IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP TOWARDS GOOD HEALTH

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19237, 26 November 1930, Page 10

IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP TOWARDS GOOD HEALTH

(By 11. C. AYLEN.) There are some false notions about regarding sleep, and people are often dubbed “lazy” If they are inclined to sleep more than the usual seven or eight hours. But it should be remembered that the faster the pace of life—and it is becoming so fast nowadays that many good people are feeling compelled to withdraw from the race—the greater the need for long hours of recuperation. Our forefathers did not need so many hours of sleep as do their descendants. They tired more slowly. But m those days there were no railroads, bicycles, motors, telegraphs. telephones, typewriters; there were fewer disturbing influences, in fact, and folk could live. without perpetual nervous strain. Physically Bankrupt. To spend more nervous energy each day than can be evolved from rest and food_ is to become, sooner or later, physically bankrupt. There is but little fear that any one who leads an active life will sleep too much! You who are exhausted and worn out, should add one or two hours to your resting time each night, and thus gain enough in nervous power and control to enable you to live without artificial stimulation. It seems to be an accepted fact by physiologists that greater nutrition takes place mainly when the body is in a quiescent state. Hence, unconvseiousness. represents the best condition for nutrition; and normal unconsciousness is sleep. It is when the brain and whqle nervous system are in repose that exhausted force, and the power to direct its expression, can best be renewed. It is true that mere resting will often enable a person to recover, from fatigue, but the more profound rest secured by sleep is needed in order that the brain and nervous system may be “fed” each twenty-four hours to such a degree that health and strength are maintained.