Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite
During the Renaissance, there was great emphasis placed on the preservation of individual health--physically and holistically. Consequently, numerous texts were published by medical and scholarly authorities on the benefits of good nutrition, exercise, and hygiene. Interlaced in the aforementioned categories, following a prescribed sleeping regiment was emphasized as an essential component toward achieving optimal health. People that neglected to practice good sleep habits risked the danger of falling victim to a multitude of maladies, such as leprosy, lice, plague, etc.
Due to the rampant spread of such illnesses, disease prevention was also stressed as a part of the health trend sweeping through early modern England. Thomas Tryon's A Treatise of Cleanness in Meats and Drinks, of the Preparation of Food, The Excellency of Good Airs, and the Benefits of Clean Sweet Beds goes into explicit detail about the importance of bed maintenance because "Beds suck in and receive all sorts of pernicious Excrements that are breathed forth by the Sweating of various sorts of People [ . . . ]" (5). When the occupants of these beds share their mattress or, worse, die upon them their sickness is left behind in the fabric and, quite possibly, transmitted to the next occupant. To lessen the possibility of contracting such harmful "Vapours and Spirits" (5), Tryon suggests that women be as meticulous in the care of their beds as they are toward scrubbing, rubbing, and cleansing any other part of the home: "Everyone that can, will have plentiful Changes both of Linen and Woollen Garments ; for if they have not, Experience does shew, that that [ . . . ] will generate Vermin" (6).
To avoid an outbreak of bed bugs and other such unsavory vermin, Tryon advocates for people refrain from owning some types of bedding, particularly a feather mattress: "Also Feather do contain do certainly contained an unclean putrified Matter, that hath a near affinity with the Nature of Bugs ; and therefore [ . . .] are more apt to breed them than Wooll or Flocks" (11). Nevertheless regardless of the stuffing, beds should not be situated in stagnant environments. Air is the strongest purifying agent nature can offer, so the author suggests that beds be moved away from corners and closed chambers. Rather, they should be situated as close as possible to open windows or placed in a loft where air can penetrate and stop purification from festering inside the material. Additionally, beds should be changed or beaten approximately four times a year. A more creative method suggested for "purging" a mattress of bad humors is by strapping it to a cart and driving it around for a couple hours.
Due to the rampant spread of such illnesses, disease prevention was also stressed as a part of the health trend sweeping through early modern England. Thomas Tryon's A Treatise of Cleanness in Meats and Drinks, of the Preparation of Food, The Excellency of Good Airs, and the Benefits of Clean Sweet Beds goes into explicit detail about the importance of bed maintenance because "Beds suck in and receive all sorts of pernicious Excrements that are breathed forth by the Sweating of various sorts of People [ . . . ]" (5). When the occupants of these beds share their mattress or, worse, die upon them their sickness is left behind in the fabric and, quite possibly, transmitted to the next occupant. To lessen the possibility of contracting such harmful "Vapours and Spirits" (5), Tryon suggests that women be as meticulous in the care of their beds as they are toward scrubbing, rubbing, and cleansing any other part of the home: "Everyone that can, will have plentiful Changes both of Linen and Woollen Garments ; for if they have not, Experience does shew, that that [ . . . ] will generate Vermin" (6).
To avoid an outbreak of bed bugs and other such unsavory vermin, Tryon advocates for people refrain from owning some types of bedding, particularly a feather mattress: "Also Feather do contain do certainly contained an unclean putrified Matter, that hath a near affinity with the Nature of Bugs ; and therefore [ . . .] are more apt to breed them than Wooll or Flocks" (11). Nevertheless regardless of the stuffing, beds should not be situated in stagnant environments. Air is the strongest purifying agent nature can offer, so the author suggests that beds be moved away from corners and closed chambers. Rather, they should be situated as close as possible to open windows or placed in a loft where air can penetrate and stop purification from festering inside the material. Additionally, beds should be changed or beaten approximately four times a year. A more creative method suggested for "purging" a mattress of bad humors is by strapping it to a cart and driving it around for a couple hours.
Proper Sleep etiquette: the do's and don'ts
Proper sleep etiquette doesn't stop at changing the sheets and rearranging the furniture. In order to get the best rest possible, sleepers were expected to exchange their old habits for a new routine designed specifically to digest food and cleanse the body of potentially harmful humors.
Karl H. Dannenfeldt's article "Sleep: Theory and Practice in the Late Renaissance" captures a good amount of information about these methods based on theory developed by a handful of men: Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Avicenna. According to Dannenfeldt:
Karl H. Dannenfeldt's article "Sleep: Theory and Practice in the Late Renaissance" captures a good amount of information about these methods based on theory developed by a handful of men: Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Avicenna. According to Dannenfeldt:
Hippocrates had written in his Prognostic that the physician should take note of the sleeping conditions of his patient. Those in health reclined on the right or left side, with the arms, neck, and legs slightly bent. Sleeping on the back was less healthy and sleeping with the mouth open was always a deadly symptom. Sleeping on the stomach was a sign of delirium or of pain in the region of the belly-- unless the patient was accustomed to sleep on his belly in health. People should 'follow the natural custom of being awake during the day and sleep during the night,' and any change in this pattern was a bad sign. Sleep after a meal warmed and moistened the sleeper, as the food spread nourishment throughout the body. (417)
Aristotle, in particular, built on Hippocrates theory and added that "sleep arose from the evaporations in the process of nutrition and it was especially after meals that sleep came" (Dannenfeldt, 418). Avicenna agreed with both points and went on to explore the psychological end of sleep, to eventually deduce that "A moderate amount of sleep brought about an equilibrium in both the quality and quantity of the humors and a healthy person should give attention to the subject of sleep" (419).
Concerning digestion, all scholars seem to agree that sleep was a necessary step in the process of gaining nutrition and clearing the body of vapours made by foods. Therefore, the way a person prepared for sleep would determine the ultimate health of the individual. Some tips recommended by various health officials include:
Lastly, when people settle down for the evening, they must take special care in choosing how they slept:
Concerning digestion, all scholars seem to agree that sleep was a necessary step in the process of gaining nutrition and clearing the body of vapours made by foods. Therefore, the way a person prepared for sleep would determine the ultimate health of the individual. Some tips recommended by various health officials include:
- Walk "softly and temperately" (423) after meals to give food time to work its way down the stomach
- Do not engage in reading, writing, or heavy meditations. This "divert[s] the natural heat [ . . . ] in the process of digestion" (423).
- After supper a person should listen to "the noyse of instruments, songs, mirth, and pleasant histories, and to conferre with our friends of merrie matters" (Cogan).
- Avoid rigorous activities (including sexual intercourse) with a full stomach.
- Do not sleep immediately after a meal. This can damage the spleen, cause gout, and other infirmities. (Dannenfeldt, 424)
- The best time to sleep during the night. Avoid daytime naps. (Burton, 465)
Lastly, when people settle down for the evening, they must take special care in choosing how they slept:
- The room should be "somewhat Dark, defended from the Sunne beams, and from the light" (Cogan,238).
- The bed itself should be "no higher than a man may easily fall into it" and elevated at the feet (241).
- The head should be slightly elevated to keep food from leaving the stomach (Cogan, 242).
- Sleeping on the right side was best. The left was also agreeable. But never lie on the back. (Burton, 465)
- Sleeping nude is fine. However, care should be taken to cover head and feet to keep away the cold.