The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-05-27
FOOD AND SLEEP.
An Empty Stomach is Not Conducive Il
Somnolence.

FOOD AND SLEEP.
An Empty Stomach is Not Conducive -
SOmnolence.
Going to bed with we'll filed ston.
ach is the essential prerequisite of re-
freshing slumber. The cautions so often
reiterated in old medical Journals
against late suppers were chiefly di-
rected to the bibulous habits of those
early tines When at late fenst1 the
guests not unseldom drank themselves
under the table, or needed strong as
sistance to reach their couches, the
canon against such indulgence was not
untimely.
Nature and common sense teach us
that full stomach is essential TO qaiet
repose.
Every man who has found it difficult
to keep awake after u 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 u condition it would be well for
him to follow in all his after life.
The sweetest minstrel ever sent out
Ok paradise cannot sing newly born
child to sleep on an empty stomach.
We have known reckless nurses to give
the little ones dose of paregoric or
soothing sirup in place of its cup of
milk. when it was too much trouble to
get the latter, but this is the one alter.
native.
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 brolen 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 les
son. 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.
But 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 him
self to sleep on an empty stomach, but
1t 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 cup of coffee or some other
stimulnnt, 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 COM
| Portable meal awakes strengthened,
and his appetite has been quiclsened by
that preceding Indulgence.
The difficulty in recovery comes from
| the fact that we are such creatures of
our habits that it is impossible to break
away from them without persistent eff
fort. In this case the man who has
eaten nothing after six O'clock and re-
tires at ten or eleven, takes to bed an
empty stomach, upon which the action
of the gastric juices makes him uncom-
Portable all the night.
If he proposes to try our experiment
ne will sit down and eat tolerably
hearty meal. He is unaccustomed to
this at that hour, and has a sense OF
discomfor. With it. He may try it once
or twice, or even longer, and then he
gives it up, satisfied that for him it is a
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 OF
pastry should be tolerated. One mouth
full of cold roast beef, cold lamb, cold
chicken, and a little crust of bread will
do to begin with, or, what is better
yet, n spoonful or two of condensed
milk mot the sweetened that comes il
cans), in three times as much warn
water. Into this cut half pared peac!
md two or three little squares of bread
;hc whole to be one-fourth or one-sixtf
If what would be light lunch. In
crease this very gradually, until at the
md of Il month or six weeks the patient
nay indulge in a bowl of milk, two
peaches, with half hard roll or crust
Of homemade bread.
When peaches are gone take baket
apples with the milk till strawberrie:
,ome, and eat the latter till peaches re
turn again. This is the secret of oul
health and vitality. We often worl
until after midnight, but eating th'
comfortable meal is the last thing Wi
do every night of the year. This is moi
an untried experiment, or one depend
ing on the testimony of q single wit
ness.-N. Y. World.
The Welcome Guost.
The ''good-dinncr woman" is on
who aims to listen we'll, and avoids tn