The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-01-30
POINTS ON INSOMNIA.
The Prevailing American Ailment, and
How to Treat 1t.

Inc Prevailing American Auments mn
How to Treat 1t.
New York suffers more for lack Ct
sleep than for lack of food, and :his
privation is on the increase to fearful
degree. One reason for that excessive
drinking which rules our business men
may be found in the fact that men thus
make up for the lack of sleep. The use
of stimulants under such circumstances
is doubly pernicious. but this does not
prevent it. All classes of brain work.
ers suffer to a greater or less degree.
but the most painful instances are found
among Wall street brokers and specu-
lators who are under such intense ex-
element that healthy sleep often be-
comes an impossibility. The next in
point of suffering are preachers and
play actors, who become also excited
to an intense degree. Editors, lawyers.
physicians and business men also suffer
from insomnia. and the following para
graph, clipped from morning uapnr,
is an appeal which might be repeated
by large part of our population:
"SleepIessness-I am troubled with this
complaint; thirty five years old, married,
happy home; active business; so for recipe
or cure. Address Sleep"
Ny reply to the above is entirely
gratuitous, and yet may be OK SOME
value, being the result of experience.
Avoid Intoxicating drinks, and if
possible yet your work done before
dark. Ii very nervous, warm bah is
advisable, for which wash-bOwl of
water and sponge may suffice. Eat
moderately before going to bed. To
break off annoying thoughts, which
keep one awake, repeat poetry or count
steadily from one to one hundred. l
know a man who goes over .'Gray's
Elegy' night after night until it ends
in sleep. while another counts as above
mentioned until the same result is
reached. Anything that will divert the
mind from its tendency to prey upon
itself promotes sleep. If it be too cold
for tepid bath. then friction OF the
skin is beneficial. Opiates are decided
" Objectionable, but there is a sedHtive
which is both safe and etficaciolis. and
hence should be better known. This Is
bromide potassium, which, in weak
solution, soothes the nerves in il HARM
less manner. 1t should, however. be
properly prepared by the druggists.
Some people have waking spells during
the night. and it is better to rise and
walk round the house than to toss in
bed A man of my acquaintance who
has such waking spells walks the street
for half hour, and then returns to bed
and obtains sleep.
Knowing the liability of public speak
ers to insomnia, asked the most eN-
citable of this class (John Il. Cough
how he obtained sleep after one OF his
thrilling lectures, generally two hours
in length. He replied: "On returning
to my room l begin reading some in
teresting book, and in this manner fill
my mind with other thoughts, and then
1 can sleep"
Public speakers find it very difficult
TO stop thinking after they have stopped
speaking. Old Lyman Beecher, father
of the Brooklyn orator, had load OF
sand in his cellar, and after evening
prayer he shoveled it from one side to
the other, and by this exercise toned
down the fever of the brain, often fin
ishing by playing the violin. which was
one of his accomplishments. Bodily
exercise is certainly very efficacious an
der such circumstances. Persistent in
somnia is one of the first signs of in
sanity, and hence should at once call
for treatment. As men advance in life
maps in the daytime become very use
full. [ know one brain-wOrker who
takes two or three and also sleeps well
nights. If New York could have a
incoming" and our business men re-
cru.t their jaded nerves by '.kind na-
lures sweet restorer," there would be
less drinking. but they keep them
selves up by the bottle, and then Otter
lay awake at night from the excite
ment occasioned by intoxication, Sleep
being our great necessity, l offer these
to such of our readers ~
may find them of service. As gener-
al rule people should sleep all they can
The most noted victim of insomnia was
Horace Greeley. whose intense mental
labors and anxiety during that fatal
canvass led through loss
of sleep to insanity, and then came a
genuine collapse of an overworked sys-
TEN which soon found relief in death.
N. Y. Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer.