HOW MUCH SLEEP?

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 192, 15 August 1925, Page 10

HOW MUCH SLEEP?

TO KEEP ONE HEALTHY.

NO INVIOLABLE RULE

The man of sixty who wakens end denly to the fact that he has spent twenty of these precious years in *** unconsciousness of sleep is apt to re proach himself for what moment to liave been a prod lg al v>aste of time. Nevertheless, he can contort himself with the reflection that had lie not had, approximately at least these hours of blissful oblivion he be alive to worry about the matter. Sound sleep for a certain number ot hours in every 24 is as vital good health as is a daily sufficiency of good food, fresh air," sunlight and exercise. Opponents of summer time declare that it "deprives people of their natural sleep." That is, however, simply begging the question, since nobody has yet defined when we ought to sleep or lor how many hours, says a writer in TitBits." We know, of course, that people who are both physicaljy and mentally lazy deliberately oversleep, while on the other hand, the mentally alert and bodily active are apt to deprive themselves of the amount of sleep that is essential to health. We are also aware that both that i"little more" and that "little less" tell in the long run with cumulative effect on the brain and nerves,' seriously impairing the structure and functions "of both, and injuring health and shortening life. No Rule Can Suit Everyone. People seem to think that there should be some ruling on the vexed question of how many hours a healthy human adult should sleep. If all human creatures were in every respect alike this would be easy; but since no two members of the human family are, or ever will be, exactly alike, the adage "One man's meat is another man's poison" may also read, "One man's sleep is another man's insomnia," and vice versa. Some require a little more and some a great deal more sleep than others.

A healthy man, sleeping independently of the help of any narcotic, in an adequately ventilated room, knows he has had enough sleep when be awakes automatically feeling refreshed in spirit and body. On the other hand, the sleeper who deliberately sleeps on or "•dozes" until he is called by.a knock or a clock can scarcely tell whether he has slept too much or too Mttle. If he feels bright at breakfast he has probably hit the happy medium; if he does not, then he doesn't know whether he has had too little or too much oblivion.

A man's daily output of nerve energy is the measure of the period required for its restoration during sleep. Hence the.great.diversity in the hours required for slumber by different individuals. As illustrations of this diversity it is usual to quote the hours of sleep required by men like Napoleon, John Wesley, and others who lived in days when the stress and strain on the nervous system war nothing compared with what it is today.

10 compare like with like we must instance the habit in men of our own day and generation. The late Lord Leverhulme, for instance, allowed an average of five hours for sleep with a maximum of six and a minimum of four. At the other extreme is Sir William Orpen, whose average seems to be ten hours.-

Mr. St. Leo Strachey sleeps nine hours and would like to sleep ten. Whenever possible, he sleeps another hour during the day. Sir Eric Geddes finds a minimum-of eight hours necessary, and occasionally takes the opportunity of storing up ten or twelve hours' sleep.

Mr. G. K. Chesterton takes as much sleep as he can get, going to bed very late and sleeping very late. Lord Burnham is never quite 'healthy or happy unless he gets eight, or at* least seven hours' sleep; he does not sleep in the daytime if he can help it.