A Cure for Dreaming.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1056, 26 May 1892, Page 5

A Cure for Dreaming.

A cure for dreaming is a thing that I have been asked for by a correspondent. Certainly, there are few more curious states than that of dreaming, no matter what caused by. It is not enough to merely avoid all heavy suppers, and especially that prolific source of nightmares—toasted cheese —but anyone suffering as my unfortunate correspondent does, must look carefully into the matter of health. Digestion, or rather indigestion, is accountable for an immense amount of all kinds of mischief. You may not notice any particular danger signal, but you will be worried in some quite unlooked for and apparently unconnected way. One form of indigestion is that it seems nearly impossible to get to sleep, as if one could not stop thinking, and when sleep does overtake one, there runs through it a restlessness and semi-consciousness that brings no rest whatever, and one’s last state is worse than one’s first. Now this comes from two causes ; either the brain has been worked too late before going to rest, or it is from dyspepsia. For the first avoid any work that has much mental strain in it, and if you read, choose some rubbishy novel or story that carries you along with it, with little or no effort of the mind. For the second take from fifteen to nineteen drops of ipecacuanha wine in a tablespoonful of water, just as you get into bed, and settle \ ourself to sleep. If these very simple remedies do not have the effect of giving you refreshing sleep, then you had better consult a medical man, as your case needs more scientific treatment. Worry of mind and over fatigue of body have much to say to causing bad or any kind of dreams, and who, alas! is long without these ? A wise discrimination in the kind of food is very necessary, and it must be remembered that dream 3 come also from weakness, therefore see that you are not in need of some simple health giving tonic, of which plenty of exercise—short of fatigue—in the open air, a cold water bath every morning, and a rub down afterwards with a rough towel to create a glow, are the first and most easily procured. Do not make the mistake of seekoblivion in sleep from stimulants, as they are but oil poured on the flame, and will upset the interior machinery still more. If with air ordinary healthy life people still suffer from disturbed nights the reason is a deeper one than I can deal with. — Queen Bee.