The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-05-17
EAT BEFORE SLEEP.
1t is the True Way to Obtain
Refreshing Slumber.
To Sleep on an Empty Stomach
is to Awake Exhausted.

often reiterated in old medical journals
against late suppers were directed chief
| ly TO the bibulous habits of those early
times. When at every late feast the
guests not unseldom drank themselvc;
under the table, or needed strong as
sistance to reach their couch, the canon
against such indulgence was not I'M
timely. Nature and common sense
teach us that 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, pre- =
sents a condition it would be we'll for
him to follow in all his after-lifc. The
sweetest minstrel ever sent out of para
disc cannot sing an infant to sleep on
an empty stomach. We have known
reckless nurses to give the 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 alternative. The little
stomach of the sleeping child, as it be-
comes 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 house
hold 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 moment, and the groom
knows that his horse will paw in his
stall until he has had his meal. Blu.
when he wishes to sleep himself he
never seems to think of it. To sleep,
the fulness of the blood must leave the
head: to digest the eaten food the
blood must come to the stomach. Thus.
sleep and digestion are natural allies;
one helps the other.
Man, by long practice, will train
himself to sleep on an empty stomach,
but it is more the sleep of exhaustion
than the sleep of refreshment. He wakes
up after such a troubled sleep feeling
utterly miserable until he has had a Gun
of coffee or some other stimulant, and
he has so injured the tone of his stom-
ach tina. he has little appetite for break.
fast. Whereas, one who allows himself
to sleep after a comforta bic meal awakes
strengthened, and his appetite has been
quickcned by that preceding indul.
gence.
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
effort. In this case the man who has
eaten nothing after 6 o'clock and re-
tires at 10 or II takes to bed an empty
stomach upon which the action of the
gastric juices makes him uncomforta-
bic all the night. If he proposes to
try our experiment he will sit down
and eat tolerably hearty msal. He is
unaccustomed to this at that hour and
has sense of discomfort with it. He
may try it once or twice, or even long.
er, and then he gives it up, satisfied
thlt 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
or 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 bet
ter yet, n spoonful or two of condensed
milk mot the swee tened that comes in
cans) in three times as much warm
water. Into this cut half a pared peach
aud two or three little squares of bread,
the whole to be one-fourth or one.sixth
of what would be light lunch.
Increase this very cradualIv until a.