HEALTH NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 19 October 1907, Page 3

HEALTH NOTES.

•Mb*** A XEW CUBE FOB THE SLEEPLESS.

Worry, excitement, grief, remorse, emotional shock*, fixed ideas of one kind or another, morbid fears —these are a few of the demons that murder sleep, ill- experience leads me to believe that the unt demoniacal of them is the fear of not going toe leep.

Many persons unable to sleep ini-! mediaely after retiring become agitated and annoyed, toss to and fro, and querulously jay to themselves, "Oh, when •hall I sleep t Perhaps lam going to have another bad night." To su?h I «*y. the words of Professor Dubois: Sleep is like a piegon. It comes to yon if yot have the appearance of not looking for it; it flies away if you try to citeh it!" I am in the habit of advising persons suffering from neurasthenia, accompanied as it generally is by tnnnmnin in these terms: Say to yourself as you go to bed, "I don't care a fig whether 1 sleep or not; if I sleep, well; if I do not sleep, also well, though not so welL" This formula often works lilm magic.

I know that in offering it free to mv readers, I am guilty of folly. Were I to follow the prevailing example, I; ahould open a hall,and teach it in six lessons, charging a guinea a lesson. Then the world would believe it sleepless nights on this planet would be fewer, and I should be richer. Nevertheless, the wise reader will forgive my want of worldly prudence for the sake of the blessing that may be his without money and without price. Let me earnestly urge sufferers from Insomnia (except m cases where it is the result of organic disease or acute pain), to follow Itscbeth'a. advice and "throw physic to the dogs"; metaphorically, of course, else the dogs will suffer. Chloral, opium, trional, paraldehyde, aulphonal, and Other narcotics drag or intoxicate the brain, bat really war against normal sleep, as is teen from the fact that opium and morphine """""f gradually lose all power of falling asleep naturally.

We may lay it down that the insomnia tanaed by preoccupation!, obsessions, worries, strains, and stresses is primarily psychical, and ought to yield to psychical remedies. All tint is necessary to a complete core is perseverance in the method prescribed. *«« i that method is, at bottom, auto-suggestion. 'Man is a suggestive animal, and nowhere does he show his suggestibility more than in this matter of sleep. The way in which the sufferer from lack oi ■Veep should apply suggestion to himself 1 will now describe, premising only that he has already attended to the hygienie measures necessary, the most important of which is that the bedroom should be well ventilated, with the temperature at 88 Fahrenheit, the pillow not to high, and the lower extremities of the body kept warm.

After a want bath get quickly to bed, drink a glass of mOk, relax the body, and assume the menial attitude which has been indicated in a ( preceding paragraph. Then take a long, easy breath, gradually opening your eyes as you do •o and rolling them upwards so that when the breath is fully taken in the •yes are wide open. Then slowly and gradually exhale, letting the evelids gradually fall so that at the end of the exhalation the eyelids are closed. See to it that these movements are made easily, and not with any sense of •train. Bepeat the inhalation with the opening them upward so that when thi> breath is fully taken in the eyes are wide open. Then slowly and gradually exhale, letting the eyelids gradually fail so that at the end of the exhalation the eyes are doled. Bepeat the inhalation with the' opening of the eyes, the expiration with the shutting of them, fifteen times. Then dose the eyes for the space of ten breaths, and then repeat the process above described. At some moment during the process yon will fall asleep. At first nervous and excitable persons will have a difficulty in obeying this rule; yet it must be carried out to the letter if its beneficial influence is to be experienced. The sufferer b not to be discouraged by preliminary failure. With practice will crane ease, and with ease wfll come the delightful sensation of sinking deeper and deeper into the realm of the unconscious where Nature stores her health-giving and recuperative forces. This ride has worked successfully with others; why should it not work well in your case? Tiy it.—S. llcComb, in Good Housekeeping.

SIMPLE REMEDIES FOB MINOR ILLS.

For slight burns water is an infallible remedy. If the finger, for instance, be burnt with a match, plunge it into cold water, and keep it there for five minutes. No pain will be felt then or afterwards.

To atop the nose bleeding, sniff up cold water, and throw the head backwards. Lie down, if possible, perfectly flat for a few'minutes.

For varicose veins, rub the leg upwards for five minutes every night and morning. For pain in the side, bend the body slowly forwards until the right hand touches the left foot; repeat this three or four limes, and the pain will cease. If troubled with sleeplessness, try a glass of warm—not hot—milk at bedtime.

For lumbago or sciatica wear a red flannel bandage round tbe back. For a pain in the stomach, try some pepper in a glass of hot water; or a hotwater bottle will nearly always relieve Ihe pain.

If the eyes ache, or are sore from fast, open them in a basin of tepid water in which a teaspoonful of salt lias bees dissolved.

eiicylic acid is the infallible remedy lor corns and warts; but failing this, rub tfiem with an apple, or the milky substance found in the stem of the weed known as duckweed.

A pinch of salt in a glass of water, if at once used as a gargle three or tour times a day will often cure a sore ,4hroat. ; For colds in the head, hot lemonade, .&ot whisky and water, hot milk ,or Mack currant jelly made into a hot Squid and taken in bed, are all excellent cures if adopted without delay.

SOME USES FOR VTNTEGAK. If a teaspoonful of vinegar is put into the lard in which potato cakes are fried, it will prevent them from absorbing too much of the fat. One or two tablespoonfuls of vinegar pat into a kettle containing boiling beef or chickens will hasten it in becoming tender.

A little vinegar put into stove blacking will make it stick better, and prevent dust from flying when polishJog, A title vinegar put into the water •when rinsing the hands does much towards curing and preventing chapped hands.

Vinegar put into a bottle of old or dried clue will moisten it and make it like new again. Vinegar boiled on the stove while cooking onions or cabbages will prevent the odor from filling the bouse. Vinegar and salt miicd will brighten and elan brass or copper kettles, ornaments, gas fixtures, and the like. After its application the articles should be rinsed ami jnthbed in a mixture of one part of vinegtf 'to two 'parts of sweet oil, used spadHfer* furniture should be imljiiT alter its use by a dc " cloth. Vinegar an! Wirier fa good for bruises and sprains.