Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-03-16
SLEEP AND DREAMS.
To" Much sleep Is Almost IN Bad for
People as TOO Little.

There IS no surer way OF producing
sleep, says Il writer IN the Ifeteiio and
HyEienlc Gazette than BY fatiguins con-
scous attention. Various theories OF
sleep have been advanced Some ascr1hs
II to the influence OF some one organ or
tissue. such the thyroid gland or the
nasal cerebral ganglla.
Fleming reports having produced sleep
by deep compression of the carotid arter-
les. But in the case unconscious1ess was
confused with normal sleep. But that
cerebral Anaemia is one, though not tn
only one, Of the factors causing sleep il
proved by the fact that it always pre-
cedes sleep.
1T IS safe 'u say that three elements
enter into natural sleep: fatigue. which
causes .,ssened trritability, withdrawing
from anything that will stimulate hearing
or sight or any external sensation, and
diminished blood supply TO the brain.
In this matter tho yawn Is of interest
1t is excited by loss OF attention. Wa
all >an remember being very sleepy and
'yawning our neads off" Then when
somethiu- has happened 10 excite our
interest We became wide awake In an
instant and couldn't have yawned Il We
had tried.
Slee, then is the resting ot conscious
ness, tnat is. OF the seif-consciousness or
acute realization of ,he ego. Persons
i'm whom this sort nj consciousness Is
least active would naturally therefore n-
the oues who rieep most ANA this ~"
had To he trne. children, the uneducated.
idiots and so on. all sleep more than the
average number Of hours.
1t T. possible that this may eXp.air
the vel known observation that the Older
n person grows the less sleep he requires.
! The older lie grows the more and more
does ne remove certain acts from ths
I direction OF his active conscious mind
+ and relesate them to these automatically
conceived and executed.
Old men VINO preserve their conscious
, ness M fun vlgor are usually the subjects
| of insomnia While those in whom con
1cious effor' and desire is gradually les
| sened sleep mora and more. This IS in
support Of the theory; a. the older A man
grows the less does he make demands on
his conscious effort and consequently the
less rest ne requires
Loss OF sleep or insomnia may 10 dee
to variety of causes. Broken sleep Is
most often found in nerN Gus or hys'eri-
cal persons or those temporarily in \
similar condition. Most cases OF insom-
ria belong TO this GLASS and Hammond
cautions all physicians not to take too
seriously the statements OF these patients
in regard to this complaint.
II la one ~ the hardest of things for
any person to estimate tho exact amount
OF the time that no has consumed IN
sleep. one may sleep for some time and
on waking find it hard to convince himself
d that he has lost more than few mo
ments. Cases of complete insomnia are
however met and they quickly terminate
: in dssth.
A central degree OF cerebral anaemia is
necessary to sleep. Conversely Il may
he seen that an unusual flow OF blood to
the brain will produce insomnia. Also
q pronounced degree Of anaemiR will
also produce insomnia. Excessive mental
or ply steal fatigue may also produce
Insomnia. insufficient covering of the
body will produce insomnia by inducing
cere pral congestion.
II IL easy though TO fall into he bit OF
needless sleep at certain hours and under
certain conditions. Excessive sleep may
DO bodily harm ~ through IT'S power OF
The various perceptions that obtain
in dreams may he classed as visual. audi
tory, etc or these tho visual are by far
more vivid. Dreams are said to occur
most in the morning and probably do
but there IS likelihood that in the deep
er sleep Of middle night they are present
but do not make so much OF an inpre7.
sion. Dreams are Of two distinct class
IS: those caused by some external stim
illus and those originating in the mem
cries II the Cerchrun without any Ia n,
rourd origin