Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/645

 I i i conditions of ill-health, such as gout, chronic constipation, or dyspepsia are common causes of sleeplessness. Heavy meals late at night would keep a Hercules awake. See that your environment is conducive to sleep. See that you have a comfortable bed, with a simple, firm mattress. Bed-clothing which is not too heavy, but is yet sufficient to provide warmth, a quiet, well-ventilated room are all points to be noted. The last meal should be taken at least two hours before retiring to bed. Some people will find that a glass of very hot milk, sipped after getting into bed, will encourage sleep. A warm bath, also, at a temperature of 98-4 degrees is an ex- cellent measure, whilst anyone who suffers from cold feet will probably sleep better if a hot-water bottle is provided. The great thing is in old-fashioned language to " compose the mind." It was a clever child who replied to the nurse who wanted her to lie down quietly and go to sleep : "I cannot make my mind lie down." Half an hour's reading of a light, interesting but not exciting book will often soothe the mind, and the de- liberate determination not to worry is a far better device than counting up to a thousand, or concentrating upon imaginary sheep jumping over a gate. The best methods of inducing sleep are self- suggestion and the deliberate freeing of the mind from thought. Say to yourself : "I intend to sleep well." When you get into bed, deliberately banish thought from your mind. Breathe quietly, evenly, and rather deeply, and count each breath you take. In nine cases out of ten the device will be found successful from the first. The tenth case must simply practise until it does become successful. It is always a mistake to become depressed or worried because one cannot sleep. Say to your- self : " Even if I do not sleep, it does not greatly matter either to myself or anyone else." Never allow the idea of sleeplessness to grip you, to make you become unhappy, excited, angry, or depressed, and whatever you do, never upon any account take hypnotic drugs without a doctor's advice. You are better with five hours' natural sleep than seven or eight which are the result of drugging. Once you begin to take drugs, every week will make it more difficult for you to give them up. Small doses may suffice at first, but they soon lose their effect, and you have to take more and more. The result is poisoning by the accumulated drug in the system, and there is risk that you may become a victim to drugs, than which there is no more pitiable object. The Quiet Mind What is the best procedure, then, to take ? Follow the rules for obtaining restful sleep already given. Deal with the cause by attending to any condition of ill-health such as excess of 619 MIOIOAL uric acid in the blood, indigestion, or cxccs.h of alcohol, which, even existing in a slight form, will cause dyspepsia. Perhaps 50 per cent, of the cases of insomnia are due to overtaxing the nervous system. So that it is most important to regulate one's daily work, to avoid hustling, to strive for intellectual and nervous discipline. Try to keep the evening hours for recreation. Go to bed at 10.30 every night for a month, and rise shortly before eight next morning, whether you have slept or not. It is a mistake to lie late in the morning with the idea of making up for a sleepless night. Never sleep during the day, but rather be out of doors in the fresh air, and get as much gentle exercise as you can. Your aim should be to sleep between 10.30 p.m. and 7.30 a.m., to establish a habit of soothing sleep during the night. By sleeping late in the morning or during the day you are simply pandering to your nervous system, which has got out of hand. Take a short period of rest once or twice during the day, if you like, without sleeping ; until you have got into the habit of sleeping at night it is wiser not to doze off, especially in the evening. Be sure that your bedroom is well supplied with fresh air both by day and night, and choose as quiet a room as possible. If these simple measures do not prevail, you should see a doctor, as sleeplessness is a habit very difficult to break if it has been persisted in for any length of time. This is especially necessary if you have got into the habit of taking drugs. Under the advice of a doctor, a drug can either be cut off all at once or gradually reduced in amount according to the condition of your nervous and physical health. It is impossible for a non-medical person to know exactly what to do to break off a habit of drug- ging, whilst the confidence in the stronger will of the doctor is in itself a good thing for the sleepless patient. Many a patient will sleep simply because the doctor says that she will. Insomnia an Evil Habit If worry is at the root of insomnia, the fact must be faced. Women are very liable to worry unnecessarily over matters that cannot be altered. Useless worry saps the mental, moral, and physical health. If anything has gone wrong with us, it can either be righted or it cannot. In the former case the wise woman works to that end with all her might, and does not worry, because worry will handicap her efforts. In the latter case the thing must be accepted as inevitable. Worry will only in- crease the burden one has to bear, and lead to all sorts of additional ills besides sleeplessness. Healthy sleep is a great good, worthy of pre- serving; insomnia an evil habit, which every sensible woman will keep at bay if she desires health and happiness in this life. fSOME NURSING Continued from page Sffj, Part 4 The Construction of the Nervous System— The Brain and Its Functions— The Action oE the Nerves- The Sympathetic System— Pain is Nature's Warning for the propulsion of blood through the body, and the lungs have to do with the oxygenation of blood. It is with the construction and working of r/iGM the articles on elementary physiology which have already appeared in this series it can be seen that the human body consists of various organs engaged in some particular work. The digestive system, which we have studied, contains ali the organs for the conversion of food into nourishment for the body. The h?art is the organ the nervous system that this article will deal. Now, just as an engine requires a guiding hand or intelligent force behind it, so is it necessary that there should be some regulating power for