SLEEP AND ITS REGULATION. 419 



waking suffer from morning confusion and headache; in short, are 

 far less refreshed by their slumber and require longer to acquire waking 

 balance than frail beings whose sleep is shallow, interrupted and seem- 

 ingly insufficient. 



All these facts and reasonings from vascular tone constitute a long, 

 somewhat technical, story ; suffice it to say that, in order to secure com- 

 fortable natural sleep there is demanded a careful regulation of blood 

 supply and distribution. Where a careful regulation of life fails to 

 accomplish this, help must be sought of a wise physician, who will 

 promptly determine what is amiss. The difficulty may be found to 

 be due to faulty skin action, cold extremities, intestinal accumulations, 

 or visceral poisons, organic derangements, a weak heart, an overtired 

 bocty, an overwrought brain or other physical disorders, the province 

 of the physician. Interference with matters out of the realm of our 

 experience is usually followed by punishment. Among the most 

 dangerous things a person can do is to take a shot in the dark dn 

 medical procedures, swallowing medicines on blind guesses. Damage 

 must almost inevitably result, first by deranging digestion, perhaps 

 already at fault, and next achieving stupor, not true sleep, or en- 

 couraging the brain to demand meretricious, unsuitable soporifics. 



While it is most desirable that sleep should be taken in regular 

 amounts, at a suitable time, and this during the hours of darkness and 

 continuously, still it is possible that various habits may be formed, 

 seemingly peculiar, which suffice for ordinary requirements. These 

 may be acquired to meet some temporary demand, or become habitual 

 for years. For instance, mothers of young babies commonly form the 

 habit of sleeping and waking readily and frequently, and yet continue 

 to enjoy excellent health. Trained nurses acquire even more complex, 

 yet systematic, habits of sleep and wakefulness; a regular irregularity, 

 yet productive of little or no exhaustion, at least for a time. Persons 

 engaged in diverse strenuous occupations secure a power of seizing 

 sleep when they can get it, notably sailor men by ' watches ' of four 

 hours each, twice a day. 



Sleep, being the chief restorative agency for the consciousness, the 

 desideratum is chiefly to achieve enough repose in sufficient complete- 

 ness to effect repair of brain cells and other centers of energy. In 

 those whose lives are full of repeated and emphatic demands upon 

 them for concentration of attention, the habit of taking short naps is 

 found to be most refreshing and invigorating. Many physicians, some 

 lawyers, and other professional men who pursue literary work, find it 

 satisfactory to secure a brief sleep some time during the day, often in 

 the middle of operations, when an opportunity offers. Thus a short 

 sleep in a chair, or preferably lying down on the back on a bench or 

 lounge, will rejuvenate the powers and permit intellectual work far 



