Sleep After Dinner.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 308, 17 October 1888, Page 6

Sleep After Dinner.

T;u, custom of napping after chnnci i-so familiar to many by occasional induH'UK-e, and appeals to be so natural, thai it does not readily occur to us to question what may bo its lr.fiuence on the ■n.imit meous pioeevb of digestion. That it die? in a vaiying degree modify th;>t process tor the time being i* \ery likely. Thcie - aNo roas-on to believe that its iniiuonee in this respect 1^ not < ntvrelv adv >ntageous.. but rather the reveise. A certain diowsiness 01 langour is doubtless narui.il to the work of digestion, and n:ay be taken as a fair indication of its acti\ ity. It represents the diversion of a poition of the blood fiom outlying tissues, including the brain, to the alimentary mucous mcmbiano. It is theief'jre simply a consequence of change-* which are essential to digest'on. Under ordinary circumstances the sopoiiiic influence thus brought ab ut is nob a powerful one It is easily oveicotne by attention to any matter of inleiest sufficient to occupy without exciting the mind, though it may also, under the favouring action of rest, leisure, and lecumbanoy. a* readily result m sleep. When, ho\\e\ci, the tendency to bleep regularly follows a meal, and i-> well maiked, we must look lor il=! explanation in other than stiictly natural causes. Perhaps there has been some oxcess in the amount of the food consumed. Perhaps the lluid taken, il a stimu lant. i-< acting as a aentie intoxicant. The prevalence of attei -dinner sleep among the elderly, again, ha? prooably something to do with the fact that the diversion of blood ahead* rcfened to is more strongly feltwhen the cerebial blood \eb-el^ lni\ e lost something of their e'asttcity, and with it of their nutritive value. The cllect of actual sleep upon digestion cannot be immediately helpful. During sleep the activity nob only of the nervous, system, but of e\eiy organ and tissue moie or less, is lessened. The heart beats with a moie languid stroke, tho thinking brain pauses tor a time in its work of observation and decision, and the stomach in like manner lingers over its allotted task. So that whatever benefit, if any, results fiom the lcdoubled energy of the latter organ after ihe short peiiod of inaction, and from the chemical action of digestne pices on the food during its continuance, the penod of sleep is mainly on> ot passive and sluggish changes. No theory is complete unless it imply some plan of application. Among the practical issues deduciblo from these observations we m.iy note that per-ons who .sleep after eating mu«fc allow for this interval of re 'tin fixing the hour of the next meal, and that no f-onsidciable amount of food should be taken for at least three or ftvn hours before retiring to rest. — " Lancet."