St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-08-24
THE NEED OF SLEEP.
1t Varies Greatly, but the First Rule Il
sleep Enough.

1t is probable, however, we quite ad-
init, that the effect of night on indi-
viduals differs greatly, and that . pro-
cess of natural selection is continually
at work, men who can not bear night
work, avoiding it, while those to whom
it is srecuperative-and every journalist
knows such men-throng into the pro-
fessions in which sitting up, if not
obligatory. is at least advantageous
There are extraordinary differences Of
instinct in this respect, = few men be.
ing literally unable to bear night
work, while . few others deliberately
leave their whole work to be done
after the sun has disappeared.
The incapacity and the faculty are
connected in some way with the differ
ences in the power of sleeping. which
still remain among the perplexities OF
physicians Why can some men sleep
at will. and some nervous" men too.
while others, sometimes very heavy"
men with apparently immovable
nerves, are tortured by insomnia?
Why. too. do some men seem to obtain
sufficient rest in Eve hours sleep,
while others require nine? Do some
men 'sleep Slow" as Mr.. Smedley
jocularly argued in one of his amusing
stories, or do they actually require
more sleep? We can not answer the
question any more than the doctors
can, but we agree ON one side of tho
subject most heartily with the Brit
ish Medical Journal. The popular
prejudice against sleep works IN in
fnity Of mischief. There are plenty
sluggards even among the cultivated
class, but the sleep-slugRard Is in
that class = very rare specimen. The
tendency of the educated is to wake
fulness. and the man who does intel
lectual work and exhibits what his
friends think = disposition to over.
sleep, is obeying a healthy instinct
Sleep recuperates him and he knows
it. The popular notion that . young
man who works with his head yet
sleeps for nine hours is q sluggard, is
popular nonsense. No man whose
brain is active and who does not drink
ever sleeps more than is good for him,
and the cure If he seems to do it, is te
let him sleep till he gives his habit up
Sleep il . delight till you have had
enough OF it, but Eve minutes beyond
that point it becomes an insunerable
bore. Nobody sleeps twice round the
clock, or once round the clock, unless
impeled there to consciously or uncon-
sciously by exhaustion. for which,
again, sleep is itself the best and most
natural remedy. The contrary idea
has arisen, as We believe, purely from
the extreme inconven-
fence and household upsetting which
of the family will not
keep hours" Women, we fear. are
injured by the demand.
made on them in this respect, and sc
not unfrequently are men, the penalty
in the former sex being paid in the
shape of nerves on edge, ane in the lat
ter in . kind of weariness most fatal
70 fruitful intellectual exertion. We
suppose seven hours of sleep sufiices for
the majority. or they would not have
fixed upon that period rs the proper
stint, but numbers of young men posi-.
lively require eight. and half the WON
en- who think would be the better for
ten. There is NO rule, of course. and
can be none, any more thar there can
be . rule rs to the precise Quantity of
food which benefits an individual; but
opinion should be more merciful than
it il 1t has hardened itself from study
Ing IN old experience, and forgets that
In our day the nerves are twice as
much tried rs they were q century ago,
and that the grand medicine for the
nerves and brain is continuous sleep.
Wake any animal from sleep before il
has done sleeping and see what its
temper is like.-London Spectator.