Probably the most important immediate assurance that can be given to those who come complaining of insomnia is that practically no one has ever [{654}] been seriously hurt by the wakefulness called insomnia. Patients suffering from brain tumors, from serious disturbance's of cerebral circulation that give objective signs, from various organic diseases, as of the heart or liver, or certain constitutional diseases, have been made worse by the wakefulness induced by their affections. In the cases where there were no definite objective signs and wakefulness was the only symptom we have no cases on record of serious injury resulting. Men have come complaining of wakefulness for days or weeks and sometimes, though it is strange to understand it, for months or even years, and yet have lived their lives without serious developments and have neither gone into insanity nor into any premature loss of vitality, much less a fatal termination. It is not subjective symptoms but objective signs that are of value for the diagnosis of the serious organic conditions. This reassurance lifts a load from patients' minds at once and does more than anything else to relieve them of the burden of solicitude which is the main factor in the continuance of their insomnia.
Suggestive Treatment.—The psychotherapy of sleep consists in changing the patient's attitude of mind toward his sleep. It is quite impossible for him to sleep normally and regularly if he worries much about it and if the afternoon and evening hours are mainly spent in wondering whether he will sleep, anxious as to when he is going to sleep like other people, marvelling how long he will last in health and sanity if his tendency to wakefulness continues. There is no factor so strong in insomnia as getting one's self on one's mind. It weighs as an intolerable burden, an incubus that is sure to keep its subject awake. Insomnia is a mental and not a physical ailment in much more than nine out of every ten cases. It is not the brain but the mind that is at fault. Patients must be made to realize that if they go quietly to bed, confident that if they do not sleep the early part of the night they will sleep later, and that in case they should lose considerable sleep, so long as they lie quietly for eight hours in bed, their physical organism is not likely to come to any serious trouble. They must be quiet, peaceful and unworried. They must not begin to toss at the first sign of not going promptly to sleep for by so doing they may put off completely the possibility of falling to sleep. Finally they must prepare for sleep by passing a quiet evening, as a rule, occupied with diversions of various kinds.
There are many factors which inhibit sleep that must be removed or at least obviated. These are very different in different individuals and the suggestion of getting them out of the way helps a great deal in making people realize that they are better prepared for sleep than before. They have been keeping themselves awake by contrary unfavorable suggestions. They must be taught to aid themselves in going to sleep by a series of favorable suggestions attached to the doing of certain things that are helpful and, above all, avoiding acts of various kinds that have an unfavorable suggestive influence. In this way an accumulation of suggestions can be secured that will prove helpful.
Drugs.—Of course, patients must be warned with regard to the taking of drugs. Certain drugs may be taken for an occasional loss of a night's sleep, where the loss of sleep is regular and frequent, however, drugs are sure to do more harm than good. Opium leads to a serious habit, chloral is dangerous because it must be increased, most of the coal-tar somnifacients produce [{655}] serious after results and their physical effect is in the end probably more deleterious than would be the loss of the sleep which they are supposed to counteract. This is true for even the vauntedly least harmful of them, and it is important to make patients understand it.
External Conditions to be Inhibited.—In the treatment of insomnia two sets of inhibitory conditions are particularly to be looked to, those external to the patient, and those internal. Unless every possible obstacle is removed there can be no assurance of the relief of sleeplessness, while very often the careful regulation of a few conditions that are disturbing the patient will bring sleep fully and promptly. It is curious what small annoyances will sometimes prove disturbing.
No Pillow.—I have found patients who had heard somewhere the idea that it was natural for man to sleep without a pillow. The pillow in this theory was supposed to be an added refinement of men in a state of luxury, but a real degeneration opposed to nature, and the many presumed benefits of sleeping on a perfectly level mattress with the head no higher than the rest of the body was emphasized. While in ordinary health these patients had found that after the preliminary discomfort of getting used to sleeping without a pillow, they were apparently the better for it. People will feel better for almost anything if they are only persuaded that they ought to. After a certain length of time, however, worry or work had a tendency to keep them more or less wakeful and then insomnia came on, that is, for several hours at the beginning of the night they did not go to sleep and became very much worried about it.
In several of these cases I have found one of the most helpful adjuncts to more direct treatment of their wakefulness was the restoration of the pillow. Just how the hygienic theory of pillowless sleep originated, or on what it is supposed to be founded, I do not know. The only theory of sleep that seems to have many adherents at present is that it is due to brain anemia. With the head a little higher than the rest of the body the force of gravity tends to help in the production of this brain anemia. The experience of mankind seems to confirm this. Certainly, from the earliest records of history men have slept with something under their head, even though they could find nothing better than a log or a stone. To sleep without a pillow is, owing to the conformation of the head and neck and shoulders, almost inevitably to sleep mainly on the back. From the anatomical relations of the internal organs it is easy to understand that sleeping on the side is more comfortable and healthy than sleeping on the back and hence most people naturally take this position. Relaxation is much more complete and comfort is greater. What the majority of men do is almost surely dictated by instinct, and instinct is the most precious guide we have in the natural functions of life. We are not so differently formed from the animals that the analogy from their habits should not have some weight for us. Patients should then be advised always to sleep with a reasonably firm pillow, not too low, so that the head is a little higher than the body and the lateral position perfectly comfortable.
Too high Pillow.—There is an abuse in the other direction of too high a pillow that deserves to be noted. Occasionally the physician hears complaints of waking up with tired feelings in the large muscles of the back of the neck near their insertion into the occiput. This is sometimes complained of [{656}] as an occipital headache. Not infrequently it will be found that these people are sleeping on pillows that are too large, or that they pile up several of them. Most physicians have found in their experience that having the head quite a little higher than the rest of the body materially aided sleep, especially in elderly people. This is true even when there is no distinct heart lesion, but this favorable position is best secured not by means of one or more high pillows, but by raising the head of the bed, or by the insertion of bolsters beneath the mattress, so that there is a gentle slope upward from the hips to the head. High pillows should, as a rule, be discouraged, especially in young folks where the assumption of the strained positions which they cause, may encourage various deformities in the anatomy of the head and shoulders so that stoop shoulders or a craned neck result. On the other hand, before attempting to give drugs to elderly people, the arrangement of the mattress so as to put the head a foot, or even more, higher than the body should be tried and will often be found to give relief where other things fail.
Discomfort Due to Cold.—In order to sleep well patients must be thoroughly comfortable in bed. In recent years as the very hygienic practice of having a window in the sleeping apartment open has become a rule among intelligent people, sleeping rooms have been much colder than they used to be. Care must be taken lest the active factor in causing wakefulness should be cold. Over and over again I have found that patients who complain of wakefulness, in the latter part of the night particularly, that is, in the early morning, were awakened by the increasing cold because they were insufficiently clothed. Whenever the sleeping room becomes very cold, then, the patient should not sleep between cotton or linen sheets which are likely to induce sensations of chilliness, but in a light woolen nightgown. It is curious what a difference in the patient's feelings is produced by the touch of wool to the skin in cold weather as compared with cotton. Thin, anemic patients are especially likely to suffer from chilliness. It must not be forgotten, however, that some stout people, in spite of an accumulation of fat, are really anemic. Their red blood corpuscles and hemoglobin are distinctly below normal. These constitute some of that large class of stout women in whom reduction cures fail because of the anemic tendency. They must be as carefully protected from cold as thinner persons, yet they need fresh air for their comfort and health almost as much as tuberculosis patients. The experience of sanatoria in the Adirondacks and at altitudes generally shows that for quiet, undisturbed sleep, if the room becomes distinctly cold during the night because of an open window, a hood or night-cap and gloves, as well as the wearing of woolen underclothing, even to stockings, is almost indispensable. In older times, when houses were not well heated, many persons very sensibly wore night caps. Now that a return to cold fresh air in the sleeping room has come many will have to resume the old night-cap habit in spite of cosmetic objections to it. These may seem little things, but they count very much in relieving disturbed sleep. The curious thing about them is that patients themselves seldom realize that certain common-sense regulations are more important for sleep than formal remedies. They want to be "cured" of their insomnia, not relieved by suggestion.
Cold Feet.—A large number of people have their sleep at the beginning of the night seriously disturbed by cold feet. Some cannot get to sleep for [{657}] an hour or more, because their feet are cold. If the patients become worried over this loss of sleep, a real insomnia may develop. It is for these people that the old-fashioned warming-pan was invented and it should not be forgotten that the symptom can be relieved very promptly by means of a hot-water bag or a hot brick wrapped in flannel at the foot of the bed. An excellent practice for very sensitive persons, is to have the sheets warmed thoroughly for a couple of hours before bedtime. This is especially important in damp weather.