EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA, AND NEURASTHENIA
THEIR CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, & TREATMENT
WEBMASTER'S NOTE: This work is presented for historical interest and subject background only. Many of the conclusions, attitudes, and treatments discussed here are those of an "expert" of another era, many of which have been overturned by science or are not acceptable in today's world.
[pg 76]
CHAPTER XVI
SLEEPLESSNESS
"O magic sleep! O comfortable bird
That broodest o'er the troubled sea of the mind
Till it is hushed and smooth."
—Keats.
Some men need only a few hours' sleep, but no one ever overslept himself in natural slumber. There are anecdotes of great men taking little sleep, but their power usually consisted in going without sleep for some days when necessary, and making up for it in one long, deep sleep. Neuropaths require from 10-13 hours to prepare the brain for the stress of the next day, but quality is more important than quantity.
Patients go to bed tired, but cannot sleep; fall asleep, and wake every other hour the night through; sleep till the small hours, and then wake, to get no more rest that night; only fall asleep when they should be rising; or have their slumber disturbed by nightmare, terrifying dreams, heart palpitation, and so on.
Noise often prevents sleep. A clock that chimes the quarters, or a watch that in the silence ticks with sledge-hammer beats, has invoked many a malediction. Traffic and other intermittent noises are very trying, as the victim waits for them to recur. Townsmen who seek rural quiet have got so used to town clatter, that barking dogs, rippling streams, lowing cows, rustling leaves, singing birds or chirruping insects keep them awake. Too much light, eating a heavy supper, [pg 77] all tend to banish repose, as do also violent emotions which produce toxins, torturing the brain and causing gruesome nightmares.
Grief and worry—especially business and domestic cares—constipation, indigestion, bad ventilation, stimulants, excitement and a hearty supper are a few of the many causes of insomnia.
In children sleeplessness is often due to the bad habit of picking a child up whenever it cries, usually from the pain of indigestion due to having been given unsuitable food. Feed children properly, and train them to regular retiring hours. School home-work may cause insomnia; if so, forbid it.
Man spends a third of his life in the bedroom, which should be furnished and used for no other purpose. Pictures, drapery above or below the bed, and wallpaper with weird designs in glaring colours are undesirable. The wall should be distempered a quiet green or blue tint, and the ceiling cream. A bedroom should never be made a storeroom for odds and ends, nor is the space beneath the bed suitable for trunks; least of all for a soiled-linen basket.
Some time before retiring, excitement and mental work should be avoided. The patient should take a quiet walk after supper, drink no fluid, empty bladder and bowels, and take a hot foot-bath.
Retire and rise punctually, for the brain, like most other organs, may be trained to definite habits with patience.
If sleeplessness be ascribed, rightly or wrongly, to an empty stomach, a glass of hot milk and two plain biscuits should be taken in bed; dyspeptics should take no food for three hours before retiring. If the patient wakes in the early morning he may find a glass of milk (warmed on a spirit-stove by the bedside) and a few plain biscuits of value.
A victim of insomnia should lie on his side on a firm [pg 78] bed with warm, light coverings, open the window, close the door, and endeavour to fix his attention on some monotonous idea; such as watching a flock of white sheep jump a hedge. Think of trifles to avoid thinking of troubles.
How often do we hear people complain that they suffer from insomnia, when in fact they get a reasonable amount of sleep, and indeed often keep others awake by their snoring.
When you wake, get up, for a second sleep does no good. When some one, on seeing the narrow camp-bed in which Wellington slept, said: "There is no room to turn about in it," the Iron Duke replied: "When a man begins to turn about in his bed it is time he turned out of it."
The only safe narcotic is a day's hard work. For severe insomnia consult a doctor; do not take drugs—that way lies ruin. By taking narcotics, or patent remedies containing powerful drugs, you will easily get sleep—for a time only—and then fall a slave to the drug. Such victims may be seen in dozens in any large asylum.
