the head and nape of the neck, while
i'm a tepid bath, has been found useful,
for it helps to draw the blood to the
body, the condition precedent to all
heaithful slumber. Cold feet should be
guarded against. \ warm foot-bath
has often been found efiicaeiouS against
insomnia. Feather beds and pillows,
which heat the back of the head, are
Objectionable, and Slumber is much
more successfully woOed when lying on
the side than on the back. Nightmare
is rare visitor To persons sleeping on
the right or left side. The origin of
frightful dreams can often be traced to
a habit of sleeping flat on the back,
which in some persons so impresses the
nervous centers as TO create the vibra-
tons in the brain which induce I'M
pleasant sensations i'm sleep.