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Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection — Chapter-90: To Use Sleep
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- Note: Work: New Science of Living and Healing, section 3 of 9.
TO USE SLEEP. Table of Contents HAVING SETTLED that the brain is charged with vital power during sleep, the next important thing is to study the process, and see if we may arrive at any conclusion as to the laws which govern it. In observing the phenomena of sleep, the most noticeable thing is the change in the manner of breathing. The sleeping person breathes deeply, strongly and with a more rhythmic movement than the waking one; a much larger quantity of air is taken into the system in a given time during sleep than when awake. Very few persons breathe audibly when awake, while frequently the deep, strong breath-ing of a sleeping person can be heard throughout a house of ordinary size. Since deep and rhythmic breathing is universal during sleep, I conclude that it is an essential part of the process of charging the brain with vital power, and that a large quantity of air is necessary to the operation. I notice an apparent connection between air and vital power, as shown by other phenomena. When I am about to undertake a heavy lift, or to perform some feat of strength, I instinctively fill my lungs with air, as if by so doing I could add to my muscular power; and if I exercise violently nature compels me to breathe with great force and rapidity, evidently needing an increased quantity of air because of the strenuous exertion. There appears, I say, to be a direct connection between air and energy. But I find that deep breathing is not all; I cannot renew the energy of the brain by deep breathing without sleep; I must go into the silence and become unconscious. And I do not know what it is in the air that is essential to life. It is not oxygen alone, for if you put me in an atmosphere of undiluted oxygen I will die. I must have air. It is essential, too, that the air be pure. When I sleep in a room with no ventilation I rise in the morning unrefreshed; the battery has been very imperfectly charged. It is therefore necessary to have air which is in motion;
since motion is essential to the purity of air. It will not answer the purpose to set a spool of thread under the window and put the bed's head back in the corner, out of the “draft.” The draft is just what I want to get into. The object of ventilation is to produce motion in the air, so that we can breathe air which moves. It is not enough to raise the sash well up, if that is the only opening, for the air in the center of the room, or in the corner where the bed's head stands may be absolutely motionless and stagnant and remain so throughout the night. There is not the slightest reason for the universal fear of drafts; a draft is air in motion, and motion does not impart any evil quality to air; on the contrary, moving air is far more likely to be pure than that which is stagnant The chemical processes by which air purifies itself depends on motion. There is no reason to suppose that cold air is dangerous; that is, if it is not so cold as to actually freeze one. The night air is not less salubrious than day air. Night air is air with the light out of it, and taking the light out of air does not make it noxious. There is no evidence to support the idea that damp air is harmful ; damp air is air with a little water in it, and water is not a poison. If you lack vitality of power and wish to proceed scientifically in charging your brain with it, you must first disabuse your mind of the notion that pure air, in any place or under any condition or in any quantity is harmful; and you must come to understand the fact that the first great necessity of life is a plentiful supply of absolutely pure air during sleep. So, attend first to the ventilation of your sleeping room. If there is only one room in the house that can be ventilated sleep in that room no matter how inconvenient it may be otherwise. Begin by providing for a current of air across the room. Open a door or window on each side; wide open. Do not be afraid of burglars; better be carried off by a burglar than by the undertaker. When you have arranged for a current of air through the room, pull your bed out so that your head will be right in the middle of the stream. If you are not quite free from the old fear of moving air, you had better do this gradually, bringing the bed out a foot or two at a time; otherwise you may scare yourself to death with your fears of the dreadful “draft!” Now understand that no matter what your disease may be, there is only one power which can cure you. You may have consumption, typhoid fever, appendicitis, cancer, liver complaint, a broken leg or a sore toe; but the only
power which can make you whole is your own vital energy. The life that is in you is all the life there is; and you must accumulate enough of it to overcome the diseased or morbid condition. And you get it in sleep, and fresh, pure, moving air is absolutely necessary to the process. Do not close the window because it is damp; breathe the pure air, water and all. Do not close the window because it is cold; pile on bed clothes or make a fire. Do not “air” your bedroom during the day and close it at night; better reverse the process. Sleep the year round with your head in a running stream of pure air, fresh from out-of-doors. There are certain other things which are pretty well established. In a vast majority of cases eight hours is about the right length of time to pass in sleep every day. More than eight hours is too much It is generally better to sleep six hours than ten. Don't ask me why, because I do not know. And a condition of absolute physical and mental relaxation and passivity is demanded for the best results. It is a mistake to eat before going to bed. The digestion of food is work, and if you wish to gain strength you should not work while you are sleeping. I know, if you are mentally excited or disturbed you can often become unconscious more speedily after eating; that is because the stomach is robbing the brain of power, but unconsciousness while the brain works is not genuine sleep, and the charging process is very imperfect under such conditions; and you will lack power the next day. And you cannot make up the loss by eating more; the more you eat the weaker you will be. What you lose in sleep cannot be recovered at the table. There are better ways of curing insomnia than by overworking the stomach. Never mind what anybody tells you about the necessity for stuffing; go to bed with your stomach empty. The digestion of food is work, and you cannot have a natural, effective sleep while you are at work. So far, you will please notice, I have written on physical energy or work power; not of will power. Will power, or spiritual control is also acquired in the silence, but with this difference—we do not become unconscious. We will talk about that in a subsequent chapter, but I want to call attention here to the fact that certain thought conditions are essential to perfect sleep. A brain whose power is being drawn upon for thought cannot sleep. You cannot sleep and dream at the same time; the more you dream the less perfect is the renewal of your vital power. I do not wish you “pleasant dreams” or any other kind; I hope you may sleep. Absolute quietude of mind; the cessation of all physical and mental activity, the
relaxation which comes only with perfect trust in God, is a necessary condition for “restful” sleep; but while this is true, there is an element of positive thought which may enter in, possibly with advantage. It is a demonstrable fact, as I will show you later, that the brain power may be directed to or withheld from any part of the body by thought; and there is pretty good evidence that the character of the last thought on going to sleep may influence the course of the brain current during the night. Those who indulge in lascivious waking dreams are apt to have lascivious sleeping dreams; and to become unduly stimulated in the sexual system by an abnormal turning of power in that direction. I am quite sure that it is possible to turn the vital energy toward any weak or defective organ, on going to sleep; but I am not so confident as to the wisdom of this, for it seems to me that sleep is for the gathering of force, and not for its expenditure in healing, or any other activities. I would be careful about setting the mind at work to heal myself or others during sleep; the best time to think your healing thoughts is when you are awake. Suppose, when you lie down tonight you try a formula like the following: “I have opened my windows, and the pure air, filled with vital power, comes streaming in; the One Great Life is seeking to find me, and to fill me with Itself. I relax, and open my soul as I have opened my windows; I shall be filled with Life while I sleep; and it will give me power to overcome every ill, and all weakness. Flow in, oh, Life, and give me strength; and I will use it, by the guidance of Thy love, to do Thy will. Amen.”
The first wealth is health. —EMERSON Oh, thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to the God* for a kingdom wherein to rule and create, know this of a truth, the thing thou seekest is already with thee, here or nowhere, couldst thou only see! —THOMAS CARLYLE