It is in
sleep that the brain of man is recharged with vital energy, and the Principle
of Health within him is given new strength. It is of the first importance,
then, that we should sleep in a natural, normal, and perfectly healthy manner.
Studying
sleep, we note that the breathing is much deeper, and more forcible and
rhythmic than in the waking state. Much more air is inspired when asleep than
when awake, and this tells us that the Principle of Health requires large
quantities of some element in the atmosphere for the purpose of renewal. If you
would surround sleep with natural conditions, then, the first step is to see
that you have an unlimited supply of fresh and pure air to breathe.
Physicians
have found that sleeping in the pure air of out-of-doors is very efficacious in
the treatment of pulmonary troubles; and, taken in connection with the Way of
Living and Thinking prescribed in this book, you will find that it is just as
efficacious in curing every other sort of trouble. Do not take any half- way
measures in this matter of securing pure air while you sleep.
Ventilate
your bedroom thoroughly; so thoroughly that it will be practically the same as
sleeping out of doors. Have a door or window open wide; have one open on each
side of the room, if possible. If you cannot have a good draught of air across
the room, pull the head of your bed close to the open window, so that the air
from without may come fully into your face.
No
matter how cold or unpleasant the weather, have a window open, and open wide;
and try to get a circulation of pure air through the room. Pile on the
bedclothes, if necessary, to keep you warm; but have an unlimited supply of fresh
air from out of doors. This is the first great requisite for healthy sleep.
The
brain and nerve centers cannot be thoroughly vitalized if you sleep in
"dead" or stagnant air; you must have the living atmosphere, vital
with nature's Principle of Life. I repeat, do not make any compromise in this
matter; ventilate your sleeping room completely, and see that there is
circulation of outdoor air through it while you sleep.
You are
not sleeping in a perfectly healthy way if you shut the doors and windows of your
sleeping room, whether in winter or summer. Have fresh air. If you are where
there is no fresh air, move. If your bedroom cannot be ventilated, get into
another house.
Next in
importance is the mental attitude in which you go to sleep. It is well to sleep
intelligently, purposefully, knowing what you do it for. Lie down thinking that
sleep is an infallible vitalizer, and go to sleep with a confident faith that
your strength is to be renewed; that you will awake full of vitality and
health. Put purpose into your sleep as you do into your eating; give the matter
your attention for a few minutes, as you go to rest. Do not seek your couch
with a discouraged or depressed feeling; go there joyously, to be made whole.
Do not
forget the exercise of gratitude in going to sleep; before you close your eyes,
give thanks to God for having shown you the way to perfect health, and go to
sleep with this grateful thought uppermost in your mind. A bedtime prayer of
thanksgiving is a mighty good thing; it puts the Principle of Health within you
into communication with its source, from which it is to receive new power while
you are in the silence of unconsciousness.
You may
see that the requirements for perfectly healthy sleep are not difficult. First,
to see that you breathe pure air from out of doors while you sleep; and,
second, to put the Within into touch with the Living Substance by a few minutes
of grateful meditation as you go to bed. Observe these requirements, go to
sleep in a thankful and confident frame of mind, and all will be well. If you
have insomnia, do not let it worry you.
While
you lie awake, form your conception of health; meditate with thankfulness on
the abundant life which is yours, breathe, and feel perfectly confident that
you will sleep in due time; and you will.
Insomnia,
like every other ailment, must give way before the Principle of Health aroused
to full constructive activity by the course of thought and action herein
described.
The
reader will now comprehend that it is not at all burdensome or disagreeable to
perform the voluntary functions of life in a perfectly healthy way. The
perfectly healthy way is the easiest, simplest, most natural, and most pleasant
way. The cultivation of health is not a work of art, difficulty, or strenuous
labor.