Arizona republican., 1911-03-08
SLEEP AND DREAMS.
Too Much Sleep is Almost as Bad for
People as Too Little.


There is no surer way of producing
sleep. says writer in the Dietetic and
Hygiene Gazette. than by fatiguing
conscious attention. Various theories
of sleep have been advanced Some
dScribe it to the influence of some one
organ or tissue. such as the thyroid
gland or the basal cerebral ganSlia.
Fleming reports having produced
sleep by deep compression of the caro-
It'd arteries But in this case uncon-
seriousness was confused with normal
sleep But that cerebral anaemia is
one, though not the only one. of the
factors causing sleep is proved by the
fact that it always precedes sleep.
II is safe TO say that three clements
enter into natural sleep: fatigue. which
causes lessened irritability: withdraw
ing from anything that will stimulate
hearing or sight or any external sen
sation. and diminished blood supply
to the brain. In this matter the yawn
is Of interest.
1t is excited by a loss of attention
We al can remember being very sleepy
and 'yawninG our heads off" Then
when something has happened To ex-
cite our interest we became wide awake
in an instant and couldn't have
yawncd if We had tried.
Sleep then is the resting of con
seriousness; that is. OF the sclf-cou-
seriousness or acute realization of the
ego Persons in whom this sort ~
consciousness is least active would ma
tur-lly therefore be the ones who slccp
most And this We find To- be true
Children. the uncducated. idiots and so
on. all sleep more than the average
number of hours
1t is possible that this may explain
the well known observation that the
older person grows the less sleephe
requires. The older he grows the more
and more does ne remove certain acts
from the direction of his active con-
scious mind and relcgate them to those
automatically conceived and executed.
Old men who preserve their con-
scious in fun vigor are usually the sub
jects of insomnia While those i'm
whom conscious effort and desire is
gradually lessened sleep more and
more. This is in support of the
theory; as the older a man grows the
less does he make demands on his con
sciOus effort and consequently the less
rest he requires.
Loss of sleep or insomnia MAY h. due
to a variety Of causes Broken sleep is
most often found i'm nervous or hystcri-
cal persons or those temporarily in
similar condition. Most cases Of in
somnia belong To this class and Ham
mond cautions all physicians not to
take too seriously the statements OF
I in ri
plant
1t is one of the hardest things Tor
any person to estimate the exact
amount of time he has consumed in
sleep. one may sleep for some time
and on waking find it hard TO convince
himself that he has lost more than a
few moments. Cases of complete in
somuia are. however. met and they
quickly terminate in death.
\ central degree of cerebral anaemia
is necessary to sleep. Conversely it
may he seen that an unusual flow Of
blood to the brain will produce insom-
mia. Excessive mental or physical
may also produce insomnia. In
sufficient covering of the body will
produce insomnia by inducing cerebral
1t is easy though to fall into 4 habit
Of needless sleep at certain hours and
under certain conditions. Excessive
sleep may do bodily harm as through |
its power of vessel dilation il is fol !
lowed by various disturbances of the |
system.
The various perceptions that obtain
i'm dreams may be ClaSscd as visual |
auditprv- etc of these the visual are |
by far more vivid. Dreams are said to |
occur most in the morning and prob |
ably do. but there is likelihood that |
in the deeper sleep of middle night |
they are present. but do not make so |
much of an impression. Dreams are
VI two distinct classes: those caused |
bv some external stimulus and those |
originating in the memories Of the |
,erebrum without any TO be found |
Jrigin