We all know the blessing of sleep .in days of good health we take it for granted and are hardly aware of its healthy effects on our whole being .Its full value is appreciated only when sleep does not come any longer of its own accord and when its lack is full of unpleasant symptoms which eventually throw us on the sick bed .poets, philosophers have from time immemorial emphasized the importance of sound sleep ,most aptly probably” Kent “with his dictum ;with out hope and with out sleep .man would have been the most miserable creature in this world ,science has tried to fathom the inner distinctive nature of sleep .it has propounded cleverly through out artificial theories with out getting us nearer to the solution of the enigma .the chapter of physiology and psychology dealing with sleep show a noticeably small compass .one has to be satisfied with the explanation that sleep is but a state in human life indispensable because it is necessary for replacing the spent forces of spirit and body .In what light does homoeopathy consider sleep and how can it exert an influence upon it .before dealing with these questions however I should first like to look upon the problem of sleep from a view point which in our day is very topical.it goes to show that sleep is entirely the result of bodily and mental harmony in a person and is dependent on external conditions there may be a person whose sensitiveness is so acute that the feeble nerves will require a continued application of drugs in order to get some sleep in the midst of the most terrific Napoleon may be cited as an example of sound sleepers ;his ability to get sleep in any environment is well known and was doubtlessly of great assistance to him ,similarly Mahathma Gandhi used to go to sleep in the midset of a meeting in the sitting posture for a fixed time usually it is not an independent malady but only a part of symptomology ,consequently homoeopathy are tuned to the world and try to induce sleep by improving the whole status of health. Insomnia is very often the outcome of habits which excite and strain the nervous system such sleep preventing habits are for instance bodily and mental over exertion indulgence in tea ,coffee
tobacco, and continued abuse of alcohol ,another type of insomnia might be called intentional ,people lose one third of the life time through sleep some people try to recover part of this lose by working in the stillness of night .driving away their natural drowsiness with tobacco ,tea coffee ,or employing even the very dangerous expendient of keeping their bare feet in cold water .generally however ,sleeplessness is mostly un intentional .it springs from sorrow ,excitement and worries ,our job ,our future our family ,may be the deeper cause .Remorse and self approach for wrong committed or grief over a wrong suffered .also fall in this category very often too such seediness is not really the result of an underserved insomnia .but is the logical consequence of having resorted to soporifics .fearing ones inability to fall asleep and terrified at the idea of a sleepless night in the company of worrying thoughts ,one is so easily persuaded to swallow a tablet .the awaking next morning brings repentance and the firm resolution never again to touch soporifics but the next night fall proves the habit farming properties of these drugs ;no sleep will come with out another tablet ,such unhappy creatures may well cry out Medical art is as old as human race itself .the history of civilization in recognition of the finest art of all ,medicine has handed down adages which bear witness to the medical wisdom of our fore fathers .the ancient hindus who as everybody knows pain considerable attention to their health coined saying ‘he is the best doctor who knows best the art to empty the bowels “this truth is valid today .modern life ,through decreased elimination of waste matter leads to a general clogging in the organism and there by creates a predisposition for those wide spread nervous metabolic diseases and above all for the much feared cancer .the homoeopath can build up his picture of the symptoms which is essential for the proper choice of remedies but which requires great knowledge and practice .before making a final choice however the physician must differentiate between certain causes leading to insomnia and must bring them into relation to his patient homoeopathy pays attention to many important facts in relation to insomnia some of them being as under ;
1.Insomnia due to nervous depression
2.insomnia caused by a deficiency of certain biochemical salts essential to the nervous system .
3.Insomnia combined with sleep walking .
4.Insomnia caused through voluntary lack of sleep (eg, in nurses)
5.Insomnia through poisoning (alcohol,morphine ,cocaine,nicotine ,caffeine)
6.Insomnia affected by certain hours e,g,the patient regularly awakes at 1 A.M and again falls asleep at 3 A.M.
7.Insomnia caused by weakness of the blod circulation
8.Insomnia in spite of drowsiness and urge to sleep
9.The so called passing insomnia the”cause of which is very difficult to fix
10.Insomnia caused by defective functioning of certain organs ,as for instance the supra renal glands or the pituitary glands in the brain .
11.Insomnia of children .
Has the patient been placed into one of these categories or in other words has a thorough diagnosis of the sleeplessness been made ,a suitable remedy must be found with the aid of the symptoms to each of these medical images corresponds .has the patient been placed into one of these categories or in other words has a thorough diagnosis of the sleeplessness been made a suitable remedy must be found with the aid of symptoms to each of these medical images corresponds to a specified medicament ,be it of a chemical or botanical nature .the art of choosing the correct remedy consists in harmonizing the image of the symptoms as they appear in the complaint .the ideal homoeopathic treatment is accomplished when the image of the symptoms stands in the same relation to the image of the disease as the reflection in a mirror does to its concrete counterpart .if this is obtained one may consider it a simultaneous action of two remedies with a complimentary reflection such remedies are there fore administered complimentary.
