Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-09-26
HOW TO FOIL INSOMNIA.
Some Schemes Which May Work When
Others Fail.

| Otnere rall
From The New York Tribune.
II have been trying The Tribune's
recipe for inducing Sleep" said bust
ness man while sitting on the piazza
of summer hotel one evening during
the last week. 81 have also tried an
other recipe given in The Boston
Transcript. Both are good, and in a
majority of cases, perhaps, either of
them would prove effective. But
sometimes they will fail, as I have
discovered by personal experience.
To meet such stubborn cases of sleep
lessness I have a suggestion of my
own to offer, which, when carried out
in connection with either of these re-
cipes, or, better still, both of them
combined, will cure the most aggrava-
ted case of wakefulness.
"The Tribune's method was, in
brief, to treat the brain as if it was a
roll.top desk. In the majority of
cases sleeplessness is due to the abnor-
NAL activity of the brain. After you
60 to bed you begin to speculate over
Smiths ability to pay you his note
when it falls due, or your own solven.
cy when your paper held by Brown
natures. From abstract speculation
you speedily pass to nervous worry,
not only in regard to Smith and
Brown, but in regard to the business
of the day, and the things that may
or may not happen tomorrow. The
more you think the more feverish and
wakeful you become, and the result is
you get no restful sleep, but rise next
morning more wearied mentally and
physically than when you went to bed.
"Now the remedy for this sugges-
ton in The Tribune was simply to
stop thinking. Whenever thought
darts out of the brain, throw it back,
and close the lid on it so to speak. Of
course, it will try to get out again, but
il must be put back again promptly.
BY thus refusing to entertain any
thought for half an hour, you will be
able to sleep. AS I said, have tried
this remedy, and it has worked
sometimes. But it is often impossible
not to think. The very attempt not
to think itself becomes prolific SUBJ
ject of thought, and induces the very
nervous unrest that you are trying to
overcome.
"The Boston Transcript remedy is
really taken from DR.. Calls book on
Power Through Repose.' 1t is based
on the same principle of inducing
sleep by the suspension of mental &C
tivity. But it aims to bring about this
result by relaxing the physical tension
of the body. Most people whose
minds are very active during the day
are unconsciously keyed up to a high
physical tension. And when they 60
to bed it doesn't occur to them to re-
lax that tension. Every muscle is as
tight as drum, and is throbbing with
activity, and while that is the case it
is impossible to sleep even if you
should cease to think altogether. So
The transcripts receipt is as follows:
"'Begin at your toes to relax loosen
all your joints and muscles, unbind
your fingers, shake your wrists loose,
take the curve and stain out of your
neck 20 all to pieces, in fact, and see
how the days fatigue seems to slip OF
from you, and the gentle mantle of
rest and oblivion to enfold you like a
garment
81 have tried this method and have
found it effective. But it won't work
unless you can batten down the hatch
ways of your brain so that worrying
thoughts will not pop out. And here
is where my suggestion comes in.
Generally speaking, you must think
about something. The brain is not
absolutely at rest, even when you are
asleep. Very we'll. The thing to do,
then, is to initiate as far as possible the
unconscious thinking of sleep when
you 60 to bed. Get into the way of be-
ginning to dream before you 60 to sleep,
and the first thing you know you won't
know anything, for you will be asleep.
That is my method, and it works like
a charm. First of all, 1 relax my
muscles so that am in absolute ply
steal rest. And then, instead of think
ing of the things in my life that have
in them the power to worry me, con-
jure up impossible, wierd and dreamy
situations, and in few minutes l am
peacefully slumbering.
"Thus far I have rung the changes
on two conceits which have been pro-
life in restful sleep-inducing trains OF
thought. But anyone who has the
least imagination can conjure up doz-
ems of such ideal worlds. Sometimes
when l 60 to bed and become con-
scious that 1 am going to be harrassed
by thoughts relating to business, | sup
pose myself to be in receipt of an in
come of $4,000 or $4,000 a day,
which inherited on the condition that
I should spend it all each day. Non
sensical, you say? OF course it is,
but that is just its merit. 1t is so ut
lerly impossible and unreal that l can't
get anxious over it, while at the same
time there is an intellectual rest and
pleasure in dreamily imagining the
startling and humorous situations that
would arise out of such q state of af-