Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-27
THE VALUE OF SLEEP
sLEEPLEssNEss ONE OF NATURES
MosTaaHARAssINa ILLS.
A Complaint That Has Been Common
for Uncountedi Centuries-Advice
.~ w t1l ~ slEt=.ss-4
From Many Doctors.

ancient standing. Ahasuerus, when ne
could not sleep, commanded to bring the
book Of records Of the chronicles. and they
were read before him." In other words,
he had at his bedside reader with vol
ume OF old newspapers. Mr.. William
O'Brien, M. p, having. suppose. no news
papers at his command when he was In
prison. was in the habit Of trying to in
duce sleep by recalling, one after another.
the couLties Of Ireland, and their connec-
ton with his own varied history. Jean
Paul prescribed as a soporific the picturing
to the mind Of an endless garland of
flowers stretching away into space. Boer-
haave suggested the listening to the regu-
lar falling Of drops Of water into reso-
nant vessel.
Prof. w. T. Preyer Of Jena has recon-
mended the sufferer to stand with one arm
outstretched until the limb Is invaded by
an excess Of blood and aches violently. A
favor1te old wife's remedy Is to count men,
tally from one to a hundred alternately
limttless succession of sheep passing
through gap in hedge. Each OF these
methods is doubtless good in some cases,
but there are certainly other cases In
which they are all quite valueless. and then
too often the would-be sleeper makes the
fatal mistake Of using drugs.
Avoid Drugs.
Drugs are bad for two reasons. First.
the species Of sleep which they induce is
not natural. and not refreshing to the full
extent. Secondly. the more drugs man
takes for seeplessness the more he needs.
So much Is this the case that many in
stances are known Of people who. having
taken morphia or choral for a few nights,
have never again been able to sleep at
night without artificial assistance. It is
true that in certain diseases Of the brain
drugs are absolutely necessary, but even
then they should never be employed with
out specific medical authority for each
separate dose. Where actual brain disease
IS not present, natural sleep may nearly
always be induced without the slightest
risk of injury to the system. Since so
many thousands Of sleepess persons, in
stead Of realizing this and acting accord
ingly, rush to drugs and do themselves in
calculable damage, think it may be use
full to give the results Of some experiments
which have tried.
Fatigue and Drowsiness.
Fatigue is, of course, the ordinary cause
Of sleepiness; but how fatigue causes sleepi-
ness is not exactly known, seeing that it is
notorious that fatigue sometimes exists
without sleepiness and that sleepiness some
times exists when there are no other symp-
toms Of what Is usually called fatigue
The theory of Alexander Won Humboldt
which is perhaps the most accepted one
although DR.. Schofz Of Bremen has endeav-
ored to combat 1t, is that sleepiness re-
suits from the comparative exhaustion Of
the oxygen Of the brain, and that the store
of oxygen there can only be replenished
properly when, as In sleep, the rest Of the
organism Is consuming less Of that ele-
ment than usual. D
This relative exhaustion Of oxygen may
be one of the principal causes Of mental
fatigue but 1t is probably not the only one
I hQ tha oil fOr
sleepiness. What that reason Is has not
yet been demonstrated satisfactorily, but
there are two phenomena which are char
acteristic Of sleep, both Of which appear to
afford some clue as to the methods which
should be followed to Induce sleep when it
fails to come at the expected time and in
the accustomed way. ..
Sleep and the Blood.
One of these phenomena is the compare
tive freedom Of the sleeping brain from
blood. The volume is much less, the circu-
lation Is feebler. The experiments of Dur
ham and Of Mosso show this conclusively
They show also that whatever tends to
preserve or increase the activity of the
cerebral circulation tends to wakefulness
and that whatever decreases the activity Of
that circulation and Is not inconsistent with
the general health favors sleep. These OBJ
servations afford sound justification for
Preyer's recommendation to his sleepIess
patients to stand with an extended arm
until the limb aches violently. In proper
ton as blood Is drawn to the arm so is
blood drawn from other parts, including the
brain. The same observations justify the
rubbing or massaging Of the extremities
or the putting Of the feet into hot water
before going to bed. For the last process
the use Of hot-water bottle Is good SUBJ
sttute, for cold feet are most antagonistic
to sleep.
The other phenomenon to which I allude
as being characteristic Of sleep is the less
known fact that the eyebal1s Of a sleeping
person are rotated upward: This may be
noted by any one who takes the trouble
quietly to lift the upper eyelid of sleeper
by pressing 1t lightly with finger end. If,
being awake one endeavors to keep the
eyes rotated as far as possible upward,
even for few seconds the effort is extra
ordinarily fatiguing, and the fatigue Is &C
centuated if at the same time one keeps
the eyeids closed.
Brain Free From Blood.
Now. Of course. sleep does not follow
merely because the brain for some reason
happens to become relatively free from
blood or because the eyeballs happen to be
rotated upward, or because one assumes a
comfortable reclining attitude and shuts
ones eyes. Nevertheless, If one would WOO
sleep 1t is VIGOROUSLY a good thing to lie
down in an easy position; while, as has
been pointed out. the predlsposng condi-
lions may De rendered sui more favorable
by artificially attracting certain amount
or blood from the brain by means Of hold
ing out an arm before lying down, or by
applying heat to the extremities.
1t occurred to me many years ago that
vet another favoring condition might be
provided If the would-be sleeper could be
induced to make an effort to keep his eye
balls rotated upward. Happily, 1 have
never suffered much from sleeplessness,
and in consequence such experiments as I
have tried upon myself are Of very doubt
full value. 1 may say, however. that on
the rare occasions when 1 do not go to
sleep readily always close my eyelids
and try to keep my eyeballs rotated up
ward. So far as l can judge sleep invaria-
bly, follows within minute or SO, except,
naturally, upon occasions when acute pain
or some other definite antagonistic factor
interferes. The palm. however, must be
severe to preEent ]tte result.
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Rauooffs in Iapauese Army