The value of day and night to man is well known. When there is a continuous work to be done it has been proven scientifically that those who work at night cannot accomplish so much as those who work by day. The very same man cannot do the same amount and grade of work in a night that he can do in a day.
The human system is built up by various rhythms like that of day and night. There is a natural call for rest, for recuperation and the surrendering of all our voluntary energies that the spontaneous activities may have their turn.
The Psalmist, after he has gone all over the beauties of the world exclaims, "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening." Here he pauses, for the beauties of the evening seem to awe him for a moment into silence, and then he breaks forth into a universal paean of praise: "O, Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all."
Night is a part of the normal rhythm of nature. Every plant and every bird welcomes night as well as morning.
Serious and abnormal, indeed, is the state of one who cannot sleep. Next to the importance of a right awakening in the morning is the peaceful, restful retirement at night.
Edison boasts of how little sleep he needs, and claims that sometime man will cease to sleep. He says that sleep is only a habit.
As a matter of fact, by working rhythmically through all the hours of the day, by obeying the law of rhythm at all times, a man may possibly need less sleep, but the repose of unconsciousness seems a part of the Creator's economy.
"He giveth His beloved sleep."
By living in obedience to the law of rhythm and especially by taking some rhythmic exercises before lying down, we can sleep better.
Almost innumerable are the suggestions, rules, or recipes on how to go to sleep.