Non-Alcoholic Cure for Sleeplessness
PLENTY of fresh air, horseback exercise, bicycle riding. Speakers find a glass of warm milk or other light food useful to draw the blood from the brain to the stomach. Edison recommends manual labor instead of going to rest for aggravated insomnia. He says sleep will soon come naturally. If indigestion is the cause, nothing can be done until this is relieved. In such cases it is best to avoid late suppers altogether. If wind on the stomach is the cause, take a sip of cold water. Avoid whisky “nightcaps;” they have been the ruin of many. “Sleep obtained by the use of opiates is not a substitute for natural sleep. Three or four hours of natural sleep will be more than equivalent to double that amount obtained by the use of narcotics. Chloral, bromide of potash, whisky, and other drugs are to be condemned almost as strongly as opium.” “A warm bath before retiring, a wet-hand rub, a cool sponge bath, gentle rubbing of the body with the dry hand, a moist abdominal bandage, are all useful measures. When the feet are cold, take a hot foot-bath. If the head is congested, apply a cold compress or ice-cap.” The practise of long deep breathing, about ten respirations a minute, will often put one to sleep when all other devices fail.—N. Y. Christian Advocate.