Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1886 — Sleeplessness. [ARTICLE]

Sleeplessness.

When sleeplessness is troublesome, relief should be sought for in the discovery and removal of the cause, whenever possible. The condition is often due to indigestion, and when this is the case, the ordinary remedies for inducing sleep are worse than useless.. 4'ho nervo.'.s rotations between the brain and the stomach are so intimate that disorder of the one organ is, almost certain to affect the other, says the Fortnightly Review. Excitement, worry, and anxiety, which have.their seat in the brain, interfere with the functions of the stomach, and in a like manner anything that unduly tax-s the power of or irritates the stoma-h disorders the circulation and nutrition of the brain. The sleeplessness often complained •of by gouty persons is due to the poisonous effect of the morbid material upon the nervous system. Excessive smoking, too much alcohol, tea, and coffee, often resorted to by overworked persons, are frequent causes of sleeplessness. . In all these cases the cause is removable, while the effect may be counteracted by appropriate treatment. Nothing is more mischievous, however, than to continue the habits, and to have recourse to drugs to combat the effects. >. ■ ■>- A due amount of exercise tends to induce normal sleep, and such exercise need not be of a violent character. A walk of two or three miles a day is sufficient, and is perhaps as much as a busy man can find time for. A ride on horseback, the Palmerstonian cure for gout, is probably the best form of exercise for those whose minds are constantly at work. It has been well said that a man must come out of himself when in the saddle; he is forced to attend to his horse and to notice the objects he meets. Walking may be a merely automatic process, and afford little, if any, relief to the mind, and carriage exercise may be practically valueless, if the mind is not diverted from what had previously occupied it.