ARE YOU A KOOD WAKER?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17999, 9 November 1926, Page 9

ARE YOU A KOOD WAKER?

Not as regards your own early rising habits, but inducing them in others:'

Sponges full of cold water strictly taboo, please. They are as bad for the temper as for the sheets! Don’t burst into a sleeper’s room shouting cheerily—and suddenly: “What, still asleep, old thing?” It’s not just that the trick is irritating, but it. is actually bad for the nerves, and therefore the health of the rudely awakened. If you must jeer (and early rising seems to develop a horrid superiority complex) please do it in a norQuite seriously, it may be positively dangerous to arouse anvone from sleep by a sudden noise. Sometimes a very heavy sleeper won't respond to a summons in a natural tone of voice; but begin in that key, anyhow, and if it is necessary to speak more loudly afterwards. do so. But don't shriek or shout. Jt is wiser not to send one child to wake another. Too-abrupt awakening is the surest creator of that “little black dog” nobody loves. Give a small child time to rub the sleep out of his eyes and tumble himself comfortably into wakefulness without hurrving the process. For that reason, don't leave the “waking-up” moment to the last second. There’s a difference between culpable dawdling and a gradual coming back to consciousness. If during a case of illness it is necessary to wake a patient to take medicine, the same principle applies. Go into the room quietly, but not stealthily. Move about in the normal way. and when the medicine is ready to be given, speak in an ordinary tone of voice to the sleeper, who, as a rule, will wake up quite easily. Never rouse anyone by shaking or grasping the arm. If it is necessary to turn on the light, this should not fall directly on the patient’s face. It is better to have a candle or a shaded lamp than to switch on electricity.