The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-02-05

FoW Du9Yosoons Tor Vno Dlo0ploess
New York suffers more. for lack of
sleep than for lack OF food, and this
privation is on the increase TO fearful
degree. One reason for that excessive
drinking which ruins our business men
may be found in the fact that men thus
make up for the loss 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 greater or less degree,
but the most painful instances are
found among Wall street brokers and
speculatore who are under such intense
excitement that healthy sleep often be-
comes an impossibility. The next in
point of suffering are preachers and
play-actors, who also become excited to
an intense degree. Editors, lawyers,
physicians, and business men also suffer
from insomnia, and the following para
graph, clipped from a morning paper,
Is an appeal which might be repeated
by large part of our population:
"Sleeplessness. am troubled with
this complaint; 80 years old; married |;
happy home; active business; $40 for
recipe or cure. Address Sleep"
My reply to the above is entirely
gratuitous, and yet may be Of some
value, being the result of experience !:
Avoid intoxicating drinks, and, if pos
sible, get your work done before dark.
If very nervous, warm bath is advisa-
BILE, for which wash-bowl and a sponge
may suffice. Eat moderately before 60
ing to bed. To break off annoying
thoughts, which keep one awake, re-
peat poetry or count steadily from one
to 100. / know man who goes over
"Gray's Elegy" night after night until
it ends in. sleep, while another counts
as above mentioned until the same re-
suit is reached.
Anything that will divert the mind
from its tendency to prey upon itself
promotes sleep. If it be too cold for a
tepid bath, then friction of the skin is
beneficial. Opiates are decidedly OBJ
iectionable, but there is sedative
which is both safe, efficacious, and
hence should be better known. This is
bromide of potassium, which, in weak
solution, soothes the nerves In harm
less manner. It should, however, be
properly prepared by the druggist.
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
streets for half hour and then returns
to bed and obtains sleep.
Knowing the liability of public speak
ers to insomnia, i asked the most ex-
citable of this class John Il. Cough
how he obtained sleep after one of his
thrilling lecture, generally two hours
in length. He replied: "On returning
to my room begin reading some inter
esting book, and in this manner fill my
mind with other thoughts, and then /
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 service he shoveled it
from one side to the other, and by this
exercise toned down the fever of his
brain, often finishing by playing the
violin, which was one of his accomplish
ments. Bodily exercise rs certainly
very efficacious under such circum-
stances.
Persistent insomni& Us one of the first
signs of insanity, and hence should at
once call for treatment. AS men adj
vance in life maps in the daytime be-
come very useful know one brain
worker who takes two0r three, and also
sleeps we'll at night. If New York
could have a incoming, and our business
men could recruit their jaded nerves by
"kind natures sweet restorer," there
would be less drinking; but as they
have no time for this, they keep them.
selves up 10y the bottle, and then often
lie awake at night from the ex
element caused 10y irtoxication. SLEEP
being our great necessity, / offer these
suggestions TO such of my readers as
may find them of service. As general
rule people should deep all they can
The most noted victim of insomonia
was Horace Greeley, whose intense
mental labors and anxiety during that
fatal Presidential canvass led through
loss of sleep to insanity, and then agar
q general collapse of an overworked
system, which soon found relief in
death. y letter.