The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life Part 4

"Much sleep, much food, and little exercise, are the princ.i.p.al things which make animals grow fat. If the Body, on account of Age or other Infirmities, cannot use sufficient Exercise, and takes much the same quant.i.ty of Sleep, its weight must be lessened by lessening the Food, which may be done by lessening the Drink, without making any change in the Meat; as I have proved myself by experience."--p. 90.

On this subject, see also--Dr. STARK on _Diet_, and SANCTORIUS'

_Medecina Statica_. Dr. HEMING on _Corpulency_.--Mr. WADD on _Corpulency_.--Dr. ARBUTHNOT on _Aliment_.

SLEEP.

"When tired with vain rotations of the Day, Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dawn."

YOUNG.

Health may be as much injured by interrupted and _insufficient Sleep_, as by luxurious indulgence.

Valetudinarians who regularly retire to rest, and arise at certain hours, are unable, without injurious violence to their feelings--to resist the inclination to do so.

"Pliant Nature more or less demands As Custom forms her; and _all sudden change She hates_, of Habit even from _bad_ to _good_.

If faults in Life--or new emergencies From Habits[24] urge you by _long time_ confirm'd, Slow must the change arrive, and stage by stage, Slow as the stealing progress of the Year."

ARMSTRONG'S _Art of Preserving Health_.

How important it is, then, to cultivate good and convenient Habits:--_Custom_ will soon render the most rigid rules, not only easy, but agreeable.--

"The Strong, by bad habits, grow weaker, we know; And by good ones, the Weak will grow stronger also."

The Debilitated require much more rest than the Robust:--nothing is so restorative to the nerves, as sound, and uninterrupted Sleep, which is the chief source of both Bodily and Mental Strength.

The Studious need a full portion of Sleep, which seems to be as necessary nutriment to the Brain, as Food is to the Stomach.

Our Strength and Spirits are infinitely more exhausted by the exercise of our Mental, than by the labour of our Corporeal faculties--let any person try the effect of _Intense Application_ for a few hours--He will soon find how much his Body is fatigued thereby, although He has not stirred from the Chair He sat on.

Those who are candidates for Health--must be as circ.u.mspect in the task they set their mind,--as in the exercise they give to their Body.

Dr. ARMSTRONG, the Poet of Health, observes,

"'Tis _the great Art of_ LIFE to manage well The restless Mind."

The grand secret seems to be, to contrive that the exercise of the Body, and that of the Mind, may serve as relaxations to each other.

Over Exertion, or Anxiety of Mind, disturbs Digestion infinitely more than any fatigue of Body--the Brain demands a much more abundant supply of the Animal Spirits, than is required for the excitement of mere Legs and Arms.

"'Tis the Sword that wears out the Scabbard."

Of the two ways of fertilizing the Brain--by Sleep, or by Spirituous Stimulus--(for some write best in the Morning, others when wound up with Wine, after Dinner or Supper:) the former is much less expensive--and less injurious to the const.i.tution than either Port, or Brandy, whose aid it is said that some of our best Authors have been indebted to, for their most brilliant productions.

Calling one day on a literary friend, we found him reclining on a Sofa--on expressing our concern to find him indisposed, he said, "No, I was only _hatching_,--I have been writing till I was quite tired--my paper must go to Press to day--so I was taking my usual restorative--_A Nap_--which if it only lasts five minutes, so refreshes my Mind--that my Pen goes to work again spontaneously."

Is it not better _Economy of Time_, to go to sleep for half an hour,--than to go on noodling all day in a nerveless and semi-superannuated state--if not asleep, certainly not effectively Awake--for any purpose requiring the Energy of either the Body, or the Mind.

"_A Forty Winks Nap_," in an horizontal posture, is the best preparative for any extraordinary exertion of either.

Those who possess, and employ the powers of the Mind most--seldom attain the greatest Age[25]:--see BRUNAUD _de L'Hygiene des Gens de Lettres, Paris_, 8vo. 1819:--the Envy their Talent excites,--the Disappointment they often meet with in their expectations of receiving the utmost attention and respect, (which the world has seldom the grat.i.tude to pay them while they live,) keep them in a perpetual state of irritation and disquiet--which frets them prematurely to their Grave[26].

_To rest a whole Day_--under great fatigue of either Body or Mind, is occasionally extremely beneficial--it is impossible to regulate Sleep by the hour;--when the Mind and the Body have received all the refreshment which Sleep can give, people cannot lie in Bed, and till then, they should not Rise[27].

"Preach not me your musty Rules Ye Drones, that mould in idle cell; The Heart is wiser than the Schools, The Senses always reason well."

COMUS.

Our Philosophical Poet here gives the best practical maxim on the subject for Valetudinarians--who, by following his advice, may render their Existence, instead of a dull unvaried round of joyless, useless self-denial,--a circle of agreeable sensation;--for instance, go not to your Bed till You are tired of sitting up--then remain in an Horizontal posture,--till You long to change it for a Vertical: thus, by a little management, the inevitable business of Life may be converted into a source of continual Enjoyment.

All-healing Sleep soon neutralizes the corroding caustic of Care--and blunts even the barbed arrows of the marble-hearted Fiend, Ingrat.i.tude.

When the Pulse is almost paralysed by Anxiety,--half an hour's repose, will cheer the circulation, restore tranquillity to the perturbed spirit--and dissipate those heavy clouds of _Ennui_, which sometimes threaten to eclipse the brightest Minds, and best Hearts.--Child of Woe, lay thy Head on thy pillow, (instead of thy Mouth to the bottle,) and bless me for directing Thee to the true source of Lethe--and most sovereign _Nepenthe_ for the Sorrows of Human Life.

The Time requisite to restore the waste occasioned by the action of the Day--depends on the activity of the habits, and on the Health of the Individual,--in general it cannot be less than Seven--and need not be more than Nine hours[28].

Invalids will derive much benefit from indulging in the _Siesta_ whenever they feel languid.

A Sailor will tell you, that a Seaman can sleep as much in five hours, as a Landsman can in ten.

Whether rising very early lengthens Life we know not,--but think that sitting up very late shortens it,--and recommend you to rise by eight, and retire to rest by eleven; your feelings will bear out the adage, that "_one_ Hour's rest before midnight, is worth _two_ after."

When OLD PEOPLE have been examined with a view to ascertain the causes of their Longevity, they have uniformly agreed in one thing only,--that they ALL _went to Bed early, and rose early_.

"Early to bed, and early to rise, Will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Dr. FRANKLIN published an ingenious Essay on the advantage of early rising--He called it "_an Economical Project_," and calculated, that the saving that might be made in the City of Paris, _by using Suns.h.i.+ne instead of Candles_--at no less than 4,000,000 Sterling.

If the Delicate, and the nervous, the very Young, or the very Old--sit up beyond their usual hour, they feel the want of artificial aid, to raise their spirits to what is no more than the ordinary pitch of those who are in the vigour of their Life--and must fly from the festive board--or purchase a few hours of hilarity at the heavy price of Head-Ach and Dyspepsia for many days after; and a terrible exasperation of any Chronic Complaint they are afflicted with.

When the Body and Mind are both craving repose--to force their action, by the spur of spirituous stimulus, is the most extravagant waste of the "VIS VITae," that Fas.h.i.+on ever invented to consume her foolish Votaries--for Fools they certainly are, who mortgage the comfort of a Week, for the conviviality of an Hour--with the certainty of their term of Life being speedily foreclosed by Gout, Palsy, &c.

Among the most distressing miseries of this "Elysium of Bricks and Mortar," may be reckoned how rarely we enjoy "the sweets of a Slumber unbroke."

Sound pa.s.ses through the thin PARTY WALLS of modern Houses, (_which of the first rate, at the_ FIRE PLACE, _are only four inches in thickness_;) with most unfortunate facility; this is really an evil of the first magnitude,--if You are so unlucky as to have for next door neighbours--fas.h.i.+onable folks who turn night into day, or such as delight in the sublime Economy of Cindersaving, or Cobweb catching,--it is in vain to seek repose, before the former has indulged in the Evening's recreation of raking out the Fire, and has played with the Poker till it has made all the red coals black; or, after _Molidusta_, the Tidy One, has awoke the Morn--with "the Broom, the bonny, bonny Broom."

A determined Dusthunter, or Cindersaver, murders its neighbour's sleep--with as little mercy, as Macbeth did Malcolm's--and bangs doors, and rattles Window shutters, till the "Earth trembles, and Air is aghast!"

All attempts to conciliate a Savage who is in this fancy--will be labour in vain--the arrangement of its fire[29] is equally the occupation of the morning, and the amus.e.m.e.nt of the evening; the preservation of a Cinder and the destruction of a Cobweb, are the main business of its existence:--the best advice we can give you, gentle Reader--is to send it this little Book--and beseech it to place the following pages opposite to its Optic nerves some morning--after you have diverted it from Sleep every half hour during the preceding Night[30].

Counsellor SCRIBBLEFAST, a Special Pleader, who lived on a ground-floor in the Temple--about the time that Sergeant PONDER who dwelt on the first floor, retired to rest, began to practise his Violoncello, _"And his loud voice in Thunder spoke."_--The Student above--by way of giving him a gentle hint, struck up _"Gently strike the warbling Lyre,"_ and Will. Harmony's favourite Hornpipes of _"Dont Ye,"_ and _"Pray be Quiet:"_ however, the _dolce_ and _pianissimo_ of poor PONDER produced no diminution of the _prestissimo_ and _fortissimo_ of the indefatigable SCRIBBLEFAST.

PONDER, prayed "silence in the Court," and complained in most pathetic terms--but, alas! his "_lowly suit and plaintive ditty_" made not the least impression on him who was beneath him.--He at length procured a set of Skettles, and as soon as his musical neighbour had done fiddling, he began _con strepito_, and bowled away merrily till the morning dawned.--The enraged Musician did not wait long after daylight, to put in his plea against such proceedings, and received in reply, that such exercise had been ordered by a Physician, as the properest Paregoric, after being disturbed by the thorough Ba.s.s of the Big Fiddle below--this soon convinced the tormentor of Catgut, who dwelt on the Ground-Floor, that He could not annoy his superior with Impunity, and produced silence on both sides.

People are very unwisely inconsiderate how much it is their own Interest to attend to the comforts of their Neighbours, for which we have a divine command "to love our neighbour as ourself." "_Sic utere tuo, ut alienum non laedas_," is the maxim of our English law.

Interrupting one's Sleep is as prejudicial to Health, as any of the nuisances Blackstone enumerates as actionable.