About Sleep.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

About Sleep.

There is nothing in the world upon which the bulk of the population is so culpably and unnecessarily ignorant as the piinciplos to be followed for the preservation of lieal-h and the cure of ordinary ailments. There are a few main principles to bo learnt, and the rest is all common sensa and observation. The tendency to relj helplessly on doctors is a most foolish one. in ninetynine cases out of a hundred, a man can treat himself or his children belter and more effectively than any doctor, if ho U a man of observation,and has had dlittle reading on the elementary principles of hygienic KCien.ce; iitifc it is far better to know hew to prevent sickness than how to euro it; and aa " sleep, gontlo. sleep, nature's soft nurse" is she great preserver avd res.t.oi'ei' of bodily, health and strength, we will ask you to ruad the following sensible remarks by Margaret Sydney, first published in Good Ilouiekeejnng : —

"An old saying that has frightened a great many people from taking the rest that nature demands for them is, 'Nino hours are enough for a fool.' They muy be ; and not too many for a'wise man who feels that ho needs them. Oocthe, when performing his most prodigious literary feats, felt that he needed nine hours; what is bettor, he took them. Wo presume it is conceded by all thoughtful persons that the brain in very yoiuig children, say three or four years of iigo, requires a'l of twelve hours for refit, or • sleep. This period 1 is shortened gradually until, at fourteen years of age, the boy is found to nerd only ten hours When full grown arid in a, healthy condition, the man may iiiid'a night of eight hours sufficient to repair tlio exhaustion of the day and no<vcreate him for the morrow.' But if ho discovers that he needs more sleep, he should take it. There is surely (something wrong about him ; perhapn a forgotten waste must be repaired. His sleep, evidently, has not been made up ; and until it has he can, nnd spring to his work with an exhilara'iori for it, he should sensibly conclude to let his instinct control him, and stay in bed.

"So to lose our cares, our worries, our individual burdens in the oblivion of sleep as to waken obliged to form a new aeqr.ain* - ance with them, is to deprive them of half their stinging power. It i* not their cap turing us at the beginning of the clay when we are fresh and hopeful, that demoralizes us ; it is the gnat-like capacity they have for following, for fastening to us when nearly spent with toil, that completely broaK.s us down. Wo ought never to be in the condition where the chances would hand ua over to them a week.

" That we may continue io be of nso in the place in which God for wise reasons has pub us, let us wisely keep in our hands a roscrvo power of bodily and mental vigour produced by a ciicfiil balancing of the hours of sleep with the hours of work. We do not know to what of struggle or of sorrow we may be called. Let neither find us too weak to accept it as we should."

•''Just hero bear with us whilo wo romark that not every person who retires for the high* at tho good old-fashioned hour of nine, and it , nob seen a;.rain until the breakfast hour of eight, should have the credit of being a good sleeper. No need to say, if one could see the face sometimes brought to that 'same breakfast table, that its owner had not yet learned the great secret cf a restful night. He took all his cares to bed with him ; wrote that business letter bringing up that annoying question the last thing before putting out his light, then said his prayers piously, closed his eyes, and tossed, sighed, and longed for dawn, counted interminable flocks of sheep jumping aver a- never-ending wall, and at last fell into an exhausted state to be roujed'by the rising bell. Better have one hour of good, solid sleep than a night of this fashion, we say, as we look at him.

"If this were an attempt at an exhaustive paper, it would wisely descant on the benefit of a little gentle 'exercise indulged in bo fore retiring ; of games with the children and the rest of the family ; of singing, and the introduction of merry anecdotes. . It wculd recommend a night-cap for some wakeful soul, in the chape of.a glass of hot writer, and would suggest the good to be derived from toasting oue's feet before the hickory hearth fire. It froulicl seriously advise the duty cf unburdening the heart; from evil thoughts, from envy, from morbid longings, from all uucharitableness and anxious ropiningV. In unlimited space it would treat of the size,'shape, and position of the ideal'bedroom. "It would give all the best theories extant for preparing, the bed and its coverings, going back to the initial feather of the goose that supplied the pillow-, stufling. It would tell how much air to let into the apartment, with the latest,ideas on the subject. In short, it would spread itself over a great deal of space : it might belike a very litt'e butter over a large piece of biscuit. At all events; it would deal in many things.

- "Thb/few things aro all that can hope for treatment here. Let us honestly,.strive to put them plainly beforo those readers who wish to so order their lives as to make' them conform to the Christian standard, aiming to be' suggestive rather than theoretical, and hoping more from the futux-e widening In the reader's mind of the lines of thought laid down than from any ; trick of expression, or novelty of the truth produced here.

'.'lt will never do for us to adopt a universal plan bo refresh man, and send i<ll the world to bed at nine o'clock. Civilization has; made too great strides for that. Because some men cannot bear excitement, and are worn to a thread mentally, and aro Unable to sleep a wink after an evening gathering of friends or the opera, shall wo sib in judgment and condemn all these amusements? His next door neighbour goes home from one of them refreshed in body and mind, hops into bed humming a,tune, and is off'in deep sleep ;if ho dreams at all, it is to go over the sweet, recreating scenes he has passed through. Sensible, reasonable amusements within bounds, no doubt, are healthful. When anyone of them becomes an absorbing passion, then it is that ili works destruction on man, soul and body."