We spend a third of our lives sleeping—yet nobody knows whatsleep really is. We know it is a habit and a state of rest in whichnature knits up the ravelled sleeve of care， but we don’t know howmany hours of sleep each individual requires. We don’t evenknow if we have to sleep at all！
Fantastic? Well， during the First World War， Paul Kern， aHungarian soldier， was shot through the frontal lobe of his brain.
He recovered from the wound， but curiously enough， couldn’t fallasleep. No matter what the doctors did—and they tried all kindsof sedatives and narcotics， even hypnotism—Paul Kern couldn’tbe put to sleep or even made to feel drowsy.
The doctors said he wouldn’t live long. But he fooled them. Hegot a job， and went on living in the best of health for years. Hewould lie down and close his eyes and rest， but he got no sleepwhatever. His case was a medical mystery that upset many of ourbeliefs about sleep.
Some people require far more sleep than others. Toscaninineeds only five hours a night， but Calvin Coolidge needed morethan twice that much. Coolidge slept eleven hours out of everytwenty-four. In other words， Toscanini has been sleeping awayapproximately one-fifth of his life， while Coolidge slept awayalmost half of his life.
Worrying about insomnia will hurt you far more than insomnia.
For example， one of my students-Ira Sandner， was driven nearly tosuicide by chronic insomnia.
“I actually thought I was going insane，” Ira Sandner told me.
“The trouble was， in the beginning， that I was too sound a sleeper.
I wouldn’t wake up when the alarm clock went off， and the resultwas that I was getting to work late in the morning. I worried about it-and， in fact， my boss warned me that I would have to getto work on time. I knew that if I kept on oversleeping， I wouldlose my job.
“I told my friends about it， and one of them suggested Iconcentrate hard on the alarm clock before I went to sleep. Thatstarted the insomnia！ The tick-tick-tick of that blasted alarm clockbecame an obsession. It kept me awake， tossing， all night long！
When morning came， I was almost ill. I was ill from fatigue andworry. This kept on for eight weeks. I can’t put into words thetortures I suffered. I was convinced I was going insane. SometimesI paced the floor for hours at a time， and I honestly consideredjumping out of the window and ending the whole thing！
“At last I went to a doctor I had known all my life. He said：‘Ira， I can’t help you. No one can help you， because you havebrought this thing on yourself. Go to bed at night， and if you can’tfall asleep， forget all about it. Just say to yourself： “I don’t care ahang if I don’t go to sleep. It’s all right with me if I lie awake tillmorning.” Keep your eyes closed and say： “As long as I just liestill and don’t worry about it， I’ll be getting rest， anyway.” ’
“I did that，” says Sandner， “and in two weeks’ time I wasdropping off to sleep. In less than one month， I was sleeping eighthours， and my nerves were back to normal.”
It wasn’t insomnia that was killing Ira Sandner; it was hisworry about it.
Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman， professor at the University of Chicago，has done more research work on sleep than has any other livingman. He is the world’s expert on sleep. He declares that he hasnever known anyone to die from insomnia. To be sure， a manmight worry about insomnia until he lowered his vitality and wasswept away by germs. But it was the worry that did the damage，not the insomnia itself.
Dr. Kleitman also says that the people who worry aboutinsomnia usually sleep far more than they realise. The man whoswears “I never slept a wink last night” may have slept for hourswithout knowing it. For example， one of the most profoundthinkers of the nineteenth century， Herbert Spencer， was anold bachelor， lived in a boarding house， and bored everyonewith his talk about his insomnia. He even put “stoppings” in hisears to keep out the noise and quiet his nerves. Sometimes hetook opium to induce sleep. One night he and Professor Sayceof Oxford shared the same room at a hotel. The next morningSpencer declared he hadn’t slept a wink all night. In reality， it wasProfessor Sayce who hadn’t slept a wink. He had been kept awakeall night by Spencer’s snoring.
The first requisite for a good night’s sleep is a feeling ofsecurity. We need to feel that some power greater than ourselveswill take care of us until morning. Dr. Thomas Hyslop， of theGreat West Riding Asylum， stressed that point in an addressbefore the British Medical Association. He said：“One of the bestsleep—producing agents which my years of practice have revealedto me—is prayer. I say this purely as a medical man. The exerciseof prayer， in those who habitually exert it， must be regarded asthe most adequate and normal of all the pacifiers of the mind andcalmers of the nerves.”
“Let God—and let go.”