COLD FEET AND SLEEPLESSNESS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 176, 4 June 1879, Page 2

COLD FEET AND SLEEPLESSNESS.

The association between cold feet and;: sleeplessness is much closer than is com?.' monly imagined. Persons with cold feet rarely sleep well, especially women. Yet the number of persons so troubled is-very considerable. We now know that if the blood-supply to the brain be kept up, sleep is impossible. An old theologian, when weary and sleepy with much writing, found that lie could keep his brain active by immersing his feet in cold water; the cold drove the blood from the feet to the head, Now, what this old gentleman accomplished by design, is secured for many persons much against their will. Cold feet are the bane of many women. Light book keep up a bloodless condition of tho feet in the day, ana in many women to' is v no subsequent dilatution of the Woodvessels when the boots are take* off-

These women come in from a walk, and put (heir feet to the fire to warm—the moat offectivoplanof cultivating chilblains. At night, they put their feet to the fire, and have a hot bottle in bed,' But it is all of no uso; their feet still remain cold How to get their feet warm is the great question of life with them-in cold "Weather the effective plan is not very attractive at first sight to many minds, It consults in first driving the blood vessels into firm contraction, after which secondary dilatation follows, See tho snowbailers' hands, Tho first contact of the sn« make tho hands terribly cold, for the small arteries are driven thereby into firm contraction, and the nerve-endings of tho finger-tips fed the low temperature very keenly. But as the snowballer perseveres, his hands commence to glow; tho blood-vessels have become secondarily dilated, and tho rush of warm arterial blood is felt agreeably by the peripheral nerve endings. This is the plan to adopt with cold feet. They should be dipped in cold water for a brief period; often just to immerse them, and no more, is sufficient ; and then they should be rubbed with a pair of hair fleshgloves, or a rough Turkish towel, till they glow, immediately beforo getting into bed. After this a hot water bottle will bo successful enough in maintaining the temperature of the feet, though, without this preliminary, it is important to do so, Disagreeable as the plan at first sight may appear, it is sufficient ; and those who have once fairly tried it continue it and find that they have put an end to their bad nights and cold feet, Pills, potions, lozenges, " night-caps," all narcotics, fail to enable the sufferer to woo sleep succeessfully; get rid of the cold feet, and then sleep will come of itself,—British Medical Journal.