The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-11-06
EVENING CHAT
By RUTH CAMERON.

One of my letter friends has been kind
enough to send me description of some
of the remedies he has found successful
for insomnia.
Knowing that there are always many
sad people to whom, what should be
hours of sweet unbroken rest. are hours
of tortured tossing. 1 take pleasure in
passing on his suggestions.
If they help but one person to a few
hours more sleep, I am sure that every
one who has ever suffered the agony OF
insomnia Will think this space well
During time OF trouble and resulting
sleeplessness," he writes, I discovered
the efficiency of some little remedies. 1
noticed that approaching sleep was at
that time most often disturbed by COM
mon noises which had hardly entered my
consciousness when the mind was in its
normal state. When sleep came long
after midnight, it was short because,
soon disturbed by the noise of the awak-
ening city, which, combined with the day
night, made 1t impossible to find the
much needed rest
THE discovery of these causes sug-
gested to me the following remedies: Put
cotton in my ears-as much of it as pos
duced the disturbing causes to a mini
mum and the effect was most beneficial
ana .helped the mind good deal in over
ness.
The binder should be good heat con-
ductoT Qinen or cotton, not WOOD TO pre-
vent accumulation of heat underneath. 1t
should cover the eyes from the eyebrows
70 the cheek bones, leaving the forehead
Il find these little helps also useful If
l need a short rest during the day. In
the silence and darkness of the night and
In my case. with the best results.
or course, do not allow myself to
form habit of the use of these helps IN
order not to make my rest entirely de-
pendent upon Them
May [ add to these a mention of the
remedies which I have heard of else
where or personally found effective?
think I may have mentioned some OF
them before, but such is my sympathy
Tor any one suffering with insomnia tnat
l cannot resist an opportunity to give all
anyone who has ever tried in vain tn
get to sleep knows how preternaturalIy
each moment of wakefulness- While the
mind Is in this state you might as well
hunt deer in front of the city han as
So if you possibly can. get up and read
Something that will take the mind Off
itself and pacify it. Read something fair
" absorbing but not too exciting. and
especially not thought stimulating. A
pleasant. chatty. interesting novel is
best Myself. often have a session with
my old friend, Little Women" or per
haps try few c>--2ters Of Crawford.
sleep, then read awhile longer, and / am
pretty sure that shortly after you snap
out the lights and skip into bed, you win
nave the pleasant surprise of waking up
and finding that it is morning.
rms IS especially eficacious when the
cause of the sleeplessness is mental.
Drawing the blood away from the head
in some way is a great cure for sleep
lessness. Put cold cloths on your head
and something hot to your feet Battle
your face and forehead in alcohol Eat
something. thus drawing the blood from
the head to the stomach. Do a few Wig
orous exercises that will send the blood
tingling all over the system.
Unrecognized indigestion often causes
sleeplessness. Try drinking a cup of hot
water.
And now one don't If you are any
thing like me- don't try counting sheep
or repeating poetry. OF course, I can
only speak for myself. but my own ex-
perience has been that nothing stirs my
mind to such angry activity as these
much footed devices.
Here's fervently hoping that If you
have need of help something my letter
friend or I have said may help you.
But here's more fervently hoping that
you won't care for this talk at all be-
cause you have no need of it,