regarding insomnia and sleepwalking
Thomas Elyot's The Castel of Helthe and Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy are some excellent primary sources to consider when looking for information pertaining to medical concerns that involved sleep. While Burton and Elyot were not actively medical practitioners themselves, both men studied medicine intensely for the sake of their own professions.
Both Elyot and Burton advocated that the body was subject to "humors."The four humors are as follows: blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy. In Elyot's own words: "In the body of man be four humours, which consisting in the proportion [ . . . ] the body is free from all sickness" (5). However, if there was an imbalance or increase in any of these, the person would become very ill and suffer all manner of physical, mental, and psychological sickness.
Additionally, Elyot goes on to include the research of Claudius Galen(us), a prominent Greek physician, in his writing. His six non-natural things that could harm the body were also a basic point of discussion among physicians and scholars during the Renaissance. " [ . . . ] by the temperance of them, the body being in health, is therein persuaded. By the distemperance of them, sickness is induced, and health is dissolved" (11). These six factors are air, meat and drink, sleep and watching, labor and rest, emptiness and fullness, and passions of the mind.
Burton focused more on the disorders of the mind, particularly melancholy (as his book suggests). Some issues he addresses are related to too much or too littler sleep. With regards to insomnia, Burton warned: "a hot and dry brain never sleeps well: grief, fears, cares, expectations, anxieties, great businesses, and all violent perturbations of the mind must be in some sort qualified [ . . . ] He that sleeps in the day time, or is in suspense, fear, any way troubled in mind [ . . . ] may never hope for quiet rest in the night" (465).
While insomnia was a major health concern during the Renaissance, so was sleepwalking. Many physicians during this period did not have a clear definition for those afflicted with sleepwalking. Often times, patients were diagnosed as having some other type of disorder or were considered driven mad by nightmares. However, the invention of modern medical equipment like the Electroencephalogram (EEG) has revealed to scientists that most instances of sleepwalking do not take place during REM sleep--or dream sleep. Interestingly enough, it takes place during a stage called "slow wave" sleep, when the mind has yet to engage in dreaming. But back in the Renaissance, this information would have been unavailable, so other explanations were necessary. Authors of "Sleepwalking Through History: Medicine, Arts, and Courts of Law" claim that most instances of sleepwalking between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries were associated with some form of witchcraft or demonic possession. To quote William Hammond, "In those times when the marvelous exercised so powerful an influence over mankind, and when all phenomena out of the ordinary course of everyday life were regarded as supernatural, it was the prevailing belief that the somnambulist [sleepwalker] was possessed" (Umanath, 254).
FUN FACT: Did you know that King James I also suffered from chronic insomnia?
FUN FACT: In 1964 Randy Gardner of California made the world record for the longest time gone without sleep. He stayed awake for 264 hours. That's a total of eleven days without sleep (Horne, 29-31).
Both Elyot and Burton advocated that the body was subject to "humors."The four humors are as follows: blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy. In Elyot's own words: "In the body of man be four humours, which consisting in the proportion [ . . . ] the body is free from all sickness" (5). However, if there was an imbalance or increase in any of these, the person would become very ill and suffer all manner of physical, mental, and psychological sickness.
Additionally, Elyot goes on to include the research of Claudius Galen(us), a prominent Greek physician, in his writing. His six non-natural things that could harm the body were also a basic point of discussion among physicians and scholars during the Renaissance. " [ . . . ] by the temperance of them, the body being in health, is therein persuaded. By the distemperance of them, sickness is induced, and health is dissolved" (11). These six factors are air, meat and drink, sleep and watching, labor and rest, emptiness and fullness, and passions of the mind.
Burton focused more on the disorders of the mind, particularly melancholy (as his book suggests). Some issues he addresses are related to too much or too littler sleep. With regards to insomnia, Burton warned: "a hot and dry brain never sleeps well: grief, fears, cares, expectations, anxieties, great businesses, and all violent perturbations of the mind must be in some sort qualified [ . . . ] He that sleeps in the day time, or is in suspense, fear, any way troubled in mind [ . . . ] may never hope for quiet rest in the night" (465).
While insomnia was a major health concern during the Renaissance, so was sleepwalking. Many physicians during this period did not have a clear definition for those afflicted with sleepwalking. Often times, patients were diagnosed as having some other type of disorder or were considered driven mad by nightmares. However, the invention of modern medical equipment like the Electroencephalogram (EEG) has revealed to scientists that most instances of sleepwalking do not take place during REM sleep--or dream sleep. Interestingly enough, it takes place during a stage called "slow wave" sleep, when the mind has yet to engage in dreaming. But back in the Renaissance, this information would have been unavailable, so other explanations were necessary. Authors of "Sleepwalking Through History: Medicine, Arts, and Courts of Law" claim that most instances of sleepwalking between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries were associated with some form of witchcraft or demonic possession. To quote William Hammond, "In those times when the marvelous exercised so powerful an influence over mankind, and when all phenomena out of the ordinary course of everyday life were regarded as supernatural, it was the prevailing belief that the somnambulist [sleepwalker] was possessed" (Umanath, 254).
FUN FACT: Did you know that King James I also suffered from chronic insomnia?
FUN FACT: In 1964 Randy Gardner of California made the world record for the longest time gone without sleep. He stayed awake for 264 hours. That's a total of eleven days without sleep (Horne, 29-31).
Sleepwalkers: Innocent until proven guilty
Numerous case studies on sleepwalking are mentioned in Umanath's article and the majority of them include instances of activity outside of just wandering around in the dark: using stilts to cross a river, composing letters, moving furniture, swimming, holding conversations with people, even stealing. Behaviors such as the last forced officials to design laws specifically for sleepwalkers. The earliest recorded trial to date occurs in 1686 and quoted by Umanath with reference to the book Crime and Insanity in England.
Colonel Cheyney Culpeper had shot both a guardsman and his horse. During his trial at the Old Bailey, his defense lined up almost 50 witnesses, who described prior escapades and the extraordinary activities of the colonel during his sleep. The jury initially concluded that he was guilty of manslaughter but then reconsidered and added that, although he committed murder, he was 'distempered' at the time. A few days later, the Crown intervened and Culpeper received a full pardon (Walker, 167).
treating sleeping disorders
Burton asserts: "To procure this sweet moistening sleep, it's best to take away the occasions (if it is possible) that hinder it, and then to use such inward or outward remedies, which may cause it" (465). In cases of fitful dreams, Burton advocates that patients eat only light meals and stay away from meats. Most importantly, "not to meditate or think in the day time of any terrible objects, or especially talk of them before he gets to bed" (466). Other scholars share similar advice for nightmares and restless nights. But in matters concerning sleepwalking and insomnia, there are a list of amusing and creative solutions which are included in Umananth's article:
FUN FACT: The Mandrake, a plant commonly known as Mandragora, was used as a medicinal aid to help people sleep. Shakespeare mentions it several times in his works, including Macbeth.
- cold baths
- taking medications such as strichnia or potassium bromide
- avoiding exciting activities and fictions before bed
- placing a tub of cold water at the bedside to wake the patient at the start of an episode
- sleeping with a companion and tying the leg of the affected sleepwalker to the leg of the normal sleeper. Upon waking, the unwilling companion tackles the afflicted down and disrupts the sleepwalking episode (263-264)
FUN FACT: The Mandrake, a plant commonly known as Mandragora, was used as a medicinal aid to help people sleep. Shakespeare mentions it several times in his works, including Macbeth.