Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-10-10
HOW TO REST AND SLEEP.
A Physician Gives Some directions
For Getting Good ResuIts.

fOE OOOu
Any one who is nervous should be
careful how he cxpends energy. To
rest should not be an art difficult Of
requirement or one requiring teacher,
yet many know very little Of it. If
you are physically tired, q very few
minutes fiat on your back IS worth as
a means of repair an hours sitting in
a chair, but mind that it be fat not
reclining on a lounge or with your
spine bent out Of shape In deep chair
in which your weight rests on any part
of your body except the part intended
to support it-abOve all, not in a rock
ing chair, that special trap for the
nervous. Besides getting into this po-
sition you must lie still in it, not hold
ing yourself down on to the couch or
endeavoring to hold that article Of fur
niture down-that IS, you must be loose,
relaxed, unstrung. Look at a child
in bed, limbs sprawled all abroad, for
chow to do 1.-THE ease of the careless
position is more characteristic Of per-
feet relaxation than the more COmpos-
ed attitude of a sleeping adult says DR..
John X Mitchell in Harpcr's Bazaar.
Learn to keep still when you rest.
When you move, move with the part Of
the body needed Do not waste your
force 10y walking with your arms and
face as well as with your legs. If cir
CumstanccS force an unusual and IA
tiguing amount Of eXertion upon you,
break 1t now and then by periods of
absolute rest No matter how brief
they are, they will be useful If you
make them complete and perfect in the
way described. This is true Of mental
as well as bodily exertion. \ minute
or two minutes Of quiet, with eyes
closed If possible, with your tension re-
laxed and the gearing Of the machinery
thrown off for the moment will help
and refresh you greatly. Here, again,
more may be gained If the ability to re-
lax mentally can be secured in a fash
ion similar to the Withdrawing Of mus
Cular tension. Learn to empty your
mind when not using It.
This will not only help for the pur-
pose of temporary repose, but may be
1t can, Ike the trick of muscle relaxa-
ton, be acquired and made habitual
You viii then be less liable to have
your days work Of worry pursue you
to bed and fasten upon you, to the
Punishment of all possibility Of going
to sleep, or If you escape this, follow
you into the land Of Nod and hag ride
you in your dreams.
DR.. Mitchell gives some good advice
about the art of wooing sleep that is
worth quoting.
"Overanxiety about sleep hinders It's
coming and makes one wakeful Mus
cular relaxation and a mind emptied Of
thought are the preliminary requisites"
he says. 1T may be worth while to
add that while we know very little Of
the physiology Of sleep, 1t is pretty GER
tain that the amount Of blood in the
brain IS lessened during sleep, though
whether this diminution in the blood
supply IS preliminary to or consequent
upon sleep Is insure. The ordinary
household remedies for wakefulness
are founded on this fact-a hot foot
bath, hot water bag to the body, a
warm drink, which draws blood to the
stomach, all having more or less dl-
rectly the effect Of reducing the guam
tIty of blood in the mead. Almost all
sleep producing medicines act in the
same manner, but these are undesirable
for nervous people, who too easily grow
dependent upon them. The habit Of
their use is not so dangerous as the
slavery to pain suppressing drugs, the
greatest reason against them being
rather in their somewhat depressing
nervous and physical after effects. On
the other hand thought certainly In
creases the amount of blood in the
head "