SOME people are somnambulists. They walk in their sleep. That has never been my problem. My problem was getting to sleep in the first place—until a friend of mine suggested a very simple solution. The solution was so simple that at first I did not believe it would work. All it involved was "sleepwalking," that is, walking myself to sleep!
To get rid of the tensions that result from a full day of business, you take a nice long walk in the evening, follow it with a hot shower, and go peacefully to sleep. Too easy, you say? That's what I thought. But the answer lies in making this practice a daily habit.
Most people today do not walk enough. They drive, instead. They drive to drive-in banks, drive-in groceries, drive-in post offices, drive-in laundries, even drive-in churches! But for me, driving in traffic adds to the day's tension.
When I moved from the East Coast to a new job on the West Coast, I found myself living only six blocks from my new office. Just "around the corner" were the bank, the food market, the dry cleaner, the pharmacy, the barber shop, and even a small department store—all within walking distance. I determined then to give this "sleepwalking" technique the acid test. I would not buy a car for several months. Instead, I would walk—everywhere. And carry packages, to boot! At least I was certain to get my exercise.
My friend who advised walking told me that exercise was the answer to eliminating the tensions that kept me from getting a good night's sleep. He said further that walking is the best exercise.
"You mean," I questioned, "walking is better than using all those exercise machines and devices in muscle-building gyms?"
"Don't take my word for it," replied my friend. "You believe in the Spirit of Prophecy, don't you?"
I had to answer that I certainly did. Then my friend pointed me to some very interesting counsel: "There is no exercise that can take the place of walking. By it the circulation of the blood is greatly improved."1 This advice seemed like a directive from heaven for me.
And so I continued my walking routines. I walked to the office in the morning. To lunch at noon. Back to the office after lunch. To the bank. To the store. To visit friends living ten blocks away. And during weekends I went into the surrounding hills and walked along the rough, outdoor trails.
I walked briskly, breathing deeply, holding the head back and the shoulders erect, as the Spirit of Prophecy recommends, especially after a meal. 2 And it was not long before I noticed the difference in my habits of sleep. I was "sleepwalking," that is, walking myself to sleep. And it worked better than anything else I had ever tried.
In twenty minutes my body was usually relaxed and ready for bed. A hot shower applied the finishing touches—and soon I was lost in a world of carefree slumber.
As I studied further the advantages of walking, I came upon another eye-opener: "The muscles and veins are enabled better to perform their work," as a result of walking. 3 A physiologist told me why this is so.
He explained that in the veins in the legs there is a series of valves that open and close while one is walking. As the muscles contract with each step you take, your blood is forced heartward through valves in the veins. Be tween steps the valves close and the blood is thus trapped. As you walk, the valves alternately open and close. The leg muscles thus force the blood up the leg toward the heart—thereby taking some of the work load of pumping off the heart! Walking has its own built-in heart helper.
Walking. It's good for the heart. It eliminates tension. It promotes sleep. No pills. No expensive equipment. Just your own two feet. Having trouble sleeping? Try the remedy I found that really works—walking yourself to sleep.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Testimonies to the Church, vol. 3, p. 78.
2. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 530.
3. Ibid., p. 529.
