SLEEP 181 



differ in their requirement? How can one know whether 

 enough sleep is taken? Is it possible to sleep too much? 

 All these are related questions and all are important, but 

 intelligent people will be likely to answer them in very 

 different ways. We may attempt to deal with the last one 

 first, and we will venture the assertion that it is possible 

 to sleep more than is best. The fact that it is found diffi- 

 cult to get up in the morning is by no means a sure sign 

 that more sleep should be taken. It may be only a sign of 

 laziness. It is better to be guided by the evening feeling 

 and particularly by the demand of the eyes for a release 

 from their task. 



The disciples of Horace Fletcher claim that one of the 

 benefits realized when a low diet has been adopted is 

 found in the fact that the hours of sleep may be shortened 

 without making inroads upon health. The obvious sug- 

 gestion is that a part of the sleep of average men is a coma, 

 an avoidable intoxication, due to an excess of narcotizing 

 substances absorbed from the burdened intestine. Whether 

 this is a typic condition or not, it is probably exemplified 

 by some heavy eaters. The picture of the carnivorous 

 animal gorged with concentrated food and crawling away 

 for a long sleep is familiar enough. Many young men and 

 women who supposed that certain hours of sleep were 

 necessary to their efficiency, have discovered, after mar- 

 riage and the coming of children, that they are capable of 

 much more work with much less sleep than they formerly 

 believed. 



With advancing age the need for sleep seems generally 

 to diminish. In the Preacher's classic description the old 

 person is said to "rise up at the voice of the bird." Many 

 readers will recall the uneasy habits of the aged, who 

 cannot lie peaceably in bed until the younger members of 

 the family consider it time to get up, but are found 

 bustling feebly about imaginary duties in the early hours 

 of the morning. The nervous system in which the decom- 

 position processes have become lessened in intensity has 

 less need of the compensatory state. 



