"The Value of Rest" - Delineator 1907

Being a lady who likes her sleep (and rarely gets enough of it, having 3 children), the title of this article caught my attention - and the pictures kept me reading!

It was written by Ella Adelia Fletcher and appeared in the January 1907 issue of The Delineator.  Ms. Fletcher wrote a book titled The Philosophy of Rest and also wrote The Woman Beautiful and a very New Age sounding book called Law of the Rhythmic Breath: Teaching the Generation, Conservation, and Control of Vital Force.

It seems unreal to think of people in 1907 living fast-paced lives, but according to Ms. Fletcher they did: “This twentieth-century life has grown so full, so complicated, and so elaborate, we have so many interests and involve ourselves in such varied activities, that no days are ever long enough for the multiple engagements of business and pleasure which our speed-crazed generation attempts to crowd into twenty-four hours."

The “iniquitous habit of curtailing sleep is one of the maddest practices of this nerve-squandering age, for it invites an almost endless train of evils.”

The remainder of the article doesn't focus on the lack of sleep - instead Ms. Fletcher describes the effects of poor or inadequate sleep and makes recommendations for getting "perfect, restful sleep" which is "indespensable for the harmonious activity of the highly organized nervous system."

Some of the obstacles to getting good sleep:

• "Want of fresh air in the bedroom . . . To have sufficient oxygen to supply the needs of life during the inactivity of sleep, you should feel a current of fresh air flowing gently over the face, for only moving air can remove the heavy carbon-dioxid (sic) constantly exhaled by the sleeper, and poisoning the air surrounding the bed."
• Mental unrest - "Just as we relieve the body of its restricting clothes, so should the mind be undressed from the trammels of the day's activities and perplexities when we prepare for rest."  

• Incorrect sleep position - "Rounded shoulders, spinal curvature, a cramped chest,--preventing a full breath,--flabby cheeks and wrinkled neck, with cramped limbs checking circulation, are just  a few of the evils which result from a careless posture during the hours of repose."

"To sleep upon the stomach with upraised arms strains the chest and makes breathing imperfect and difficult.  The position has the advantage of soothing pain in the region of the stomach and loins, and the stretching of the legs equalizes the blood circulation . . . Therefore, it is not a bad plan to lie thus for a few minutes' rest . . . but none should continuously lie thus."

"All postures with the arms thrown over the head are vicious during sleep because of the tension and stretching of shoulder and chest muscles; and the high-pillow habit is most unkind to the back."

"Now, when all is in order, waking to the new day is a delight.  We greet it with joyous exhiliration, armed, if need there be, with fresh courage to cope with its perplexities, and never-failing confidence in their ultimate conquest; and if pleasures are planned we meet them with the eager, happy anticipation that doubles all our enjoyment."

Well, all this talk of rest makes me sleepy.  Wonder what Ms. Fletcher, the scourge of the "speed-crazed" generation of 1907, would have to say about the sleep habits of today.  If she could only see my 3 a.m. trek to the baby's room to fall asleep on the guest bed holding a bottle-drinking baby.