Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-01-03
FOOD AND SLEEP.
bar't Go to Bed With an Empty Stomach
if You Want to Sleep.

hnn't Go to BED With an Empty Stomach
if You Want to Sleep.
Going 10 bed with a well-fllcd stom-
ach is the essential prerequisite of re-
Ereshing slumber, says the -11aericam
IAa1Giyst The cautions so often reiter-
ated in old medical journals against
slate suppers'' were directed chiefly to
ehe bibulous habits of those early times.
when at every late feast the guests not
hnscldom 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
khat full stomach is essential to quiet
Eepose 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
Fan 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.
w u lluNC huOMh lCSAlCSS llulSGo w SlNS
khe little ones a 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
Ehese 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
heir eyes full-grown men afe so slow
10 learn the lesson. The farmer does
Il 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 fullncss 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 after such troubled sleep feeling
utterly miserable until he has had a
cup of coffee OF 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 APP
petite has been cuickened by that pre-
ceding indulgence. The difficulty in
recovery comes from the fact that we
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
s 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. II
he proposes TO Try our experiment he
will sit down and eat ,olerably 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.
tore going to bed. And this should be
light food. easily digested. No cake
nor pastry should be tolerated. One
lnouthful Of cold roast beef, cold lamb
Gold oh l.%%1o sc
will do to begin with, or, what is better
yet, a spoonful or two of condensed
milk (not the sweetened that comes il
cans) in three times as much warm
water. Into this cut half pared peacl
and two or three little squares of bread
the whole to be one-fourth or one-sixtl
Of what would be light lunch. In
crease this very gradually, until at the
end of a month or six weeks the patien
may indulge in bowl of milk, two
peaches, with half hard roll, or {
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 or
the testimony of a single witness. We
have record of several hundred per
sons who have tried the remedy we
suggest, and it has failed in no Single
instance where the initial steps were
taken with caution and judgment. Il
is natures own suggestion, and sleeK
after eating is as natural as grass aftel
rain in the desert fields of California.
All tNcccATE