POSITION IN SLEEP.
, Position affects sleep. A constrained or uncomfortable position will often prevent repose. Lying flat on the back with the limbf relaxed would seem to secure the greatest amo«nt of rent for the . muscular system. This is the position assumed in the most exhausting diseases, and it is r generally hailed as a token of revival when a patient voluntarily turns on the side; but there are several disadvantages in the supine posture which impair or.embarrass sleep. Thus, in weakly states of the heart and bloodvessels, and in certain morbid conditions of the brain, the blood seems to gravitate at the back of the head, and to product troublesome dreams. In persons who habitually, in their gait or work, stoop, \ there is probably some distress consequent on straightening tbe spine. Those who have contracted chests, especially persons who have had pleurisy.and retain adhesion of the lungs, do not sleep well on the back. Nearly all who are inclined to more do so when in that position, because the soft palate and ivula hang on the tongue, and that organ falls back so as to partially close tbe top of the windpipe. It is better, therefore,-to lie on the aide! and in the abience of special chest disease, rendering it desirable to lie on the/weak side so as to leave the healthy lung free to expand* it is well to choose the right side,/. because when the-body is thus plaorffc the food gra?itates more easily.out of tfcM stomach into the intestines, and the weight of the liver does not compress the v upper portion of the intestines. A glance at any plate of the visceral anatomy will, show how this must be. Many persons are deaf in one ear, and prefer to lie on a particular side; but, if possible, the right side should be chosen, and the body rolled a little forward, so ■< that any saliva whioh may be secreted shall run easily out of the mouth, if not unconsciously swallowed. Again, sleeping with the arms thrown over the head is to be deprecated; but this position is often assumed during sleep, because the eire». lation is then free ia the extremities and the head and seek, and the muscles of the chest are drawn up and 6xed by the shoulders, and thus the expansion of the thorax is easy. The chief objections to this position are that it creates a tendency to cramp and cold in the arms, and some* times seems to cause headache durins sleep, and dreams. Thw imall matter! * often make or mar comfort in sleeping— D* MOBTIMBB OBAHVIIU.
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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3441, 5 January 1880, Page 2
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435POSITION IN SLEEP. Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3441, 5 January 1880, Page 2
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