HOW CHILDREN SHOULD SLEEP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10683, 1 February 1913, Page 4

HOW CHILDREN SHOULD SLEEP.

"Why is tli9 seaman of "the Royal Navy shorter and Stouter than the men in tho Marines, who livo under much the same conditions? Why. iu fact, does the man in the Royal Navy grow laterally (i.e., from sids to side) i instead of vertically? " \ Reading a paper on the subject at the recent Public, Health Congress in Berlin, a naval surgeon said that he believed that sailors are short simply because they sleep in hammocks. Ee explained that in a hammock one cannot lie straight as one does in a bed, and this—at a period of lifo when growth should be most active—tends to curve the long axis of the body, and prevents " the free circulation of the and lymph, from which the growing tissues extract the bricks and mortar where-with to add to their bulk. "It is well known." he added, "that increased stature often follows a prolonged period of rest in an ordinary bed, and that a six-foot man at breakfast is by no means a six-foot man at dinner-time.'"' It is while we are in bed that we do most of our growing, and unless wo are lying at full length we are not making the most of our time. It appears that a boy in the Marines does not sleep in a hammock until a much later age than the ordinary seaman does, and many people soem to think, that this is the reason whv he is, as a rule, taller when he ceases growing than a boy who is in the navy. So- here is an important wrinklo for you if you want your children to be tall. I need hardly warn you not to let thorn sleep in hammocks, as hammocks • arc rarely used for this purpose exempt bv sailors; but- .to let .a child sleep ui ,-< snort, bed, which obliges tho occupant to Ha curled instead of straight, is likely to have much the same effect as Ivmg in a hammock in "curving the long axis " of the body. It is unwise, too, to let a child sleep in a bed with a woven wire mattress which is badly "sagged" in the middle. _Yet I have often seen children sleeping on such mattresses. The body is bound to be curled up, rue spine bent, and the hips bowed; in fact, in such a bed it is impossible for a child to lie straight. It would not be a healthy position in which to sleep at any age, but it is disastrous for a growing ooy or girl if _ you want them to reach' a good height. It is often possible to have these, wire-woven mattresses wound up when they "sag," so that they are almost, as good as now again; 'but after a goorf deal of wear, particularly with a cheap make, they may get permanently out of shane. If you can afford it, it is wise to get a new bed ; if you cannot afford to do this, and you yet want vour children to be tall, try the simple plan of putting a broad board under the sagging part _ of the wire. Over this itwill lie quite straight. Of course, it will make the bed rather hard, but it will be far healthier for ■ growing boys or girls than one which is too soft and yielding, and in which their bodies cannot lie straight. I know one family of which all the members, except the eldest boy, are a good height. The mother believes 'that it is largely duo to the fact that after the second baby was born a friend advised her to pull his legs gently straight as -oon as he ha. 1 ; gono to sleep. She did it with, this and the younger members of the family, and they quickly sot into a habit of sleeping in a straight position. The elder boy. who was between t.hrso and four by the tiin-9 the second boy came, had become so ac-rustorned to* sleeping curled np that he never cot out Of the habit. ! If {hoy are to develop properly dnr- ! inj?, tho years of rrowth it is mo.«t itn- ! port ant flint children shouhl He iu: _*br ! asxl e.traighi as nobble. And--On--, i" i nri important: point if you would have

your children grow tall—it is equally nocessary that they spend a sufficient time in bed, See that they go to bed betimes, and don't rout them up again too early. Sufficient sleep and rest help to make children grow. Lack of sufficient rest in childhood is stunting both to body and brain. Up to twelve years of age children are all the better in every .way —for their bodily development, their mental capacity and their nervous system—if thoy pass twelve hours out of tho twenty-four in bed. Don't think, as I find some people do, that this is " waste of time." It is anything but that. It is time well spent, for by getting plenty of sleep and rest children are laying a good solid foundation for body and brain. No oue looks oil it as waste of time for roots and'seeds to lie under the soil, seemingly inert, know that they are not really inert at all during their period of quiescence. They are Gathering up stores of vitality for the future.