Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-04
INsomsIa, AND HOW TO WOO sLUM-
BRRS SWEET.

Insomnia is one of the most common and
perplexing Of the disorders which afiiict the
human race. Even healthy persons are at
times troubled with sleeplessness, while the
nervous aad ailing often trace their un-
happy physical condition to the impossi-
bility of getting their required rest at
night. The most skillful physicians have
no panacea for sleeplessness. Some Ier-
sons can sleep at will, no matter what the
hour of the day or the cares and RESPONSE.
bilities of business life. The late Horace
Greeley was case in point. He could take
his "forty winks" in church, in railway
car, OF at his writing desk, and, no doubt,
the habit prolonged his life, for he was
| frail of body, with an over-active mind
and an excitable temperament. Napoleon
l. was noted for the ease with which
ne went to sleep. For weeks at a
time two hours sleep out of the 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. Ii I desire repose, shut up all
the drawers ard sleep. l have always
slept when l wanted rest, and almost
at will" This happy faculty is not
common, although IN normally healthy
persons, whose habits are regular, sleep
comes almost as soon as the head rests
upon the pillow. The new. born babe
spends most of its time in sleep, while, as
rule, robust persons require less sleep
than DO those who are weak. According to
John Wesley, who gives it as his expert
ence after sixty years of close observation,
man in health requires from six to seven
hours sleep, and a healthy woman from
seven to eight. The great founder of
Methodisn, who dabbled in therapeutics at
times, declares that sleep is preferable to
any medicine | have known, both for pre-
venting and removing nervous disorders.
Indeed medicine is of very little avail in
such cases. The physician who prescribes
opium, choral or bromide of potassium,
except in very peculiar cases, knows he is
doing wrong. He is iujuring his patient
permanently and ageravates the troable he
is pretending to remove. In sleep, it is
only the brain and nervous system which
are at rest. All the functions of the body 90
on as usual. The nervous centers are re-
paired aad strengthened, and doubtless the
brain is In some way revitalized by the
"honey- heavy 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 heavy sorrow will make per
son wakeful, even when all the physical
functions are in perfect order.
What, then, is 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 whimsical, but which
really do sometimes induce slumber. Dur.
ing sleep, the blood in the head becomes
lessened in quantity. q There are physio-
logical reasons for believing that normally
healthy person should sleep Eifter every
hearty meal. Digestion requires deter
mination OF blood to the stomach SO as to
stimulate the machinery by which the food
is simulated in 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
among the well.to-do IL all hot coun-
tries, is sensible and healthful prac-
tice. 1t is true that people who partake
Of their principal meal between day.
light and dark, and who do not usually
eat before going to bed, are often dis
turbed in their sleep when they take a
late supper, hut this is because they have
broken in upon habit. The stomach
and all its related organs rebel at unex-
pected demands 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 d.
gestive department of the system. One of
the cures for dyspepsia is in forming the
habit Of sleeping after pArtaking of the
principal meal of the day. It has ben