THE ART OF SLEEP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23883, 10 August 1939, Page 18

THE ART OF SLEEP

WHY NOT HOST-CRADLE COURSES? ■■There would not be so much lying In bed if only we knew how to sleep properly (says a writer; in the Sydney Morning Herald's .'-Women's Supplement) .-. M6st . children, : particularly babies, know how to sleep far better than their'parents. 'And, the fact of the matter is that, instead of improving as sleepers as we get older we become progressively worse. If "night schools'* fulfilled their highest function in the community, then they woulcV be turned into instructional centres where adults could do a postcradle course in slumber work. It was left for, a German doctor to discover, the other day, that bur sleeping hours are all wrong. He said that the best time for sleep begins at 7 p.m. and ends at 11.30, p.m. That is for real beauty sleep The doctor also said that, for the ordinary adult, four hours and a-half is sufficient. Some German athletes tried this while training for the last Olympic Games, and discovered that, in this way they arose much more refreshed than when observing ordinary hours. Too much sleep defeats its own purpose, for it is actually enervating. And the work of the community would be done much better if it started at midnight instead of 9 a.m. However, the actual technique of sleeping—apart from observing the German doctor's hours—could be much improved if people took more trouble to s'ecure the best conditions for the best kind of sleeD. If we were really to answer truthfully that age-old inquiry of polite hostesses, "How did you sleep?" we should probably be forced to confess, ''Oh. very casually." But good sleep requires active preparation, for it does not come bv chance. The obvious preliminary is relaxa tion, because if you Just jump into bed, going off to sleep the moment you hit the hay. so to speak, you do not automatically relax. If you have ever seen people sleeping in public you should have noticed what extraordinarily uncomfortable attitudes they assume, even in bed, But go to a children's hospital and you will notice that most children sleep face downwards. This is the proper way to counteract the strain of the day. This position is difficult for adults at first, but a little practice makes it easier As a fact, when a man is really exhausted he always throws himself down to sleep on his stomach. It should be obvious, too. that the sort of sleep which follows a review of one's household derangements will not be very refreshing. You should cast out of your heart all thoughts of bitterness, enmity, and revenge. It will be much better, of course, if you can forgive your enemies and bless them that persecute you. In sleep the soul should be freed from all the restraints of the body, for sleep really has a sort of sacred significance—and it has been truly said that "the night-time of the body is the day-time of the soul.