The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-07-22
DON'T STRIVE FOR SLEEP.

Let any OF our readers Wneu next
they pass sleepless night notice care
fully what happens. 1t will proba-
bly, be somewhat as follows: Suppose.
for instance, that they are in the habit
Of being called at 7. 80 they will hear
the clock strike 4, S, 6 and 7, and
then, when the knock comes, they
win either be fast asleep or else they
will drop asleep Immediately after
ward, and in either case possibly they
will, to their intense disgust, over
sleep themselves. What is the ex-
planation of this? Simply that by
far the commonest cause of prolonged
sieeplessness is the worrying about it,
the anxious effort to obtain sleep.
And SO they lie awake hour after hour
wearily striving for it, until at last,
when J strikes, the effort is given up
asssseless at once, the strain being
taken off, the worn-out brain takes
its rest-and sleep which has been so
longed for comes at last. A great
physician has truly said, 1.-The body
will always rest if the mind will let
it."
Some years ago when house physi-
clan at a London hospital used to ex-
pertinent on this suject. On my mid
night rounds I would frequently re-
ceive complaints of sleeplessness from
weary patients, often when there was
no pain or other definite reason for it.
would say to 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 shall
bring you poultice," or Il will send
you something when have finished
my rounds - Almost invariably on
my return, in twenty minutes time,
they would be peacefully sleeping 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
sufficient; the anxious dread of an
other 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 csuse of sleeplessness
is the anxious striving to obtain sleep.
1t follows, therefore, that all such de-
vices 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, as well as being worse
than useless practically. 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. If a sleepless night is to
be ones lot, one must accept it as
philosophically as one can, remember
ing that many and many a man has
had to lose a nights rest before and
has been little if any the worse for it.
To the sleepless one 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
Immediately, 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 to sleep.
to ardently wish for it, the strain will
be taken off the brain, the body will
rest because the mind is no longer pre-
venting il, land sleep will be the happy
result. And to make the requisite de-
termination-or. should say, renun-
ciation-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 follows a sleepless night. The
man whose duty or occupation has
forced him to give up nights rest is
in a far better condition the next day
than the man who has spent rest
less night in the vain and weary
search for sleep.