As there can be no good Digestion without diligent Mastication,—so there can be no sound Sleep, without sufficient Exercise.
The most inoffensive and agreeable Anodyne is to drink some good White Wine, or Mulled Wine, by way of a supplement to your Night cap.—One glass, taken when in Bed, immediately before lying down, is as effective as two or three if you sit up any time after.—(See Tewahdiddle, No. 467.)
Many people, if awoke during their first sleep, are unsettled all that night—and uncomfortable and nervous the following day.—The first sleep of those who eat Suppers, commonly terminates when the food passes from the Stomach.—Invalids then awake, and sometimes remain so, in a Feverish state,—the Stomach feeling discontented from being unoccupied, and having nothing to play with:—a small crust of Bread, or a bit of Biscuit well chewed, accompanied or not, as Experience and Instinct will suggest, with a few mouthsful of Mutton or Beef Broth (No. 564), or Toast and Water (No. 463*), or single Grog[35], (i. e. one Brandy to nine Waters), will often restore its tranquillity, and catch Sleep again, which nothing invites so irresistibly, as introducing something to the Stomach,—that will entertain it, without fatiguing it.
We have heard persons say they have been much distressed by an intemperate craving for Food when they awoke out of their first sleep, and have not got to sleep soundly again after—and risen in the morning as tired as when they went to bed at night—but without any appetite for Breakfast—such will derive great benefit from the foregoing Advice.
A Broth (No. 564), or Gruel (No. 572) Supper, is perhaps the best for the Dyspeptic,—and those who have eaten and drank plentifully at Dinner.
The Bed Room should be in the quietest situation possible, as it were “the Temple of Silence,”—and, if possible, not less than 16 feet square—the height of this Apartment, in which we pass almost half of our Time, is in modern houses absurdly abridged, to increase that of the Drawing Room, which is often not occupied once in a month:—instead of living in the pleasant part of the House, where they might enjoy Light and Air, how often we find people squeezing themselves into “a nice snug Parlour,” where Apollo cannot spy.
We do not recommend either Curtains or Tester, &c. to the Bed, especially during the Summer;—by the help of these, those who might have the benefit of the free circulation of air in a large Room, very ingeniously contrive to reduce it to a small Closet:—Chimney-Boards and Window-Curtains are also inadmissible in a Bed Room; but Valetudinarians who are easily awoke, or very susceptible of Cold, will do wisely to avail themselves of well made Double[36] Windows and Doors, these exclude both Noise and Cold in a very considerable degree.
The best Bed is a well stuffed and well curled Horsehair Mattress, six inches thick at the Head, gradually diminishing to three at Feet, on this another Mattress five or six inches in thickness: these should be unpicked and exposed to the air, once every Year. An elastic Horsehair mattress, is incomparably the most pleasant, as well as the most wholesome Bed.
Bed Rooms should be thoroughly ventilated by leaving both the Window and the Door open every day when the weather is not cold or damp—during which the Bed should remain unmade, and the Clothes be taken off and spread out for an hour, at least, before the Bed is made again.
In very Hot Weather, the temperature becomes considerably cooler every minute after ten o’clock—between eight o’clock and twelve, the Thermometer often falls in Sultry weather—from ten to twenty degrees—and those who can sit up till twelve o’clock, will have the advantage of sleeping in an Atmosphere many degrees cooler, than those who go to bed at ten:—this is extremely important to Nervous Invalids—who however extremely they may suffer from heat, we cannot advise to sleep with the smallest part of the window open during the night—in such sultry days, the Siesta (see [page 94],) will not only be a great support against the heat, but will help You to sit up to enjoy the advantage above stated.