The Van Buren press., 1893-06-03
FOOD AND SLEEP.
An Empty Stomach Is Not Conducive 70
SOmnolence.


Somnolence.
Going to bed with well 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 dl-
rected to the bibulous habits of those
early times. When at late feastn 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 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 We're
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 troubled
sleep feeling utterly miserable until he
has had 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 aftera 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
tort. 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
,
Portable all the night.
If he proposes to try our experiment
he will sit down and eat tolerably
hearty meal. lie is unaccustomed to
this at that hour, and has a 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
ful of cold roast beef. cold lamb, cold
chicken, and little crust of bread will
do to begin with, or. what is better
yet, spoonful or two of condensed
milk mot 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 a month or six weeks the patient
may indulge in bowl of milk, two
peaches, with half hard roll or 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 single wit
uess.-N. Y. World.