How to Sleep

1474

“It is very good to sleep first on the right side, then on the left. No sane person should sleep on his back, for many serious illnesses result, since liquid humor, when turned from its proper course by such a position in bed, may infect brain and nerves and kidneys… At night we must avoid the moon, especially when sleeping, for it stirs cold humors and generates many kinds of catarrhs, especially if the moon’s rays, which are cold and damp, fall on the head of the sleeper.”

Bartolomeo Platina, De honesta voluptate et valetudine

This sleep choreography is a little fiddly, but you can thank Platina when you avoid a brain infection.

How to Cure Insomnia, 1597, here.