Neglect of Sleep.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 24, 16 June 1906, Page 49

Neglect of Sleep.

Many people complain of Insomnia Mho, if they would take the trouble, could cure it by some small modification of diet, or of after-dinner habits, or by a little self-denial in the matter of coffee or tobacco.

(By

Edin Spence.)

A recent letter to the "Times,” signed by fifteen of the foremost doctors in England, has drawn attention to the fact that only five in forty, or one in eight, of our chief public schools permit their boys so many hours of sleep as are recognised as necessary by the medical profession, and as are constantly allotted to schoolboys in America, where the question of education is not regarded as concerned solely with the attempts to each denomination to have its creed taught at the expense of the others. This letter is by no means the first that lias been heard in recent months of the cruel, ignorant and disastrous practices in this matter that obtain in the overwhelming majority of our public schools, and that go some way to explain the fact, attested by all observers, that nervous instability is increasing amongst us. WANT OF SLEEP AND INSANITY. Personally, I cannot subscribe without doubt to the common assertion that insanity is rapidly increasing in this country, hardly a legitimate inference from the faet that the number of the certified insane is increasing. But however this may be, there is no question that the nervous health of the community, in regard both to lesser and greater nervous ailments, is one of the most urgent that can employ a serious pen. And this neglected question of sleep is of the very first importance in this connection. The French have it that “Qui dort, dine,” but as far as the nervous system is concerned it is far better to sleep than to dine. If you have- to choose, go without your dinner. Let us, then, consider some of the popular nonsense that One hears. The old adage about the number of

hours of sleep required for a man, a -woman, and a fool was invented and is repeated by people of the latter genus. It has no relations to fact, probability, or experience. It is untrue that a fool requires more sleep than a woman, and a woman more than a man. The figures are wrong, their proportions are wrong, and the quotation of any figures at all is wrong. HOW MANY HOURS’ SLEEP! The cardinal popular error in regard to sleep is the error of assuming that all sleep is one and the same, and that, therefore, the only possible estimate of sleep is quantitative. According to this reasoning, if one man sleeps for eight hours and another for nine, the second had the better night; but this by no means follows. Of far greater importance in any given case is the quality of sleep. The question is not “How long did you sleep?” but “What sort of sleep did you have?” The most refreshing sleep is the deepest, and the deepest is the most continuous. Other things being equal, the depth of sleep may be conveniently gauged by the presence or absence of those periods of partial and disordered consciousness which we call dreams. IDEAL SLEEP IS DREAMLESS. However we are to interpret the faet of dreaming, we must agree that ideal sleep is a state of unconsciousness, and that some kind of consciousness is involved in any dream. Therefore it is quite plain that the ideal sleep is dreamless. You should wish your friend not sweet dreams, but no dream. I am prepared to say that six hours of continuous, dreamless sleep are equivalent to half as many again of the kind of sleep that many people have to put up with. It has to be recognised that the ideal sleep is attainable only by the fortunate few. It is an interesting question whether any other kind of sleep should not be regarded as morbid —as a variety of insomnia. I believe that if people thought the matter worth their while, they could very greatly improve the quality of their sleep, thereby being able to reduce its

quantity and increase the number of hours during which they live. The path to ideal sleep is difficult, and “craves wary walking,” as Brutus said. A tiny modification in diet or in afterdinner habits, a little change in the matter of eoffee or tobacco, or bedroom ventilation or nightwear, the complete exclusion of the early morning light in summer time; all these are matters to which those folk should attend who realise the value of perfect sleep. I am certain that such sleep is far less unattainable than is supposed by many who have never made any serious study of the subject. QUANTITY AND QUALITY. Now if, as I hope, I have adequately insisted upon the neglected but supremely important question of the quality of sleep, let us turn to the question of its quantity, popularly regarded as the only question. Having come thus far, we are prepared to recognise that the quantity necessary for any individual entirely depends upon its quality. Therefore, to lay down any definite figures, as the proverb does, is to talk emptiness. Nevertheless, we may advance certain safe propositions. The first is that, other things being equal, the quantity of sleep that one requires continuously diminshes from infancy to old age. The whole duty of infancy, as every well-ordered infant knows, is to eat and to sleep. As years go on the Still growing but undeveloped nervous organization is fit for the display of longer and longer periods of consciousness. In old age the necessity for sleep curiously diminishes. The old man cannot sleep as he did; but then on the other he does not need to. I do not know what the old did in the days when reading was not a common accomplishment, but th?ii case is not very hard nowadays. HOW MUCH SLEEP IN YOUTH? Now let us turn to the particular case upon wbieh our doctors have pronounced. It is that of the boy between the years of. say. twelve and seventeen. (His sister, by the way, is in the like

case.) Granting that their sleep is :lie untroubled, deep sleep common to these age, and assuming that they do not perform an excess of either mental or physical work, how much sleep should they have?

Expert opinion varies within only small limits. We may take it that nine and a-half hours is the irreducible minimum, but in the opinion of very many ten are better. Now, in twentythree of the forty most important English publie schools the hours of sleep are eight and a-half a less. On the average, then, each boy in each of these schools has about on.- and a-half hours of sleep less than bi; due. There is little doubt that this state of affairs will soon be remedied; but it L« at least as certain that a very large number of the boys’ seniors will continue to defraud themselves of a certain fraction of the sleep which they need. The particular point on which I would insist is that it is by no means always necessary to increase the number of hours that one spends in bed. What many of us need is to recognise the faet that our sleen is of poor but improvable quality. Finally, let me note one point which perfects the ideal of sleep. Not only should one fall asleep within half-an-hour at the latest after going to bed; not only should one’s sleep be unbroken, continuous, and complete (dyspepsia is perhaps the commonest cause of imperfection in these respects). but one should wake spontaneously, because one has slept long enough, and should no more want to lie abed than one wants to be in prison. If that b? so, and if one grudges every moment till breakfast, one can say “I have slept well.’’

The commonest cause of lack of morning appetite is the closed bedroom window.