"NATURE'S SOFT NURSE."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10038, 7 May 1910, Page 4

"NATURE'S SOFT NURSE."

Who has not pondered upon the mysteries of sleep? It cannot be bought with rubies, and yet its beneficence falls upon the jus!; and unjust alike.

The prince may oppress the peasant, yet he cannot rob him of the God-

given gift of sleep. And who cai measure the torture of those fo: whom Nature's soft nurse has no mes sage? How do we go to sleep? Firs' of all the muscular system begins t( nod and afterwards the varioui powers of mind succumb in regulai order. Attention and judgment an the earliest faculties to withdraw their aid. Then memory goes woo! gathering, and the imaginatioi plays weird pranks in unrestrainee inconsequence. Ideas of time am space fade away in delicious langour the special senses lose grip, the eye lids close, the eyeballs turn upward: and inwards, and the pupils con tract. The ears next go off duty The heart beats more and more slowly and its work is reduced bj five thousand beats or so during th< night. The temperature falls by tw( degrees, and the body loses three times less heat than during the waking hours. And then the prccesi is complete—sleep, gentle sleep, is securely enthroned. According to Di Alexander Bryce, the first few hour: of slumber are the most valuable, He believes that Nature ha 3 no rule as to the length of sleep, save thai men need less than women, since the latter are more sensitive and thei'j hearts beat five times more in a min ute than men's. It will be comforting to many, and especially in the pre vailing cold weather, to learn thai Dr Bryce believes the habit of earlj rising has gone far to wreck the con stitution of many a growing youth, How important is sound sleep maj be judged from the authoritative statement that five absolutely sleepless nights are enough to cause death and that two may cause haJlucina iions. To cure insomnia, Di Bryce de clares that Nature's system of de stroying consciousness must be fol lowed. He recommends -that the most comfortable position should b< sought, and then, with the lips com pressed, the lower jaw should b< dropped, the tongue relaxed, th< eyes gently closed, and the exposee ear covered wth the bed-clothes. Th< muscles of the feet, legs, thighs and arms should be next relaxed, am lastly, it should be imagined that th( eyes are looking away to the distant horizon. Sleep may then be expectec to follow. A little practice givei expertriess in this method—this pie imitation of the physiological stages of natural sleep—and once it is mastered, Dr Bryce claims that many hundreds of doses oi dangerous uypnotics may be avoided.