Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-03-16
Miscellaneous.
Eating Before Sleeping.
A JOURNALISTS EXPERIENCE. OF VALUE
TO MANKIND IN GENERAL.

A JOURNALIST EXPERIENCE. OF VALUE
| TO MANKIND IN GENERAL.
The notion is widely prevalent that it is
unhealthy to eat late at night or just be-
fore retiring. This came from The severe
depunciation of .late suppers contained
in all the old popular works on diet. The
argument in these publications was not
directed against what was involved IN
late supper. at a period when the jewellers
slinped from their chairs and spent the
MIC It under the table, or were carried by
waiting lackeys insensible to their beds.
twas the midnight debauch that was the
object of attack, and even here it was less
the pluttony than the drunkenness which
alarmed the doctors and called forth their
reprehensions A man may induce
apoplexy by gorging himself with food at
any hour of the day, but the bottle after
| bottle of headv wine or the bow'es OF not
punch at the evening revel were what did
| the business for most who ran brief ca
reer OF dissipation to an untimely grave.
| Man is the only animal that can be taught
| to sleep quietly on an empty stomach.
| The brute creation resent all efferts to
coax them TO such a violation OF the laws
of nature The lion roars in the forest
until he has found his prey, and when he
has deyoured it he sleeps over until he
needs another meal. The horse will paw
all night in the stable. and the pigs will
squeaI in the pen, refusing all rest and
sleep until they are fed. The animals
which chew their cud have their own pro-
vision for a late meal just before dropping
off to their night slumbers.
Man can train himself to the habit of
sleeping without preceding meal, but
only after long years of practice. AS he
comes into the world nature is too strong
for him, and he must be fed before going
to sleep. child's stomach is small, and
when perfectly filled. if no sickness dis
turbs it, sleep follows naturally aud inevi-
tably. As digestion goes on the stomach
begins to empty. A single fold in it will
make the little sleeper restless; two will
awaken it, and it it is hushed again to
repose, the nap is short. and three folds
put an end to the slumber. Paragoric or
other narcotic may close its eyes again,
but without either food or some stupefy-
ing drug it will not sleep, no matter how
healthy it may be. No even an angel who
learned the art of minstrelsy in celestial
choir, can sing babe to sleep on an
empty stomach.
We use the oft-guotcd illustration,
sleeping as sweetly as an infant be-
cause this slumber OF child follows
Immediately after its stomach is complete
| ly filled with wholesome food. This sleep
which comes to adults loug hours after
partaking of food, and when the stomach
is nearly or quite empty. is not after the
| fxyt..a OF inf 10 oil no
difference in the world between the sleep
of refreshment and the sleep of exhaustion.
| To sleep well. the blood that swells the
veins in the head during our busy hours
must flow back, leavinga greatly diminish
ed volume behind the brow that
lately throbbed with such vehemence.
To digest WELL this blood is
needed at the stomach and near the
fountain of life. 1t is fact established
beyond the possibility of contradiction
that sleep aids digestion, and that the
process of digestion is conducive to re-
freshing sleep. 1t needs no argument to
convince US of this mutual relation. The
drowsiness which always follows we'll
ordered meal is itself a testimony of ma
ture to this interdependence.
The waste of human life by the neglect
of the lesson is very great, The daily
wear and tear of the body might be re-
stored more fully than it usually is if This
simple rule was not Systematically violat
ed. Sleep is wonderfully recuperative,
but it may be shorn of half its benefits by
uniavorable conditions. Foul air in the
bedchamber leaves the sleeper almost as
exhausted in the morning as when, weary
with the days labor, he sank upon the
bed. A gnawing stomach. empty of food,
takes out of the nightly sleep that refresh
ing sense of comfort which properly be-
longs to it. 1t leaves the blood to throb
in the heated brow and haunts the sleep
with an ever present source of disquiet.
1t is like the sleep which the mother takes
while her sick child is under the care of
watchers in another room. An uneasy
stomach is just like an aching heart in its
effects upon the nightly repose.
A healthy person who goes to bed on a
full stomach will always wake in the
morning with better appetite for break
fast. IT dinner is eaten in the middle of
the day and light supper is served at 6
in the afternoon, hearty luncheon should
be provided at 10 in the evening. or Just
before the hour of retiring The rule
should be to eat at the last moment be-
fore going to bed, whatever that hour
may be.
And the latest meal should not be of
Eight" viands, as this phrase is common
ly understood. The less person eats at
any time of cake or pie or the countless
flummeries that 60 to make up fancy tea
table, the better. but none of these should
be eaten at bedtime. Cold chicken, cod
roast beef, corned beef, or wholesome
meat of any kind, with well-baked bread
and butter (sauce and pickles will do no
harm) will serve the substantial requisites
for this collation.. Milk is perhaps the
best of all where the pure article can be
obtained; "Bsrden's condensed" will sup
ply it in the best shape to suit the taste -,
and if that is used it should be mixed with
warm or hot water. instead of cold. and
eaten before it cools. With bread and
fruit (baked apples will serve when ber-
ries and peaches taiD this makes a very
wholesome evening meal.
All persons should be very cautious
when they reform their habits in this re-
spect. A mouthful or two each night at
first is all that should be attempted. grad
ually increasing the quantity until lunch
con becomes a pretty substantial meal.