Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-04-30
The Cure for SleeplesSness.

DR.. G. z. Page takes q radically
different view of insomnia from that
which ordinarily prevails. He MAKES
the startling assertion that, instead of
sleeplessness being the cause of insan-
ity it would be much nearer the truth
to say that insanity causes sleepless-
ness. He sets it down as an axiom tnat
ito deserve sleep IS to have it." Quot
ing DR.. Rush, that "a dream is q tran
sient paroxysm of delirium, and deliri-
um perpetual dream, he makes sew
eral original statements. He says that
not every dreamer becomes insane, nor
every person who is distressed by wake
fitness; nor do all persons who dream
droll or startling dreams become IN
mates of lunatic asylums, although they
are fit subjects for rigid hygiene: t"at
normal sleep is dreamless; that, in &c
fault of this total oblivion, sleep IS ouiv
partial-it is not perfect nervous re-
pose; that persons differing from s:ea:-
lessness through indigestion can be
cured by improved habits; that to a.
tack insomnia as q disease is sure to re-
salt in discontinue; that dragging
should not be resortsd to; that, once
established, wakefulness tends to per
petuate itself, but that this would not
be the case with an absolutely-n&trr,l
regimen; that man is wakeful at night
because under his present physical con
dition he ought to be; that thus the
only possible cure of the disease is a
radical reform In ones living habits !;
that an endeavor to go to sleep is a
mistake, for the good reason that the
effort to compose the mind upon lying
down and subdue the activity OF the
senses is made by the higher faculty,
while that is part or function Of the
organism which of all others needs 10
be itself restful in order that the
physico-mental being may sleep.
There is no doubt that the most bene-
fetal sleep is the most natural, and The
most natural can only be enjoyed by d
physical system in which the tissues are
properly renewed, as we use them up by
mental labor. The best medical writers
on the subject of sleep assert that, as
stimulation of the brain causes dilation
of its vessels and increases the flow of
blood through them, mental action of
itself not only attracts more blood to
the brain, but provides, to some extent,
for the removal of waste products.
Consequently, sleeplessness is normal
to the clogged brain. In that condition
the movements induced by the cardifao
pulsations are not so extensive as those
caused by the respiratof.v movements
or by muscular exertion. Therefore,
when the brain is overworked and The
respiratory and muscular movements
are restricted, cerebral nutrition will
be diminished by the imperfect re-
mOval OF waste from its substance.
But when, in addition to this, the GER
ebral vessels and fibers are poisoned by
the circulation-within the vessels
which are their means Of supply-of
noxious substances, due to imperfect
digestion or assimilation, the condition
of the brain, and, ri course, of the men
tai constitution, viii become greatly
worse.
DR.. Page regards cofee-drinking and
tobacco-smoking as enemies to SOM
Violence, and, therefore, enemies to
health. He prescribes abstinence from
stimulants, simple food, fresh air, and
plenty of it, as the prerequisites to
sleep, and says if it does not come with
such wooing, it must not be forced
with soporitic drugs.-Chicdgo Ne1yS.