YOU CAN'T SLEEP LIKE LOG

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 122, 12 February 1940, Page 2

YOU CAN'T SLEEP LIKE LOG

"I slept like a log all night. J, did not move once." This statement, so frequently thought to be descriptive of a good night's sleep, is a gross exaggeration . According to Mr G. F. K* Naylor, assistant director of the Australian Institute of Industrial Psychology, a person who slept so soundly that there was little or 110 movement would awaken with a feeling of exhaustion. 'Tt has been found, by research carried out by Dr. Harry Miles Johnson, of Washington University, that the average sleeper changes his position by turning, twisting, or tossing, at least 35 times in a night'' Air Naylor said. "He seldom retains one position longer than 10 minutes,, and never longer than 30 movement is called sleep nihility.'* Mr Naylor explained that this information was gathered with a kinetograph, a highly sensitive recording instrument which was connected to the springs of the bed. Women Rest Longer. "The reason for bodily movement in sleep is that the muscular arrangements of the human body are so complex that it is impossible to relax all th,e muscles at one time,'he said. "Almost any posture requires some effort to maintain, and gives onlj r partial relaxation. "The typical sleeper's average per iod of rest between changes of position varies with his age. In infancy he rests only live minutes at a time. "The period lengthens to about 15 minutes at maturity, then drops back gradually to seven or eight min utes with old age. "Manual labourers rest for longer intervals than' brain workers; women rest 30 per cent longer than men."