How to Live Part 10

Play is simply a half way stage between work and rest. In a hygienic life there must be a certain amount of actual rest. Every bodily power requires rest after exertion. The heart rests between beats. The muscles require relaxation after every contraction. The man who is always tense in muscle and nerve is wearing himself out.

[Sidenote: Relaxation]

The power to relax, when fatigue requires it, is one of the most important safeguards one can possess. Lying down when tired is a good rule. A very hard-working college president when asked about the secret of his working-power and length of life replied, "My secret is that I never ran when I could walk, never walked when I could stand, never stood when I could sit, and never sat when I could lie down."

[Sidenote: A Rule for the Lazy]

Such rules as these are valuable, of course, only when the requirements of one's occupation tend toward ceaseless activity. For idle and lazy people the rule should be reversed--never to lie down when one could sit, never to sit when one could stand, never to stand when one could walk, and never to walk when one could run! A complete life must have all in due proportion. Relaxation is only a short vacation, as it were, between two activities.

[Sidenote: Bathing and Swimming]

Bathing and swimming supply, in their numerous forms, examples of both healthful activity and relaxation. A cold spray or shower, alternated with hot, affords excellent gymnastics for the skin. A very hot bath, lasting only a minute, or even a hot foot-bath, is restful in cases of general fatigue. The most restful of all is a neutral, that is, tepid, bath of about the body-heat (beginning at 97 or 98 degrees and not allowed to drop more than 5 degrees and continued as long as convenient).

[Sidenote: How to Induce Sleep]

The wonderful nervous relaxation induced by neutral baths is an excellent subst.i.tute for sleep in case of sleeplessness, and often induces sleep as well. Neutral baths are now used not only in cases of insomnia and extreme nervous irritability, but also in cases of acute mania. When sleep occurs in a neutral bath, it is particularly restful.

A physician who often sleeps in the bath tub expresses this fact by saying that "he sleeps faster" there than in bed.

Sleep may also be induced by monotonous sound, or lack of sound, or the monotonous holding of the attention. Keeping awake is due to continued change and interruption or arrest of the attention.

Exercise taken in the afternoon will often promote sleep at night in those who find sleep difficult. Slow, deep, rhythmic breathing is useful when wakeful, partly as a subst.i.tute for sleep, partly as an inducer of sleep.

Sleep is Nature's great rejuvenator, and the health-seeker should avail himself of it to the full. Our sleep should not only be sufficient in duration but also in intensity, and should be regular.

[Sidenote: Hours of Sleep]

The number of hours of sleep generally needed varies with circ.u.mstances.

The average is seven to nine. In general one should sleep when sleepy and not try to sleep more. Growing children require more sleep than grown-ups. Parents often foolishly sacrifice their children's sleep by compelling them to rise early for farm "ch.o.r.es," or in order to sell papers, or for other "useful" purposes.

[Sidenote: Eating before Retiring]

One's best sleep is with the stomach empty. It is true that food puts one to sleep at first, by diverting blood from the head; but it disturbs sleep later. Water, unless it induces bladder-action during the night, or even fruit, may be taken without injury before retiring. If one goes to bed with an empty stomach, he can often get along well with six or seven hours' sleep, but if he goes to bed soon after a hearty meal, he usually needs from eight to ten hours' sleep.

[Sidenote: Place of Sleep]

It has already been pointed out that sleeping outdoors is more restful than sleeping indoors.

[Sidenote: Pillows]

A pillow is not a necessity if one sleeps lying p.r.o.ne with one arm extended above the head and the leg opposite drawn up. This sleeping att.i.tude can easily be reversed to the opposite side. It has one advantage over pillow-sleeping, that of not tending to round shoulders.

This p.r.o.ne position is often used now for infants, but is seldom enjoyed by adults.

[Sidenote: Type of Bed]

A modern "hard" bed is far preferable to the old-fas.h.i.+oned soft (and hot) feather bed.

[Sidenote: Character of Thoughts]

The character of sleep depends largely on the mental att.i.tude on going to bed. One should get into the habit of absolutely dropping work and cares at bed-time. If then one suggests to himself the pleasantest thought which memory or imagination can conjure up, his sleep is likely to be far more peaceful and restful than if he takes his worries to bed, to keep him awake until sleep comes in spite of them, and to continue to plague him in his dreams. If one is worried, it is a good plan to read something diverting, but not exciting, just before retiring.

Section II--Serenity and Poise

As we have seen, not only the body but the mind needs its due activity and rest. As to the mind, the important question is the quality of the activity rather than the quant.i.ty. If we are to be really healthy, our mental att.i.tude must be healthy. A healthy mental att.i.tude implies many elements, but they are all roughly summed up in the word "serenity."

Probably no other one hygienic requirement is of greater importance than this. Moreover, the att.i.tude of "healthymindedness" should be striven for not only in order to produce health, but as an end in itself, for which, in fact, even health itself is properly sought. In short the health of the body and the health of the mind act and react on each other.

[Sidenote: Influence of the Health on the Character]

We may generally keep serene through following the other measures already described. Discontent is undoubtedly very often the consequence of wrong conditions in the body, and though melancholy, worry, peevishness, fear generally appear as arising from outward conditions, there are usually real physical sources, existing within the body itself. These are at times most difficult of recognition. A person who is physically ill is likely to be ill-satisfied with everything, without suspecting the fundamental cause of the discontent. When the apparent "cause" is removed, the discontent remains none the less, and fastens itself on the next thing that comes along.

[Sidenote: The "Cause"]

Although some little event such as the mistake of a tradesman or a cross word of a friend may seemingly "cause" a disagreeable reaction in a man if he is ill (whether he knows he is or not), the same "cause" does not necessarily produce that same reaction at all times. When he is in a healthy mood, the "cause" may be entirely inadequate to bring about the same result.

[Sidenote: Approach of Menstrual Period]

The near approach to the menstrual period in women is often accompanied by mental depression and physical fatigue which it is almost impossible for the sufferer to recognize at the time as caused by anything but "real" or outside misfortunes.

[Sidenote: Hidden Causes]

Other physical conditions act in the same way. The hidden cause may be constipation, eye-strain, or the effects of alcohol or other drugs, a sedentary life, a bad posture, or weak abdominal muscles; and the proper remedy may be an enema, a pair of gla.s.ses, a vigorous swim, deep breathing exercises or an abdominal supporter, an erect carriage or a general change of daily habits. A young man returning from a surveying trip in the mountains of Colorado in which an ideal hygienic out-of-door life was lived, said, "I never saw so good-natured a crowd of rough men.

Nothing ever seemed to make them angry. They were too full of exultant health."

[Sidenote: Mental Rewards from Health]

Health for the body awakens mental capacities where they exist. Failure in mental work can often be traced to failure in physical health; and the restoration of bodily health is often essential to success in the tasks of the mind. This is especially true of the artistic professions, where the kind of product is dependent so largely upon the state of the emotions, upon exhilaration and enthusiasm. A noted sculptor who, a number of years ago, was "down and out" in the artistic world, after a period of years "came back" with a masterpiece, having adopted a more hygienic life.

Epictetus taught that no one could be the highest type of philosopher unless in exuberant health. Expressions of Emerson's and Walt Whitman's show how much their spiritual exaltation was bound up with their health conditions and ideals. "Give me health and a day," said Emerson, "and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous."

[Sidenote: Influence of the Mind on Health]

But what most concerns us in this section is that the mind has an important influence over the condition of the body. A Kansas poultryman, who owns a hen which he claims to value at $10,000 because of her qualities as a breeder, a few years ago knew a great deal more about how to maintain the health of his poultry than he did about how to maintain his own health. Long and bitter experience had taught him that he obtained freedom from sickness among hens only by being very careful to feed them on a special diet; to give them drinking water at regular intervals--warmed in winter; to supply them with well ventilated and cleanly houses, and so on. But, after all this, he found there was one condition, which, if unfulfilled, still precluded the realization of maximum possibilities. "A discontented hen won't lay eggs," was the startling discovery. "When I see a man go into the yard and 'holler'

loudly at the hens, and wave his arms, making them scatter, frightened, in all directions, I say to that man: 'You call at the office and get your pay and go.' But when I see a man go into the yard, and call gently to the hens, so that they all gather around him and coo and cluck and eat out of his hand, I raise that man's pay."

[Sidenote: Physical Manifestations]

It can not be too much emphasized that mental perturbation affects the body in many ways. Shame fills our cheeks with blood. Fear drives the blood away. Excitement quickens the heart-beat. Grief brings tears, the reaction of glands about the eyes, and sighs, the disturbances of regular breathing. A great shock to the mind may cause fainting, the rush of blood from the head into the abdomen. Worry will interfere with digestion and sleep. The X-ray has detected the arrest of the peristaltic movement of the stomach and intestines because of a strong emotion. Some peculiarly const.i.tuted people, who take their work and obligations with a kind of seriousness that amounts almost to fear, can not eat anything of consequence until their day's work is ended. The digestive processes seem to be at a standstill until then. A curious fact is that strong emotion may lead to a great increase in the sugar in the blood, sometimes enough to cause its appearance in the urine as though the person had diabetes. One man expresses this by saying, "bitterness of soul banishes sweetness even from the body."

[Sidenote: The Demands on the Mind]

It is doubtless on account of such influences of the mind on the body that some persons who have attempted to improve their health by what they call "thoroughly masticating" their food--but who have interpreted this phrase as having a purely mechanical meaning--have wondered why they were not benefited when they forcibly held their food in their mouths until they performed a certain number of chews, while in fact they were making a bore of eating and were forgetting to taste and enjoy. The mind and the emotions refuse to be ignored in this way, and exact due penalty from the body when they are not satisfied. To attain the desired results from any hygienic measure, it is apparently necessary, in some degree at least, to satisfy the mind along with the body.

[Sidenote: Hypochondriacs]

There is in fact a danger to which some people are especially subject--the danger of becoming hypochondriacs from paying too much attention to physical hygiene. Such a person becomes fearful lest he is not doing exactly the right thing. He looks suspiciously at every article of food and fears that it will disagree. He fears that he has strained his heart; he worries over the loss of an hour's sleep; he chafes because his employer has not given him a vacation at the right time or of the right length. The hypochondriac thus neutralizes practically all the benefit of other hygienic measures by disregarding this special measure of keeping serene. It might, in many cases, be better to disregard some rules of hygiene than to worry over them.

[Sidenote: "Mind-cure"]

On this theory the devotees of mind-cure cults have derided every hygienic measure but one--their "mind-cure." They sometimes succeed in the "real cure of imaginary ailments," and the "imaginary cure of real ailments." In the latter case, the mental contentment lasts only until the real ailment becomes too aggressive to be ignored. But it is a great mistake to stake everything on the simple resource of mental equanimity. In some cases it is criminal, as for instance to refuse surgery for cancer, or outdoor living for tuberculosis.