The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-01-02
Sleeping.

A writer in HarDec's Weekly says in an
article on sleeping: The amount OF
sleep needed varies with the age, the sex,
the temperament. the occupation, OF the
individual; it varies, too, with race and
climate. Infants sleep the greater part
of the time; children up to eight years
old should spend nearly half their time
in sleep. Ten hours thcnceforward, un-
til the age of puberty, are a good aver
age nightly ration or dose of slumber.
During mature life there is great diver
sity of practice. The famous school of
Salerno declared that six hours were
enough, whether in youth or age, and
that seven hours were pure laziness. No
one, added these learned faculties, should
allow himself to sleep eight hours.
l think that the professors of the
eleventh century laid down a too rigor-
Gus law. For people at least WHO are
laboriously busy, eight hours is not
usually too much. The old require less.
because they do not need so much repair
of nerve and muscle as those who are in
the prime of their activity. The
important thing IS that we decide
practically, not theoretically, what our
individual need is. If my own need be
eight hours, it makes no difference that
the school of Salernp or any other learned
persons have laid down a theoretical
average of six houts as a correct thing.
For hard working people, whether they
work with brain or hand, eight hours is
probably seldom toe much.
There are people who never fully satisfy
their natural hunger for sleep. For
sleep, unlike our food and drink, is
easily measured to \ nicely; and many
people have a fear of wasting time in
sleep. There is no corresponding check
against eating too much. The result is
that the same person sometimes may
practice injurious asceticism in sleep and
gluttony in feeding. If we could meas
ure our feed as easily as our sleep, we
should eat less, and il consequence there
would be fewer indigistions and dyspep-
sias, and fewer trips 10 Saratoga, Nichy
and Carlsbad. Too much sleep, also,
is injurious; for one thing, it is fat
tening. like too mucl food and drink.
But there are few gluttons OF
sleep in our restless community. The
danger is the other way with us: and
whether we deny ourselves on a theory
Of so MANY hours, or whether toll, or
watching, or travelling or society, robs
us of sufficient sleep, we shall surely
suffer sooner or later.
The causes Of sleepltssness range from
the most whimsical to the most grave
acute or chrome diseases like those /
have named are not mere effective pre-
ventives than things that seem the merest
eccentricities. Some persons cannot sleeI
without hearing the ticking Of a clock
some require absolute silence; others re-
quire a carpeted in a particular
way, or an adjoining closet door kept
open, or a string tied around a finger OF
toe, or the repetition OF some benumbine
formula, or, on the contrary, the continu-
ance of a loud Loose to which they arc
accustomed, as IN the case of some labor
ers in machine shops. The stopping o.
the engine in a sea going steamer will
wake not only all the officers, but the
more experienced travellers on board
The worst of it is that some of the m IS,
trivial causes are among The hardest t
relieve. Insomnia, whcr it has become
a true mental disease, is sometimes in
durable.