Yours for Sleep

COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD HX64075320 RA786 W1 6 Yours for sleep. 1 i THE LIBRARIES i 1 i COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 1 i 1 1 I I 1 1 1 1 HEALTH SCIENCES i LIBRARY i 1 EffugfS^fRnJinnJnuOrrinJiruiin^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/yoursforsleepOOwals : : Phj^sician and Poet Dr. William S. Walsh^ a Rliode Island physician of prominence, in his book "Yours for Sleep** does not go to other physicians for technical evidence. He appeals to Eyron and Cervantes and their brothers in Apollo. Though a rigidly scientific treatise on the ills that do mutder sleep, the book beginr, with a line from Ovid and closes with ten from Francis Quarles. By way of making it clear that there is something mysterious about sleep it cites Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Sir Thomas Browne, Fie'ding and others. The chapter on indigestion opens with Vol- taire's mot to the effect that "the fate of a nation has often depended on the good or bad digestion of its Prime Minister." Plautus, Milton arid Cowper are the author's more prominent references or neurasthenia. Dr. Walsh has seized upon a new and commend- able use for poets. There !s little they do not know, especially with regard to the frailties of the mind and body. Shakespeare wrote at length on arteriosclerosis, under another name, naturally. To him the name was negligible, the idea everything. It is so with all poets. Their ideas admit of universal application. They have written some books the read- ing of which will cure insomnia and others the study of which means death to drowsiness. Browning was writing for those who do not read when he said Sleep IS no servant of the will It has caprices of its own: When courted most, it lingrers still; When most pursued 'tis swiftly ffone. 5-:>: YOURS FOR SLEEP — YOURS FOR SLEEP BY WILLIAM S. WALSH, M.D. "Sleep, thou most gentle of the deities." Ovid NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 68i FIFTH AVENUE Copyright, 1920, By E. p. Dutton & Company All Rights R&smed 1 L Printed ia the Unit«J States of America TO J. W. K. THIS VOLUME IS AJrECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR PREFACE The object of this little volume is not only to help the sleepless sleep, but also to instruct them on a few of the principles of right living, a dis- regard of which is most often the sole cause of their disorder. For this purpose the more com- mon causes of insomnia are considered at some length. Many authors have been consulted, not only medical but lay also; for, as Oliver Wendell Holmes remarks: "Medicine, sometimes imper- tinently, sometimes ignorantly, often carelessly called ^allopathy,' appropriates everything from every source that can be of the slightest use to anyone that is ailing in any way, or like to be ailing from any cause. It learned from a monk how to use antimony, from a Jesuit how to cure agues, from a friar how to cut for stone, from a soldier how to treat gout, from a sailor how to keep off scurvy, from a postmaster how to sound the Eustachian tube, from a dairymaid how to prevent smallpox, and from an old mar- ket woman how to catch the itch insect. It vii viii PREFACE borrowed acupuncture from the Japanese, and was taught the use of lobelia by the American savage. It stands ready to accept anything from any theorist, from any empiric who can make out a good case for his discovery or his remedy." If this volume serves but a few of those who may read it the author will feel that his labors have been amply rewarded. W. S. W. "Beside the cloudy confines of the western night and the distant Ethiopians, there is a misty grove, impenetrable to the brightest star, and under the hollow rocks an immense cave descends into the bowels of the mountain, where sluggish nature has placed the halls of lazy sleep and the drowsy god. Motionless Rest and dark Oblivion stand on guard, and torpid Sloth with never wakeful eye. At the porch sits Ease and speechless Silence with close contracted wings, driving the murmuring winds from the roof, forbidding the foliage to rustle or the birds to twitter; here no roaring of the ocean, though all the shores resound, no crashing of the thunder; the stream itself, gliding along the deep valleys close to the grotto, rolls silently between the rocks and cliffs; the sable herds and flocks recline at ease on the ground; the newly sprung grass withers, and the vapors make the herbage languid. Glowing Vulcan has formed a thousand statues of the god within; close by is wreathed Pleasure; here, in attendance, is Toil inclined to rest; here the same couch receives Love and Wine; deep, deep within he lies with his twin-brother, Death, a sad image to none. Beneath the dew-bespangled cavern the god him- self, released from cares, crowned with drowsy flowers, lay on tapestry; his dress sends forth exhalations, his couch is warm with his lazy body, and above the bed a dark vapour rises from his half-shut mouth. The one hand sustains his hair hanging over his left temple, the other has dropped the horn unheeded." !—Statius: Thebais, X, 84. PREFACE ix "It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; it is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It is the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap, and the balance that sets the king and the shepherd, the fool and the wise man, even." —Cervantes: Don Quixote, CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Physiology of Sleep . I II. Wakeful Disorders of Sleep i8 III. Insomnia and its Causes . 36 IV. Worry 50 V. Neurasthenia 78 VI. Indigestion and Constipation lOI VII. Hypertension and Arteriosclerosis 119 VlII. Eye Defects 140 IX. Diseases of the Teeth and Gums 159 X. Value of Exercise and Fresh Air 180 XI. Hygiene of the Bed and the Sleep ING Room 196 XII. Remedies for Sleeplessness . 213 zi YOURS FOR SLEEP CHAPTER I -niE PHYSIOLOGY OF SLEEP "What probing deep Has ever solved the mystery of sleep?" —T. B. Aldrich. "Half our days we pass in the shadow of the earth, and the brother of death extracteth a third part of our lives." So said Sir Thomas Browne. But why an individual must sleep aw^ay one-third of his existence no one has yet satisfactorily explained. If abruptly asked the question, "Why do we sleep?" no doubt the first answer that would present itself to us would be, "Because the body needs rest." While it is true that the body needs, and must have, rest, what part of it does rest during sleep? Is it not true that, asleep or awake, the heart pumps its stream, that the lungs expire and inspire, that the stomach, liver, pancreas, and other organs perform their functions? More- over, is it not true that during sleep the skin ex- cretes practically twice as much as during the waking state; that even the nails and hair con- tinue to grow? Is not hearing still acute, as 2 YOURS FOR SLEEP proved by the fact that any sound capable of at- tracting our attention during the waking period will disturb the sleeper? If the eyes were open would we not see? Will not unsavory odors, or badly tasting material placed in the mouth, awaken the slumberer? Do we not all dream, which goes to show that the mind is not at entire rest? Do we not frequently change position, are we not conscious of pain, do not persons sleep on horseback, etc.? What part of the body, then, does rest during sleep? But before we consider this question, let us first consider some of the phenomena which take place during normal sleep. When we retire for the night we assume an easy attitude, with the muscles all relaxed. We close the eyes to shield them from sensory influ- ences. During sleep respiration becomes slower and less deep, the breathing being distinctly thoracic in character. Inspiration is prolonged and the normal respiratory pause is absent. Mosso states that the amount of air inspired during sleep is one-seventh of that used during a period of quiet wakefulness. Carbonic acid elim- ination is decreased, while the absorption of oxy- gen is increased. The heart beats more slowly, yet forcibly; the pulse is less rapid, and the gen- eral arterial pressure is lowered. The brain is THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SLEEP 3 anemic, while the blood supply to the skin is greatly increased, which accounts for the increased production of sweat. The internal temperature of the body is lessened. The move- ments of the stomach and intestines are en- feebled. All the secretions of the body are diminished, save those of the skin. Thus, while practically all parts of the body still function during sleep, we see that they are working more slowly than is their wont. Sleep is therefore, to use the words of Dr. Church, "a recurring necessary state of lessened muscular, mental, and organic activity, attended by comparative unconsciousness of surround- ings. No physical or mental function is entirely abeyant." Or, in the words of Marie de Mana- cei'ne, "sleep is the resting time of conscious- ness." Thus, "to sleep is to strain and purify our emotions, to deposit the mud of life, to calm the fever of the soul, to return into the bosom of maternal nature, thence to re-issue, healed, and strong.

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