Founding Father and all-around Renaissance man Benjamin Franklin considered and wrote about many topics. In this essay from 1786 on restful sleep, Franklin advises exercise before meals, moderate eating ( full feeding, occasions nightmares and horrors inexpressible; we fall from precipices, are assaulted by wild beasts, murderers, and demons, and experience every variety of distress ), and fresh air in the sleep chamber, to avoid perspiring in a hot bed. Most importantly, he says, one must be sure to preserve a Good Conscience. This short work is part of Applewood s American Roots, series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America s most famous writers."