The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-05-25
FOOD AND SLEEP.
An Empty Stomach Is Not Conducive to
SomnOlence.


Somnolence.
Going to bed with we'll filed stom-
ach is the essential prerequisite of re-
freshing slumber. The cautions so often
| reiterated in old medical journals
! against late suppers We're chiefly di-
| rccted to the bibulous habits of those
early times. When at late feasts 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 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 condition it would be well for
him to follow in all his after life.
The sweetest minstrel ever sent out
of paradise cannot sing a 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 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 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
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
L L., 4 s Il
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 COM
Portable meal awakes strengthened
and his appetite has been quickened 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
; he will sit down and eat 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 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 or
pastry should be tolerated. One mouth
full of cold roast beef, cold lamb cold
chicken, and little crust of bread will
do to begin with, or, what is better
vet spoonful or two of condensed
milk mot the sweetened that comes in
cans), in three times as much warm
water Into this cut half a pared peach
and two or three little squares of bread,
| the whole to be one-fourth or one-siXth
of what would be a light lunch. In
crease this very gradually, until at the
end of Il month or six weeks the patient
may indulge in a bowl of milk, two
peaches, with half hard roll or a crust
| of homemade bread.
When peaches are gone take baked
apples with the milk till Strawberries
come, and eat the latter till peaches re-
turn again. This is the secret of our
health and vitality. We often work
until after midnight, but eating the
comfortable meal is the last thing we
do every night of the year. This is not
an untried experiment, or one depend
ing on the testimony of a single wit
| ness-N. Y. World.
Tips on Ocean Steamers.
! x,a~so,, oroSS;pc Tho ~, ha