Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-08-22
SLEEPING APARTMENTS.
Cleanliness, Ventilation and Tempera-
ture to be Considered.

Some great writer has remarked: SIt
must not be forgotten that we spend a
considerable portion of our lives in the
bed-chamber, and, therefore, Its health
fulnesS cannot fail to have a very I'M
portant bearing upcn our physical
well-being-" Everybody. indeed, who
Is actuated by due regard for health
and real comfort, will consider an
equal degree of attention necessary in
giving attention to the size, situation,
temperature, and cleanliness of the
apartment he occupies during the hours
of repose as he does the parlor, draw
ing-room, or any other apartment; and
yet how very often do we find families
crowded at night into obscure and
confined chambers, of dimensions
scarcely more ample than those OF an
old-fashioned closet, while, perhaps. in
the majority of instances, the best
rooms in the whole house are set apart
for the sole purpose of ostentatious
display.
Now it is very important that the
largest and most elevated room, or
rooms, upon the second floor of the
dwelling, be appropriated for the pur-
pose of sleeping, and that the same be
properly ventilated during the day time
There are few houses, the rooms of
which are SO situated as to render good
ventilation impossible, and the influence
of this practice upon the health of in
mates is too important to permit being
neglected from any slight cause. A
bed-chamber should be divested OF all
unnecessary furniture, and, unless OF
considerable size, should never contain
more than one bed. There cannot be a
more pernicious custom than that pur-
sued by some, indeed, by many. fami-
lies of having their children sleep in
small apartments, with two, and some
times with three, beds crowded into the
same room.
1t is scarcely necessary to observe
that cleanliness, in the most extensive
Specification of the term, is, if possible.
more necessary with reference to the
bed-chamber than with almost any
other apartment in the whole house.
| The practice of sleeping in a room
which is occupied during the daytime
is extremely unwise. Perfect cleanll-
ness and sufficient free ventilation can
not. under such circumstances, be pre-
served, especially during cold weather;
hence the atmosphere becomes con-
stantly more vitiated, and altogether
unfit for respiration. While too great
degree of caution cannot be observed
to avoid sleeping in damp rooms, beds,
or clothing, the temperature of the bed
chamber, II possible, should never be
| increased, under the ordinary circum-
stances OF health, by artificial means.
AS this apartment is to be reserved
solely for sleep, a fire is never neces-
sary, except possibly during extreme
cold weather, and even then the tenn
perature ought not to exceed fifty
degrees. A sleeping apartment, In
which heavy fire has been kept for
several hours prior to retiring. may to
some persons at first thought offer
great comfort. But, right here, great
danger is very liable TO occur, since by
heating the room to such an extent
as has been referred to the system be-
comes greatly enervated. creating an
increased susceptibility to the influence
OF the cold air. and thus the way is
open to the attack of some of the most
serious diseases, especially of the throat
and lungs. Happy, indeed, should
those persons esteem themselves whose
means will forbid an indulgence in this
form OF luxury. A person accustomed
to undress IN room without a fire,
and to seek repoSe IN cold bed, will
not experience the least inconvenience,
even In the severest of winter weather.
The natural heat of the body will very
speedily render a person, under such
circumstances, even more CON-
Portable than he or she will be who
sleeps in heated apartment, as expe-
rience has amply verified. But this is
not all. The constitution of the one
accustomed to sleeping in a room which
is not artiticially heated will be rem
dered more robust and strong, and far
less susceptible to the influence of at
mospherical vicisSitudes. than that per-
son who is not so accustomed to sleep.