The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-14
FOUR OR FIVE HOURS SLEEP Is ENOUGH For Thomas A. Edison Says
 That It Is HE PRACTICES 1T HIMSELF Practical Test Is Made on 100 Men Employed at MenIo Park Labo- ratory-Eat Four Meals
 Day.
HE PRACTICES IT HIMSELF

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger. | After all, sleep is only habit There | is nothing to prove that men really need it. Thomas A. Edison said the other day. Men first learned to sleep because when darkness came they had nothing else to do. Through the ages their de- scendants, doing likewise made sleep a custom-a matter of course. But if men had always lived in land of perpetual light and sunshine, ! don't suppose we would sleep at a1l.'
 The famous inventor backed up the idea by telling of practical test It was not his own ability to live with little sleep As is well known, MT. Edison limits him self to four or five hours sleep in the 24 He said he had not slept more than five hours in night for 40 years. In much of that time he averaged only four hours Nor was 1t the case of his wife, which he mentioned incidentally. Mrs. Edison. he said, sleeps only five hours in a night, and the habit seems to agree with her The test he described involved nearly 100 men of average physique in MT Edison 8 labora tory.
 On Four Meals Daily.
 '"rhe test was made" MT. Edison said, while I was experimenting with my as- sistants at Menlo Park. limited each man to four hours sleep in the 24 They kept it up for two years. It did not seem to hurt them"
 Were they aided by special diet or treatment to make up for the loss of sleep?'
 "No, except that there were four meals day instead of three. We had break fast dinner and supper in the daytime, IS usual and an extra supper at midnight. There was nothing peculiar about the r,l.- oa1- ricfa nf vegetables bread and the rest which or dinary people eat.
 Each man was assigned to four hours in the 24 in which he was entitled to sleep. When the time came he went to our bunkhouse near the laboratory, tumbled into one of the bupks and was sound asleep in a moment. He didn't get his full four hours, either, for we would call him trife ahead of time suppose he slept three hours and s9 per cent of the last hour.
 Very Hard at First.
 What was the effect of cutting down their sleep? For the first week or so it was hard-very hard. They would come back to work limp and heavy footed, their eyes sometimes looking as if they had been drinking heavily The old habit of sleepfng which men had followed for so
  was hard to break. But after the first week or so the reduction in their hours of sleep seemed to make no difference in their work or mental capacity. Indeed. they gained in agility. They seemed to be lighter on their feet
 ..There is this significant point in such A test: The men who slept four hours in the 24 had absolute rest. The person who sleeps too much not only experiences heavy feeling in the body, but usually does not enjoy absolute unconsciusness while asleep.
 Ills Wife's Experience.
 "I remember the case of my wife some years ago. II was sleeping four hours night-no more. She said she-wanted her full eight hours sleep. In that eight hours she would dream. She would wake up several times of a night. Her rest was by no means complete.
 q persuaded her to give only four hours to sleep In the 24. She trained herself to do SO. Her rest became intense absolute, without dreams or moments of awaken ing. Ever since she has allowed herself no more than five hours sleep In the 24. Does it hurt her? Wel'-thls with a sat isfied laugh-"my wife looks so young she might be her daughters sister.
 Should 1t be put to test MT. Ed- son continued. "I think you would find that If the time lost in awakenings and dreams were measured, the person who thinks he is having his full eight hours of sleep is not having more than five or six.
 The City Mans Rest.
 ssPersons are likely to sleep less as the number of lights increase. and the things that can be done at night become more