On Sleep

Sleep is a biological requirement rather than a recommendation to be negotiated afresh each evening. Five hours and obstinacy may carry a man through a day, though they seldom improve his judgement or company.

The Edwardian bedroom was generally dark, quiet, and used for sleep, although this owed as much to the absence of electrical diversions as to superior discipline. A bed, a pillow, and silence remain a sound arrangement despite the inventions now competing with them.

The telephone complicates matters by placing an endless supply of merely present material six inches from the face until midnight. After ninety minutes of light, novelty, and agitation, sleep cannot be expected to arrive at the instant the device is set down.

Late hours are sometimes required by work or care, but are more often the result of poor planning, an inability to stop watching something, or a vague reluctance to bring the day to an end. Calling this industry does not improve the sleep which follows.

Retire at approximately the same hour, darken the room with proper curtains, keep it cool, and put the telephone in another room or at least beyond reach of the bed. Regularity helps the body anticipate sleep, while the slight effort required to retrieve a distant telephone is often enough to preserve it.

Eat your large meal earlier. Caffeine may disturb sleep for many hours, so move the final coffee earlier when sleep proves difficult. Vigorous exercise near bedtime unsettles some people and leaves others unaffected; adjust the hour by observation rather than doctrine.

Most adults require at least seven hours, and many do best with seven to nine. A man who gets them regularly tends to think more clearly and is less trying to those around him, who may otherwise confine themselves to the charitable observation that he looks tired.

Persistent insomnia, severe snoring, pauses in breathing during sleep, or daytime sleepiness which interferes with ordinary life should be discussed with a physician.

Further guidance

• Healthy sleep habits, US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute