The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-09-15
DON'T STRIVE FOR SLEEP.
It You Do You're-.Apt to Spend a
Sleepless Night.


Sleepless Night.
Let any reader when next they pass
a sleepless night notice carefully what
happens. says the London Spectator. 1t
VIII probably be somewhat as follows:
suppose. for instance, that they are in
the habit of being called at $50; thew
VII" hear the clock Strike A, 5, 6 and Z
ana then, when the knock at the door
comes they will either be fast asleep
or else thay will drop asleep immediate-
~ atterWard, and in either case possibly
tney VIII, to their intense disgust, over
sleep themselves. What is the explana-
ton of this? Simply that by far the
SolIhohest cause of prolonged sleep
lessness u $ othe worrying aSabout it, the
anXlouss. effort to obtain sleep. And SO
tney lie awake hour after hour YEARLY
surviving for 1t, until at last, when 7
strikes, the effort is given up as useless;
at once, the strain being taken off, the
Worn-out brain takes its rest-the sleen
which has been so longed for comes at
last. A great physician has truly said !:
Inc body VIII always rest If the mind
will let it,
Some years ago when house physician
at a London hospital used to expert
rounds l would frequently receive com
plants of sleeplessness from weary pa
tlents, often when there was no pain or
other definite reason for it. would saw
10 them; "Oh, it doesn't really matter
you are resting all right; it won't do
you any harm; just lie awake and think
how comfortable you. are here" Or to
the weaker natures would say: Nurse
snail bring you a poultice," or II will
send you something when l have fin
ished my rounds" Almost invariably on
my return in twenty minutes time. they
would be sleeping peacefully; no further
remedy was needed.
Every doctor will tell you how often
some simple sleeping draught is sent
and never taken-never needed. To-
mere fact Of knowing it is there is suf!i-
cient; the anxious dread of another
sleepless night has been taken away,
the mind is at rest, and sleep comes in
the natural way. And so it would seem
that by far the commonest cause of
sleeplessness is the anxious striving to
obtain sleep. 1t follows, therefore, that
all such devices for procuringit.as count
ing an imaginary flock OF sheep fixing
the attention on the circulation, making
an effort ITO stop thought, ere wrong
theoretically, as we'll as being usually
worse than useless ir practice. What.
then, is the real remedy? Why, simply
to give up the attempt to sleep if one
sleep does not come as usual. Give up
trying
If a sleepless night is to be ones lot.
one must accept 1t as philosophically as
one can, remembering that many and
many man has had to lose a night
rest before and has been little, If any,
worse for it. TO the sleepless one l
would say: Make up your mind to stay
awake for the night" Nine times out of
ten the blessing, striven for in vain, will
come unsought, and that almost imhed-
lately, SO that on looking back the next
morning the last thing you remember
will be your determination to lie awake.
Directly you cease to strive for sleep,
to wish ardently for 1t. the strain will
be taken off, the brain--the body--will
rest because the mind is no longer pre-
venting 1t, and sleep will be the happy
result. And 70 make the requisite deter
mination-or, I should say, renuncia-
tion--this thought may be help to you.
II Is the anxiety for sleep and the wor-
rylng about It's absence, far more than
the sleeplessnsss itself, that cause the
feeling of prostration which follows a
sleepless night. The man whose duty or
occupation has forced him to give up
nights rest is In far better condi-
ton the next day than the man who has
spent a restless night in the vain and
weary search. foe sleep. :,