The philosophy of sleep / [Robert Macnish].

  • Macnish, Robert, 1802-1837.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of sleep / [Robert Macnish]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    springs from some natural defect,'which no medi- cinal means can overcome. Equally impossible of cure is the affection when it arises, as it very often does, fromoldage. Hven long before this period of life, as at the age of fifty or sixty, people very often get into somnolent habits, and are pretty sure to fall asleep if they attempt to read, or even if they place themselves in an easy chair before the fire. I know of no cure for this indolent propensity, unless indeed the habits arise, as it sometimes does, from corpulency, in which case it is more manageable, in so far as its cause is occasionally capable of being removed. Drowsiness sometimes proceeds from a fulness of blood in the head, or a disordered state of the digestive organs. When it originates from the former cause, it becomes necessary to have re- course to general or local blood-letting. ‘The per- son, likewise, should use, from time to time, mild laxatives, live temperately, and take abundance of exercise. Medicines of a similar kind are neces- sary when the affection arises from the state of the stomach and bowels: so soon as these organs are restored to health, the symptomatic drowsiness will naturally disappear. Persons who feel the disposition to drowsiness gaining upon them, should struggle vigorously against it; for when once the habit is fairly estab- lished, its eradication is very difficult. E:xercise of body and mind, early rising and the cold bath, are among the best means for this purpose.