The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1908-07-17
sleep ALLEGED
10 Be A HABIT
PeOpls Could Live AS Wei
.Withortit.
Ard la Any event Four TO FIVE
Honrsis Sufficiently
Lung 10 Sleep.

AltII e4l, &Stp 10 oh'y H.'S-s'
There is nothing 70 prove thai Men
really need it, ,amas A. Eliscn
) said ne other Zen frs learned
to sleep because wBo1 darkness came
they had nothing else o do. Through
the ages their diseendai is doing Ike
wise. made, sleep. c2,to.n--a matter
course. But if men hsl always lived
in a, land of perpetual ligl' and sun
shine,.1 don't suppose We would sleep
at ALL"
The famous inventor backed mp the
idea by telling of a practical test. IL
was his own ability to live with
little sleep. AS is well known, Mr..
Edison limits himself 10 four or five
hours, sleep in the twen;y-four. He
said that he had not slept more than
five hours In a night for forty years.
In much OF that time he averaged
only four hours. Nor was It the case
of his wife, which he mentioned Incl
-dentally. Mrs. Edison he said sleeps
only five hours in a night and the ha-
bit seems to agree with her. The test
he described involved nearly 100 men
of average physique in Mr.. Edison's lab
oratory.
1.-The test was made Mr.. Edison
said, while was experimenting with
my assistants at Menlo Park. limited
each man to four hours, sleep in the
twenty They kept is UP for two
years. 1t did not seem to hurt them.
Were the aided by SPECIAL diet or
treatment TO make up for the loss of
sleep?"
mo except that there were four
meals a day instead of three. We had
breakfast, dinner and supper in the
daytime as usual and an extra supper
at midnight. There was nothing pc
culiar about the food. The meals con-
sisted of meets vegetable bread
and the rest which ordinary people eat
Each man was assigned to four
hours in the twenty-four in which he
was entitled to sleep. When the time
came he went to our hunkhouse near
the laboratory tumbled into one of the
hunks and was sound asleep in a
moment. He didn't get this full four
hours either, for we would call him
trifle ahead of time. suppose he
slept three hours and so per cent. of
the last hour.
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 sleeping
which men had followed for so many
ages was telling on them, The habit
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 metal ca
pacity. Indeed, they gained in agility.
They seemed to be lighter on their
feet
There is this significant point in
such test. The men who slept four
hours in the twenty-four had absolute
rest only experiences a heavy feeling
in the body, but usually does not en-
Joy absolute Inconsistencies while
asleep
Il remember the case of my wife
some years ago. | was sleeping four
hours a 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
night. Her rest was by no means com
plete.
Il persuaded her to give only four
hours to sleep in the twnty-four. She
trained herself 10 do so. Her rest be-
came intense absolute without dreams
or moments of awakening. Ever since
she has allowed herself no more than
five hours sleep in the twenty-four.
Does 1t hurt her? Well"-this with a
satisfied laugh-"my wife looks so
young she might be her daughters
sister.
Should 1t be put to test" Mr..
Edison continued, Il think you would
find that If the time lost in awaken
ings and dreams were measured the
person who thinks he is having his
full eight hours of sleep is not hav-
ing more than five or Six.
Persons are likely to sleep less as
the number of lights increase and the
things that can be done at night be-
come more numerous. Take the mod
ern city man for instance. 1t Is quite
the usual thing for him to be awake
until o'clock in the morning, or later
He is up early the next morning and
off to business. Yet the city man is
Just as healthy as class as the man
who lives in the country and has many
more hours Sleep"
is 1t not said that sleep is re-
quired to restore the depleted tissues