HOW TO SLEEP 



learned. And it is marvellous what a power a fixed 

 habit has over the organism. He need little fear in- 

 somnia who has taught his brain to expect rest at a 

 fixed and definite hour each night. Of course a man 

 cannot become an actual automaton; but the more 

 closely he adheres to a definite minute in this matter, 

 the more efficient, other things being equal, will be 

 his sleep in recuperating a tired brain. 



So far so good. Going to bed is a voluntary process; 

 but to retire is not necessarily to sleep. What if the 

 mind prefers to go on with its conscious action ? This, 

 it may be confidently said, is a matter that in time will 

 regulate itself. When good habits of sleeping have 

 been acquired, the head will scarcely touch the pillow 

 before consciousness will disappear, only to come 

 again at a fixed and definite time next morning. But 

 of course while one is acquiring the habit, and as an aid 

 to that end, one may need to resort to various soporific 

 expedients. Of drugs I shall say nothing. Those are 

 for your physician to prescribe to meet the individual 

 indications of your case, if you need them at all, as is 

 unlikely. But I may refer to some minor expedients. 



Good sleeping, in the first instance, is the converse 

 side of active waking mentality. The brain does not 

 need repairing till it is worn. In certain forms of 

 melancholia the patient scarcely sleeps at all for weeks 

 together, because his brain is scarcely called upon to 

 functionate, mentality being sluggish to the point of 

 stupor. The patient does not sleep, but neither can 

 he be said to be fully awake; his mind is at a dead level 



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