Part 83

We wake up naturally when we have had sufficient rest. We wake up naturally, however, only when the destroyed parts of the body have been replaced. Other things may waken us--a noise of any kind, loud or slight, a startling dream or a moving thing that disturbs our sleep--according to how fully we are asleep. It is said that sometimes only parts of the body are asleep; that we are not always all asleep when we appear to sleep, and that we dream because some part of the body is awake or active. This is probably true. Now then, when all of anyone of us is sleepy, we go into what is called a deep sleep and at such times only something out of the ordinary would awaken us. Gradually, however, various parts of the body become rested and they are said to wake up, and finally when all of us is rested, we naturally wake up all over. If you are healthy and sleep naturally, in a place where you cannot be disturbed by noises or movements of others, you should be “wide awake” when your eyes open and be ready to get up at once. If you feel like turning over for another snooze, when it is time to get up, you did not go to bed as early as you should have done, or else some part of you did not get the required amount of sleep it should have had.

Where Are We When Asleep?

We are just where we lie. It seems to us, of course, because of our dreams when we are asleep that we are away off some place else. Often when we wake up we wonder for a minute or two where we are, as everything seems so strange to us, and it takes a minute or so for us to remember that we are in our own bed, if that is where we went to sleep. This is because of the dreams we have while asleep. In past times the uncivilized savages in various parts of the earth believed that when any of them went to sleep that the real person so asleep actually went away, leaving the body behind; in other words, that the soul went traveling. They thought this because it was the only explanation they could think of for the dreams they had, since almost invariably the dream was about some other place.

Why Does It Seem When We Have Slept All Night That We Have Been Asleep Only a Minute?

This is because all our ideas of passage of time are based on our conscious periods. When we are asleep we are unconscious. It is the same as if time did not pass, and when we wake up the tendency is to start in where we left off. We have learned by experience that when we go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning that much time has passed and this unconscious knowledge keeps us from thinking always that we have been asleep but a minute. But if you drop asleep in the day time, no matter how long you sleep, you wake up thinking that you have been asleep only a minute, and sometimes it is difficult to convince yourself that you have been asleep at all. Sometimes after being asleep for hours, your first waking thought is a continuation of what your mind was on when you went to sleep. The reason for this, as stated above, is that we cannot keep track of passing time when we are asleep, because we are perfectly unconscious.

Why Should We Not Sleep With the Moon Shining On Us?

There is no harm in letting the moon shine on us while we are asleep. This is one of the queer superstitions that has developed in the world. A great many people think that something terrible will happen if the moon is allowed to shine into the room where they are asleep. Not so many believe this as used to do so, thanks to the more enlightened condition of things in the world.

To prove to yourself that no harm can come to you through the moon shining into your bedroom or upon you as you are asleep, you have only to remember that a great many men and very many more animals sleep out under the sky every night and that the moon must shine on them while they are asleep. As a matter of fact, people who sleep out under the open sky are generally in possession of more rugged health than people who sleep in beds in closed rooms. So it is rather better to let the moon shine on you while asleep than not.

This belief probably started with some one who had trouble in going to sleep with the moon shining on him, because the light of the moon might have a tendency to keep him awake. It is easier to go to sleep in a dark room than in one that is lighted, because when there is no light there is less about you to keep you awake.

What Makes Us Dream?

Dreams originate in the brain. The brain has many parts and some parts of it may be asleep while others are not. If all parts of the brain are actually asleep, it is said there can be no dreams. We have dreams about things which seem very natural while we are having them, and which we know would be impossible if we were wholly awake, because those parts of the brain which control the other parts are probably asleep while the dream is taking place, and it is then that we have those fantastic and highly imaginative dreams, for the brain is not under control in every sense.

We used to believe that dreams have no purpose, just as now we know that they have no meaning. But it has been discovered that dreams have a purpose in that they protect our sleep. You see, every dream is started by some disturbance or excitement of the body or mind. Something may be pressing or touching us while we sleep, or a strange sound may start a dream, or perhaps it is some uncomfortable position in which we are lying or trouble in the stomach on account of eating something we should not. Whatever it may be, those things wake up some part of the brain, because if all parts of the brain were asleep, we could not feel or hear anything. Any such disturbance or excitement would naturally excite the whole brain and wake us up completely if it were not for dreams. The dream takes care of this and enables the rest of the body and brain to sleep while one or more parts of the brain are disturbed and even perhaps awake. We may perhaps have become uncovered in some way. This would produce a cold feeling and might wake a part of the brain and cause a dream about skating or some other winter amusement or experience, or even perhaps one about falling through the ice, and still we might not be uncovered so much that it would make any great difference. The dream comes and we go on with our sleep without waking up, whereas if it were not for the dream we would awaken. In other words, dreams are just another wise provision of nature which enables us to go right on and get the rest we need, even if our digestion is out of order, or some part of our brain is disturbed through something we read about, or were told of, or we thought of while still awake.

Why Do We Know We Have Dreamed When We Wake Up?

Because we remember some of our dreams. Sometimes we do not remember the dreams we dreamed. This is just like what happens when we are awake. We remember some things and forget others.

Dreams are a sort of safety valve in our sleep. We dream because not all of our brain is asleep at the time and it is a wise provision of nature that permits the waking part of the brain to go on working without disturbing the sleep of the other parts of the brain. If a large part of the brain is awake and engaged in making the dream, we are very apt to remember the dream; but when we dream and cannot remember what the dream was, it is because only a very small portion of the brain was awake and making a dream.

What Causes Nightmare?

A nightmare is a dream of what we might call a vigorous kind. A nightmare is caused by a feeling of intense fear, horror, anxiety or the inability to escape from some great danger. A nightmare is the result of either an irregular flow of blood to the brain or by a stomach that is not in proper condition.

The name for this kind of a dream comes from the words night and mare. The latter word in one of its several meanings indicates an incubus or evil vision, and a dream of an evil vision involving fear or horror came to be termed a mare. Since they occurred generally at night, since most people sleep at night, they became known as nightmares. Nightmares are more common to children than grown-up people because children are more apt to have an uneven flow of blood to the brain and also are more apt to eat the things which put the stomach in a state of unrest which causes nightmares. Grown-up people are more likely to have learned to avoid the abuses of the stomach which are apt to produce nightmares.

What Are Ghosts?

The idea of ghosts is the result of a mistake of the brain or an attempt to account for something of which we see the results, but have no actual knowledge. There are no ghosts. There are many forces at work in the world of which we know nothing as yet. Many of the wonderful things that occur in the world are as yet mysteries to the mind of man. Every little while man discovers one of these new forces, and then he is able to understand many things plainly which were up to then surrounded with mystery and in the minds of superstitious people attributed to spirits or ghosts. Long before we understood as much as we do now of the workings of electricity (and they say we know only a little of its wonders as yet) many of the natural wonders produced by electricity were attributed to ghosts.

Most of the marvelous tales of the wonders performed by and visits from ghosts are the result of disturbances of the brain in the people who think they see the ghosts and the results of their work.

A creature without imagination does not pretend to see or believe in ghosts. Man is the only animal which possesses the ability to imagine things and so the ghosts we hear about are the creatures of the disturbed brains of men. Generally in the ghost stories we hear of, the ghost is described as wearing clothes--usually white. A bed sheet thrown over the foot of the bed may appear to a half-awake person as the outline of the figure of a ghost and to one of a highly imaginative temperament without the courage of investigation, become forever a real ghost. Usually what is supposed to be a ghost is only a creation of the mind--a vision such as we can develop during a dream--oftentimes, however, what you look at when you think you see a ghost is an actual something such as the sheet referred to, but which takes the form of the ghost in the brain of the person who is looking at it through eyes that really see it, but out of a brain that for the moment at least is far off its balance.

Why Do Girls Like Dolls?

Girls like dolls because they come into the world for the purpose of becoming mothers and the love which they display for dolls is the mother instinct which begins to show itself early in life. To the little girl the doll is a make-believe child. It satisfies her as long as there are no real babies to take its place, but any little girl will drop her dollie if she is given an opportunity to play at dolls with a real live baby instead. This is a very interesting fact in connection with the human race. Boys sometimes play with dolls, but not so often, and any kind of a boy will give up playing with a doll as soon as a toy engine or some other boy’s toy appears for him. A boy has certain mannish instincts which a girl has not. We have many other instincts besides the instinct of parenthood and each of them has its origin in some certain kind of feeling which is born within us and is capable of development along interesting lines.

What Makes the Works of a Watch Go?

A watch like any other machine which we have, only goes when power is applied in some form or another. In the case of a watch it is a spring. A spring is an elastic body, such as a strip of steel, as in the case of the watch, coiled spirally which, when bent or forced out of its natural state, has the power of recovering its shape again by virtue of its elastic power. The natural state of a watch spring is to be open flat and spread out to its full length. When you wind a watch you coil this spring, i.e., you bend it out of its natural shape. As soon as you stop winding the spring begins to uncoil itself, trying to get back to its natural shape, and in doing so makes the wheels of the watch which operate the hands go round. The spring then, or rather its elasticity, which always makes an effort to get back to its natural state, is the power which makes the watch go. Men who make watches arrange the spring and the other machinery in the watch in such a way that it will uncoil itself only at a certain rate of speed. Sooner or later the spring loses its elasticity and then its power to make the watch go.

What Makes a Hot Box?

When you put oil on the axle, however, the oil fills up the hollows between the little irregular bumps on both the axle and the hub, and makes them both smooth--almost perfectly so. This reduces the friction and keeps the axle and hub from becoming hot and expanding. The less friction that is developed, the more easily the wheel will turn.