The Necessity of Plenty of Sleep.
By I. D. Van Horn
A WRITER in Scribner, considering “The Relations of Insanity to modern Civilization,” speaks of the loss of sleep as a prominent cause of insanity. He says: “During every moment of consciousness the brain is in activity. The peculiar process of cerebration, whatever that may consist of, is taking place; thought after thought comes forth, nor can we help it. It is only when the peculiar connection or chain of connection of the one brain-cell with another is broken and consciousness fades away into the dreamless land of perfect sleep, that the brain is at rest. In this state it recuperates its exhausted energy and power, and stores them up for future need. The period of wakefulness is one of constant wear. Every thought is generated at the expense of brain-cells, which can be fully replaced only by periods of properly regulated repose. If, therefore, these are not secured by sleep; if the brain, through over-stimulation, is not left to recuperate, its energy becomes exhausted; debility, disease, and, finally, disintegration supervene. Hence, the story is almost always the same; for weeks and months before the indications of active insanity appear, the patient has been anxious, worried and wakeful, not sleeping more than four or five hours out of the 24. The poor brain, unable to do its constant work, begins to show signs of weakness or aberration; hallucinations or delusions hover around like floating shadows in the air, until finally disease comes, and— “Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds
With many legions of strange fantasies,
Which in their throng and press to their last bounds
Confound themselves.”