Historical Sleep Tips Ancient Egyptian • You sleep best with your head to the north and your feet to the south. Ancient Greek insomnia cure – sleep with some dill above you head Ancient Roman • An owl’s heart placed on the left breast of a sleeping woman will cause her to divulge secret. • Eat well, drink in moderation, and sleep sound, in these three good health abound. Anglo-Saxon • Blood-letting enriches sleep. • For sleep lay a wolf’s head under the pillow. The unhealthy will sleep. • For sleep, a goats horn laid under the head turns waking into sleep. • Rub the body with poppy oil and smear on whole body • Smear the forehead with the juice of mandrake. • Take wormwood and rub it into wine or warm water and let the man drink it and soon it will be better with him. • If a man cannot sleep, take the seed of henbane and the juice of garden mint, mix together, and smear the with it. • Blue Iris taken in light beer induces sleep 10th Century insomnia cure “for sleeplessness, take ooze, (a syrup of poppies) smear the man with it” Medieval • A fragrant violet footbath promotes quiet sleep in the insomniac ill. • A sprig of rosemary placed under the pillow will dispel nightmares. • Close all windows and a fire should be kept burning to drive away the pestilence and sleeper’s foul breath. • Eat nettles mixed with the white of an egg. • Eat the heaviest of an owl’s eyes. • Eat treacle, which is also good for snake bites, loss of speech and spotty skin. • Fill a small pillow with ground peppermint, ground cloves and rose petals. • Hang thyme over bed to protect from nightmares. • If you are unable to sleep well at night, nap during the day standing up, leaning against a wall or cupboard. • Pillows are unmanly and should be reserved for the old, young girls and pregnant women. • Place bay leaves under a pillow and you will have pleasant dreams. • Place catnip around sleeping place for protection • Recite the Athanasian Creed or the Seven Penitential Psalms seven times • Retire for the night lulled to sleep by music. • Scatter the leaves of an anise plant around your bedroom to protect against evil influences while you sleep. • Sleep in dry rooms to which snails, spiders, rats and mice have no access. • Sleep propped up to prevent devils entering your open mouth and stealing away your soul. • Sleep with your mouth somewhat open. • The best position to sleep is the right side first the on the left side and lastly the right side again • The scent of wormwood makes the sick sleep. • Drink a potion made from the gall of a castrated boar • The elder tree is the abode of witches and thus it is dangerous to sleep under its branches. 15th Century advice for mothers ‘She must also rest and sleep a good deal so that the child may thrive on the milk’. 16th Century • Hee that sleepeth with his mouth close, hath commonly an ill breath, and foule teeth. • Rub dormouse fat onto the soles of your feet. 17th Century • It is “unwholesome to sleepe under the ivie, or in a ivie-bush”. • Who goes to bed supperless all night tumbles and tosses. • Scottish insomnia cure - a mat of heather applied to the temples as a poultice. • Scottish insomnia cure - some crowberries boiled in water and applied to the crown and temples. • A full belly is fit for nothing else but sleep or lust. • He that is over-desirous to sleep, and afraid lest he shall not sleep, is sure to wake. • Labour hard in your callings that your sleep may be sweet while you are in it Victorian • ‘"Insomnophobia," or fear of insomnia, is in truth one of the most frequent causes of chronic sleeplessness. • A little dancing in the evening is an excellent mode of making the body warm before going to bed. • A person suffering from insomnia should safeguard himself from all external stimuli which annoy and irritate him. • Active rocking sends a child to sleep by causing giddiness. • All the virtues favour sleep and all the vices discourage it • An uncomfortable bed will induce insomnia in the healthiest, serenest person. • Artificial heat is not needed in the sleeping rooms of well people. • As a general rule, the more a child sleeps the more it wants to sleep. • At whatever period we go to sleep, one thing is certain, we can never with impunity convert day into night • Avoid direct draughts, no matter how hot the weather. • Bedrooms occupied by two persons should be large and well ventilated. • Before going to bed a glass of hot milk, malted milk, beef tea, or simply hot water may prove sufficient. • Care is needed not to arouse a child suddenly from its slumbers. • Chafe the body and extremities with a brush or towel. You will fall asleep in a few moments • Children who are restless at night are delightfully soothed by a warm bath every night and morning • Discard all under clothes worn during the day • Do not, on any account, sleep a moment in daytime. • Doors should not be locked, except in cases of extreme danger • Eat spring onions at night or cut an onion in two and wear it around the neck at night. • Elevation of the upper or lower extremities above the level of the trunk is not advisable • Few children under 10 years of age can be kept out of their beds after 7 o'clock without injury to their health • Go to bed with feet thoroughly dry and warm. • Good deep breathing means a profound healthy sleep. This requires plenty of air • Half the physical refreshment of sleep depends on the laying aside the weight and constriction of ordinary dress • Have as little furniture or hangings as possible in the sleeping room • Heat is not needed while sleeping. If any is used, a grate fire is the best ; it helps to make ventilation • Heat the bare feet before a fire for at least 15 minutes before bedtime. • If very restless, place a handkerchief, wet in ice-cold water, at the base of the brain • If you cannot sleep, rest, the mind most of all • In general, the person afflicted by insomnia should lead a quiet life, free from excesses of any kind • Insomniacs whose sleep disturbance can be traced to mental causes find great relief in massage • It is best to sleep in a linen or cotton night dress, which should be loose at the wrist and neck • It is more wholesome to sleep single than double, for there is then less destruction of oxygen • It is only the sleepless, the poets, and the medical journals who put the proper value upon sleep • Late hours are in every respect hurtful, whether they be employed in study or amusement • Lemon juice corrects the liver, improves the digestion, and thereby induces sleep • Let them (infants) understand that, after food and exercise, it is time to go to bed • Lettuce, onions, and apples are compatible to and often productive of sleep • Lie low; expand the chest. Use one pillow only. Children need no pillow • Lying upon the back is improper, in consequence of its tendency to produce night-mare • Many insomniacs find relief by drinking a pint of hot water before each meal and at bedtime • Many nervous individuals go to sleep easily while their hair is being smoothed • Metal bedsteads are better than wood • My first precept to the sleepless, therefore, is, see that your liver is in order • Never to thwart the drowsy impulse • No healthy man in the summer, should lie longer in bed than six o'clock • No light should burn in a bedroom, and all outside light should be excluded • No person who passes only eight hours in bed, can be said to waste his time in sleep • None sleep quite so soundly as those who have earned it by the sweat of their brow. • Nothing is more injurious than a close and stifling bedroom without a current of air • One fact is certain, that we can never with impunity convert day into night • One very frequent cause of sleeplessness is too great an abundance of bed clothing • Only human clods sleep undisturbed, through every sort of storm and stress. • Personal hygiene requires a tepid bath before retiring, and a good cold bath or plunge upon arising • Probably nothing that the insomniac can do will bring such gratifying returns as appropriate exercise • rub the nape of the neck with vinegar just before going to bed. • Separate beds, one for each person, are requisite. Double beds are an abomination • Shop talk out of shop hours is not conducive toward making you popular, let alone sleep • Sitting before an open fire, and contemplating the dull embers as they glow often wraps one in slumberland • Sleep will often be induced by gently scratching or rubbing the top of the child's head • Sleeping after dinner is pernicious • Sun and air mattress, sheets and bed clothing daily • take at least once a day the juice of a lemon in a tumbler of water. • That real sleep-aid, the mattress, should be pure, non-heating, and not animal fibre • That time saved from necessary sleep is infallibly destructive to mind, body, and estate • The best preparation for sleep is sixteen hours of varied mental and bodily occupation • The bosom of the mother is the natural pillow for her offspring • The child should be put to sleep by the mother with some affectionate remarks • The cure of almost any disease is favoured by sleep • The deep, undisturbed sleep of perfect health needs plenty of oxygen, good, pure, fresh air • The man who loses sleep will make a failure of his life, or at least diminish greatly his chances of success • The mind has more to do with the prevention of sleep than the body • The more active and energetic the waking life of the normal individual has been, the deeper will be his sleep • The natural time for slumber, in very early life, is immediately after taking food • the person who eats nothing for two or three hours before going to rest, will sleep better then he who does • The person who eats nothing for two or three hours before going to rest will sleep better then he who does. • The pillow, as well as the bed, should be pretty hard • The practice of sleeping in the open air, cannot be too strongly reprobated • The practice of terrifying young people to sleep by threats is absurd and injudicious. • The strength given to the mind by slumber, is not less remarkable than that which it inspires in the body • The strength given to the mind by slumber, is not less remarkable than that which it inspires in the body. • The temperature of the bed-room ought to be about 50°F which is rather cool, and most conducive to sleep. • The time ‘saved’ from necessary sleep, is infallibly destructive to the mind, body and estate. • The want of sufficient sleep is a frequent cause of insanity • The woman who loses sleep will make a failure of her children • There are few things that contribute to sleep as does fresh, pure air • Those kinds of nutriment which are most easily digested are those to be recommended for the evening meal • Those who indulge most in sleep, generally require the least of it • Those who think most, who do most brain work, require more sleep • To obtain good sleep, the mind should be in a sober, quiet frame for several hours before bedtime. • To say the night is cold is never a reason for shutting out all ventilation through the windows. • To secure fresh air ; open windows, both top and bottom winter and summer • Too little and too much sleep are equally injurious. • Too much sleep produces lassitude and corpulency, and utterly debases and stupifies the mind • Too much sleep produces lassitude and debases and stupefies the mind • Walk up and down a large room, or passage, for half an hour, or more, before going to bed. • Where two are obliged to sleep in one room, two beds are an absolute necessity • Woman possesses more nervous excitability than man, and requires more sleep than man • Women who love their husbands generally lie upon the right side • Wood floors with small rugs are much preferable to carpets’ in the bedroom. Early 20th Century • A long, brisk walk in the open air – long enough to fatigue a little • As a rule people who work hard are not troubled with either indigestion or insomnia • Celery, lettuce or asparagus are good for sufferers of insomnia.