HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 July 1945, Page 6

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

SLEEP IN MIDDLE AGE. 'Middle-age is for many a time of broken sleep. Tins irregulaW 0.. sleep in middle nfe is very uoubl - come Many factor;; may be responsible hut the most common are probably worry and anxiety and inciiThe individual gels. oh to sfcp all right but wakes in the small hours, and dozes on.y io; tne rest of the night- io ‘-eel bca\ .> mid ti i- ed next morning. This goes oa night after night until Mar 01 not steening properly adds to me double, increases the sleeplessness, and a bad habit of broken sleep becomes established. . , If this is happening to you. see 11 there’s a digestive origin, from unsuitable or over-eating. At. middle ago our activity and energy expenditure are not sb much as when we were younger, but row think ,to cut down the total food consumption accordingly. and to keep the aocxiinmal muscles firm and in tone. Maybe you are eating too much or wrong types of f ooC i_possibly too much carnohydrate type foodstuffs. Examine your eatinc, therefore, reduce the iat and carbohydrate intake and see that there’s a balance 01. vitamins and minerals from increased vegetables and fruits. Try a light instead of a heavy evening meal some hours before retiring. Al bedtime Mm? a warm bath and a warm drm'i and settle down io a good night’s sleep. If your sleeplessness is. due to worry, anxiety, or the hectic pace at which you arc living to make the money you consider essential tor your happiness, you don’t usually drop off to sleep and wake up early, as in the digestive type of insomnia. Rather you can’t got off to sleep until the early hours of the morning. To cure this type calls for new ways of living—a slower . pace, with less anxiety. A complete medical overhaul and a chat with your physician would be the way to initiate this change-over. You would know there was ho physical basis for the insomnia then, and it’s but a matter of readjustment to an easier, more healthful tempo of living.