The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-01-08
FOOD AND SLEEP,
Don't Go to Bed With an Empty Stomach
If You Want to Sleep.

if You Want to Sleep.
Going to bed with a well-flled stom-
ach is the essential prerequisite of re-
freshing slumber, says the american
A7aakyst. The cautions so often reiter-
ated in old medical journals against
''late suppers" were directed chiefly to
the bibulous habits of those early times.
When at every late feast the guests not
unseldom drank themselves under the
table, or needed strong assistance to
reach their couch, the canon against
such indulgence was not untimely.
Nature and common sense teach us
that a full stomach is essential to quiet
repose. Every man who has found it
difficult to keep awake after a hearty
dinner has answered the problem for
himself. There are few animals that
can be trained to rest until after they
are fed. Man, as he comes into the
world, presents condition it would be
well for him to follow in all his after
life. The sweetest minstrel ever sent
out of paradise cannot sing newborn
child to sleep on an empty stomach.
We have known reckless nurses to give
the little ones dose of paregoric or
soothing syrup in place of its cup of
milk, when it was too much trouble to
get the latter, but this is the one al
tentative. The little stomach of the
sleeping child, as it becomes gradually
empty, folds on itself in plaits; two of
these make it restless; three will open
its eyes, but by careful soothing these
may be closed again; four plaits and
the charm is broken; there is no more
sleep in that household until that child
has been fed. 1t seems to US so
strange that with this example before
their eyes full-grown men are so slow
to learn the lesson. The farmer does
it for his pig, who would squeal all
night if it were not fed at the last mo-
ment, and the groom knows that his
horse will paw in his stall until he has
had his meal. But when he wishes to
sleep himself he never seems to think
| of it.
To sleep the fullness of the blood
must leave the head; to digest the eaten
food the blood must come to the stom-
ach. Thus. sleep and digestion are
natural allies; one helps the other.
Man, by long practice, will train HIM
| self to sleep on an empty stomach, but
it is more the sleep of exhaustion than
the sleep of refreshment. He wakes
up dlCcI SuCu d GIOuDlcu Steep
utterly miserable until he has had a
cup of coffee or some other stimulant,
and he has so injured the tone Of his
stomach that he has little appetite for
| breakfast. Whereas, one who allows
himself to sleep after a comfortable
meal awakes strengthened, and his ap-
petite has been quickened by that pre-
ceding indulgence. The difficulty in
| La g. +ho+
are such creatures of our habits it is
impossible to break away from them
without persistent efforts.
In this case the man who has eaten
nothing, like our correspondent, after
6 o'clock and retires at 10 or II takes
to bed an empty stomach upon which
the action of the gastric juices makes
him uncomfortable all the night. If
he proposes to try our experiment he
will sit down and eat a tolerably hearty
meal. He is unaccustomed to this at
| that hour and has sense of discomfort
with it. He may try it once or twice,
or even longer, and then he gives it up,
satisfied that for him it is failure
The true course is to begin with just
| one or two mouthfuls the last thing be-
fore going to bed. And this should be
light food, easily digested. No cake
nor pastry should be tolerated. One
mouthful of cold roast beef, cold lamb,
cold chicken, and little crust of bread
will do to begin with, or, what is better
yet, a spoonful or two of condensed
milk (not the sweetened that comes in
cans) in three times as much warm
water. Into this cut half pared peach
and two or three little squares of bread,
the whole to be one-fourth or one-sixth
of what would be light lunch. In.
crease this very gradually, until at the
end of month or six weeks the patient
may indulge in bowl of milk, two
peaches, with half hard roll, or q
crust of homemade bread. Wher
peaches are gone, take baked apples
with the milk till strawberries come
and eat the latter till peaches return
again.
This is the secret of our health anC
vitality. We often work until afte1
midnight, but eating the comfortable
meal is the last thing we do every
night of the year. This is not an un
tried experiment or one depending OF
the testimony of single witness. W.
have record of several hundred per
sons who have tried the remedy we
suggest, and it has failed in no singh
instance where the initial steps wer,
taken with caution and judgment. l
is natures own suggestion, and sleel
after eating is as natural as grass afte
rain in the desert fields of California.