SLEEP AND YOU
by Dr. W. Robert Smith
I T is always interesting to hear from women who have to stay home keeping house and family when they have wanted a career. What greater occupation could there be, however, than to rear a child? Can you imagine the Virgin Mary com plaining because she couldn’t go down to the office in Nazareth and work? Some of our lack of contentment and peace in our homes is caused be cause we can’t see beyond the drudg ery of doing dishes. You are creating a little life for God; what a marvelous privilege this is. How many times the joy of our activities is clouded be cause we do not take care of ourselves physically. In the August, 1965 issue of the Reader's Digest there is an interest ing article on sleep by J. D. Radcliff. We don’t know too much about sleep but we do know that it is vitally needed. A great deal is known about what happens to the body during sleep. Our heart slow^ down to about 75 to 60 beats a minute. Body tem perature and metabolism drops down. Some activities, however, step up. For some unknown reason sweat glands become particularly active. How much sleep we need is an in dividual matter. The average amount required is no more applicable to a particular individual than an average size hat or shoes would be. It appears that where people can take short naps in the afternoon their productivity or efficiency increases substantially. Are you getting all the sleep you need? If not, this could create real tensions and problems in your home. A recent poll indicated that more than half of us have sleep difficulties, at least part of the time. When ani mals are deprived of sleep they be come vicious. Human beings denied sleep for several days develop striking psychological and pathological symp toms. As an experiment, four able
bodied young men and women were kept awake for 72 hours. They set up lights before their eyes and ring bells to keep them awake. They became QUESTIONS Can you put a spider's web back in place, That once has been swept away? Can you put the apple back again on the bough Which fell at our feet today? Can you put the lily cup back on the stem, And cause it to live and grow? Can you mend the butterfly's broken wing, That you crushed with a hasty blow? Can you put the bloom again on the grape, And the grape again on the vine? Can you put the dewdrop back on the flower, And make it sparkle and shine? Can you put the petals back on the rose— If you could, would it smell so sweet? Can you put the flower back on the husk, And show me the ripened wheat? Can you put the kernel back in the nut, Or the broken egg in the shell? Can you put the honey back in the comb, And cover with wax each cell? Can you put the perfume back in the vase, When once it has sped away? Can you put the corn silk on the corn, Or down on the catkins, say? You think these questions are trifling Let me ask you another: Can a hasty word ever be unsaid Or an unkind deed undone? quarrelsome, irritable, and had symp toms of paranoia. They were suspi cious of one another and even had hallucinations. Everyone is familiar with the un reasonableness of a sleepy child. Many of the problems in the home are com- 9
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