Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-09-23
DON'T STRIVE FOR SLEEP.
II You Do, You're Very Apt to Spend
IL Wnleeful Night,

Wukeful N1Snt
Let any readers when next they pass
4 sleepless night notice carefully %nat
happens. 1t will probably be somewhat
as follows: Suppose. for instance, that
they are in the habit of being called at
7:3O; they will hear the clock strike t,
5. 6 and {, and then, when the knock
at the door comes, they will either be
fast asleep or else they will drop asleep
Immediately afterward, and in either
case possibly they will, to their intense
disgust, overslecp themselves. What
is the explanation OF this! Simply that
by far the commonest cause of pro-
longed slceplessness is the worrying
about 1t, the anxious effort to obtain
sleep And so they lie awake hour att
er hour YEARLY striving for it, until AT
last, when I strikes, the effort Is given
I'D as useless; 1T once, the strain being
taken off, the wornout brain takes its
rest-the sleep which has been so long
ed for comes at last. y great physician
has truly said, The body will always
rest II the mind will let it"
Some years ago when house physician
at London hospital | used to expert
ment Oh this subject. On my midnight
rounds weyld frequently receive COM
plants Of sleeplessness from weary pa
thence, often when there was no pain
or other definite reason for it. l would
say to them, "Oh, it doesn't really mat
ter, 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 l would say,
Nurse shall bring you poultice, or
81 will send you something when l
have finished my rounds" Almost in
variably on my return, in 20 minutes
time, they would be sleeping peaceful
ly; no further remedy was needed.
Every doctor will tell you how often
some simple sleeping draft is sent
and never taken-never needed. The
mere fact of knowing it is there is suf-
ticient; the anxious dread of another
sleepess night has been taken away,
the mind is ut rest and sleep comes ID
the natural way. And SO it would seem
that by far the commonest cause or
sleeplessness is the anxious striving to
obtain sleep. 1t follows, therefore, that
all such devices for procuring it, as
counting an imaginary flock Of sheep,
fixing the attention on the circulation,
making an effort to stop thought, are
wrong theoretically, rs we'll as being
usually worse than useless in practice.
What, then. is the real remedy? Why,
simply to give up the attempt to sleep
if ones sleep does not come as usual.
Give up trying II a sleepless night Is
to be ones lot, one must accept 1t as
philosophically as one can, remember
ing that many and many Il man has
had to lose nights 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 bless
ing striyen for in vain, will come un-
sought, and that almost Immediately,
so that on looking back the next morn
ing the last thing you remember will
be your determination to lie awake.
Directly you cease to strive for sleep,
to wish ardently for it, the strain Will
be taken off the brain, the body Will
rest because the mind is no longer pre-
venting it, and sleep will be the happy
result. And to make the requisite de-
termination-or, should say, renunci-
ation-this thought may be help to
you. 1t is the anxiety for sleep and the
worrying about its absence, far more
than the sleeplessness itself, that cause
the feeling Of prostration which fol-
lows sleeplcss night. The man whose
duty or occupation has forced him to
give up nights rest is in far better
condition the next day than The man
who has spent restless night In the
vain and weary search for sleep.-Lon-
don Spectator.