While The Kettle Boils

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 71, 1 November 1940, Page 41

While The Kettle Boils

Dear Friends, Last week I spoke of the necessity of sleep in relation to nerves. Sleep, like eating and breathing, is such a vital thing to us, that it really deserves a letter all to itself. Perhaps you have heard of that wealthy old Rumanian gentleman who, after being knocked unconscious in a bombing raid during the last war, has never been able to sleep since, In desperation, he offered a fabulous reward to anyone who could make him sleep. Suggested cures and offers of help poured in on him from all over the world. Most of them he tried. But he is still sleepless. An added torture, I should imagine, is the memory of the days when he was able to sleep; to experien¢e that exquisite drowsiness that steals over the body-and finally closes our eyes and mind in deep slumber. Unfortunately, constant loss of sleep takes a terrific toll of nervous energy. Sleep is Nature’s healer. Our whole body, after a hard day’s work, renews itself during sleep. The bodily functions slow down, and a new store of energy is accumulated. We all know that fresh, alert feeling we experience after a good night’s rest-and the corresponding listless, dead sensation following a sleepless night. There are varying opinions as to the correct number of hours for sleep. One Hungarian scientist divides people into two classes; a large majority who are rested by a good share of sleep before midnight, and a smaller number who derive most benefit from sleep after midnight. But the accepted standard is eight hours sleep. The trouble with a lot of insomnia sufferers lies in the mind..They are "afraid" they won't sleep-and the thought dominates them. If they could only be persuaded that lack of sleep is not as serious as they imagine. If they are merely lying in bed resting, they obtain the benefit of this relaxation, Eight hours of lying still in bed resting is worth four hours of sleep. The essential difference between rest and sleep is that, while merely resting, the body is disturbed by all exterior noises, while in: sleep, the body is screened from noise, not only by partial loss of consciousness, but by: dream protection. One function of our dreams is to convert exterior noises, that might awake us, into fantasies that do not disturb us. There are a number of good sugges- tions to try and procure sound sleep. The old method of taking a tepid bath half an hour before going to bed still holds. And warm feet are imperative. Hot milk at bedtime is always helpful, but most needful of all is the ability to shut out conscious thought. Imagine pulling a dark blind down over your mind, the same way as you would screen a window from the light. A conscious act like this often helps, Sleep can’t accomplish miracles, straighten crooked teeth or re-shape

your nose, but it can keep your eyes sparkling, your hair shining, and your complexion clear and smooth. Yours cordially,

Cynthia