Other Hygienic Points.  Tobacco is undesirable for neuropaths, save in moderation.

Clothes should be light, loose, and warm.  Epileptics should wear low, stiff collars, half a size too large, with clip ties.  Such a combination does not form a tight band round the neck, and can quickly be removed if necessary.  Wear thick, woollen socks, and square-toed, low-heeled, double-soled boots.  Hats should be large, light, and of soft material.  Woollen underwear is best.  Change as often as possible, and aim at health, not appearance.

Let all rooms be well lighted, well ventilated, moderately heated, and sparsely furnished with necessities.  Shun draperies, have no window boxes, cut climbing plants ruthlessly away from the windows, and never obstruct chimneys.

Buy Muller’s “My System”, which gives a course of physical exercises without apparatus, which only take fifteen minutes a day.  The patient must conscientiously perform the exercises each morning, not for a week, nor for a month, but for an indefinite period, or throughout life.

Finally, remember that so few die a natural death from senile decay because so few live a natural life.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI

SLEEPLESSNESS

“O magic sleep!  O comfortable bird
That broodest o’er the troubled sea of the mind
Till it is hushed and smooth.” 

          
                      —­Keats.

Some men need only a few hours’ sleep, but no one ever overslept himself in natural slumber.  There are anecdotes of great men taking little sleep, but their power usually consisted in going without sleep for some days when necessary, and making up for it in one long, deep sleep.  Neuropaths require from 10-13 hours to prepare the brain for the stress of the next day, but quality is more important than quantity.

Patients go to bed tired, but cannot sleep; fall asleep, and wake every other hour the night through; sleep till the small hours, and then wake, to get no more rest that night; only fall asleep when they should be rising; or have their slumber disturbed by nightmare, terrifying dreams, heart palpitation, and so on.

Noise often prevents sleep.  A clock that chimes the quarters, or a watch that in the silence ticks with sledge-hammer beats, has invoked many a malediction.  Traffic and other intermittent noises are very trying, as the victim waits for them to recur.  Townsmen who seek rural quiet have got so used to town clatter, that barking dogs, rippling streams, lowing cows, rustling leaves, singing birds or chirruping insects keep them awake.  Too much light, eating a heavy supper, all tend to banish repose, as do also violent emotions which produce toxins, torturing the brain and causing gruesome nightmares.

Grief and worry—­especially business and domestic cares—­constipation, indigestion, bad ventilation, stimulants, excitement and a hearty supper are a few of the many causes of insomnia.