Daily routine

“ In order to have this done in the very best manner, it is indispensably necessary that we should eat, drink, breathe, sleep, and exercise the muscles and all the mental and moral powers daily. And yet we are to such an extent the creatures of habit, that we can, in all these respects, bring ourselves to almost any thing we choose, and yet pass on, for a time, very comfortably. ”

“ Give attention daily to cultivating health. It will pay. Study the conditions and the surroundings of the home and the business, and give careful thought to personal habits and practices with special reference to their bearing on health. ”

“ We have reference merely to that common-sense hygiene which has become more or less a part of modern existence, and the daily practise of which, while firmly establishing the health, has at the same time an undoubted reflex action upon the mind. ”

“ Be regular in your meals, and do not fear to make a hearty breakfast. This lays a good foundation for the day. Take daily good, but not violent exercise. Walk until you can distinctly feel the tendency to perspiration. ”

“ It is here, as a tonic to the mind, that training of some sort, apart from all its other uses, is recommended to everybody; not training for some special event, which, as soon as the event has come off is dropped, but a daily and continual observance of certain rules of health, a daily practise of exertion of will and obedience of body. ”

“ It pleased our Creator, when he endowed us with appetites and functions by which to sustain the economy of life, at the same time to annex to their exercise a sense of pleasure; hence our daily food, and the daily alternation of repose and action, are no less grateful than imperative. That life may be sustained, and most of its functions performed, without any coincident enjoyment, is certainly possible. Our food may be distasteful, action painful, and rest unrefreshing; and yet we may eat, and exercise, and sleep, nay, live thus for years. ”

“ The time necessary for satisfying complete body needs and appetite daily, when the habit of attention, appreciation, and deliberation have been installed, is less than half an hour, no matter how divided as to number of rations. ”

“ Now this man only did what anyone else can do, that is to secure a daily supply of fresh air. There are vast numbers of people who would be different creatures if they would have a walk morning and evening, either before breakfast or their evening meal, or on their way to and from their work. ”

“ With regular and sensible habits of eating, sleeping, dressing, and bathing, they would be almost certain to be at once well and strong. The thing wanted is daily constitutional out~of-door exercise; whether taken afoot, on horse-back, at the oar, or on the bicycle, it matters little, so long as it is vigorously taken and faithfully persisted in, in about all weathers. ”

“ Not that there is any one fixed mode of life, any one diet,{14} or any one exercise which will suit everybody, but there are certain general lines of health, broad paths which should be approximately followed, or at any rate given a trial. ”

“ But by great care and management of myself, by desperate strivings to get a little health, I did improve. Two hours a day at work, two or three times a week, became two or three hours every working day of the week. ”

“ The dinners you do not eat, the bed you don't sleep in, the fresh air you do not breathe, all will have their revenge upon you for your studied neglect. Look here! you say you want to do another two years' work; I say your health will not stand the strain if you do. ”

“ Accustom yourself, each evening, to arrange in your own mind the meals for the next day, and also the extra work to be done by others, and what you will do yourself. This habit promotes order and system, and gives quietness and ease to the movement of the whole family machinery. ”

“ Take plenty of exercise, take it in the open air, take it alone, and breathe with the mouth closed. Live on simple food; all the fruit and rare beef you want, very little pastry, a glass of claret for dinner, coffee in moderation, but never a sip of beer, because it thickens the voice and stupefies the senses. Keep regular hours for work, meals, rest, and recreation, and never under any circumstances indulge in the fashionable habit of eating late suppers. If you want to preserve the beauty of face, and the priceless beauty of youth, keep well, keep clean, keep erect, and keep cool. ”

“ If regularity in the hours for meals be strictly observed, and the quantity and character of the meals carefully considered, the system will rapidly acquire the habit of expecting sustenance at those hours, and regularity, like virtue, will be its own reward. ”

“ Again I must suggest to you that the actual need of daily food as a matter to meet the actual daily need is a new question in practical physiology. It may be very much less than is supposed, a matter to be determined by the scales. ”

“ And let the care of your own health, in the way of taking proper exercise, be reckoned as a most important part of home duties. Life is given us to use, and not to shorten. Therefore, don’t undertake anything which will unfit you for the due performance of these home duties. ”

“ Take no anxious thought if you would be well. Know enough about your body to counteract false suggestions; fulfil the common-sense laws of hygiene,—eight hours in bed, plenty of exercise and fresh air, and three square meals a day. ”

“ Q. Do you attribute to any particular habit of your life a favorable influence upon your health?—A. Moderation in all habits of life. In all weathers exercise in the open air. No day altogether at home. ”

“ Daily Exercise for Consumptives.
And what should these people do? If there is one good lung left, or a goodly portion of two, there is much which they can do. Before breakfast they need to be more careful than others because of their poorer circulation. ”

“ As to exercise in the fresh air, I need say little, except that if the exercise can be made to have a distinct object, not in the way of business, so much the better. Nor should I need to add that we may relieve the thinking and worrying mechanisms by light reading and other amusements, or enforce the lesson that no hard work should be attempted during digestion. The wise doctor may haply smile at the commonplace of such directions, but woe be to the man who neglects them! ”

“ I just feel fine all the time, and it's because I get to bed early, sleep plenty, exercise naturally, think properly and get the four great body-builders in plenty: air, water, sunshine, food; and the other four great health-builders, which are: good thought, good exercise, good rest, and good cheer.
The great crowd aims at ease, and so the business man sits and loses out on the exercise his body and mind must have. ”

“ On the other hand, a day of rest recurring in every week, two or three hours of leisure, exercise, innocent amusement or useful study, recurring every day, must improve the whole man, physically, morally, intellectually; and the improvement of the man will improve all that the man produces. ”

“ In order to make assurance doubly sure, many set apart every seventh day for a rest day, for change of occupation and thought, and for catching up any slight arrears which might exist. But the point is that a healthy body never gets far behind. ”

“ While every part should do some work each day, the whole body needs also to have a proper amount of rest. Even the heart, which seems to be working all the time, must rest. It rests between each beat. ”

“ He gets the benefit of regular hours of rest and exercise, a properly regulated diet adapted to his needs, a sufficient amount of fresh air, and amusement and entertainments suited to his mental condition. ”

“ The return to the great primitive elements of health—water, air, and simple food, with a regular system of exercise—has brought to many a jaded, weary, worn-down human being the elastic spirits, the simple, eager appetite, the sound sleep, of a little child. ”

“ Do business at the business place, during business hours, if you would have the mind fresh. There are days so full of cares that the night does not bring mental relaxation, but those who have begun early in life to practice self-control find these days growing fewer as the years roll by. ”

“ Nothing is gained in the end by unduly abbreviating these. Provided you work without wasting a moment in your working-hours, you can afford to be liberal in your apportionment of time to exercises of the body and relaxations of the mind. Above all, and at whatever sacrifice, begin your allotment by devoting two hours at the least in each day to active bodily exercise, and give one of these to the early morning, and the other to the evening. So with your meals. First consult health, without which your studies will be unproductive, and your hopes of future success blighted. ”

“ Simple diet, plentiful exercise in open air and congenial employment will do much. Do not let the mind dwell upon evil thoughts, shun evil companions, avoid vulgar stories, sensational novels, and keep the thoughts pure. ”

“ It is almost as absurd to relegate all our exercise to Saturday afternoon as to do all our eating on Sunday.
Adjusting the Proportion of Work and Play
It is distinctly unhealthful either to overdo or to underdo work, play, rest, or sleep. “Moderation in all things” is a rule that is particularly important in this realm. Not all people are in need of exercise, nor are all in need of rest; but almost every one needs to change his proportion between the two. ”

“ Let your rest on the one rest-day consist, not in lolling idly and carelessly, but in turning your faculties in some other direction; because the truest rest is to be found, not in luxurious ease, but in using the fresh vigour of your life in other compartments of the brain than those which have been worn by the demands of the six days. ”

“ Regularity is a marked feature, not only of his studies, but of his exercise, his recreations, and hours of repose. Though convinced that it is his duty to devote himself to his labours, he feels that he is entrusted with the preservation of his health, the most precious of earthly blessings ”

“ Study all your life. Select with care not only your professional studies, but also the pursuits of your leisure hours. Love them and reduce their cultivation to a system. Diligently map out your time, and form with care your mental habits. Do everything at its proper season, and you will have time to do everything carefully and well. "Have a duty for every time, and you will have time for every duty." ”

“ Good habits are absolutely essential to health, which is equivalent to saying that regularity in living is an imperative necessity to that end. Regularity in rising and retiring; regularity in eating and drinking; regularity in exercise, all are equally important.
Not only does this regularity of conduct conduce to the attainment and maintenance of perfect health, but it enables the individual to accomplish more within the limits of the day, partly by economizing time, and partly by the added vigor due to improved health. ”

“ Then I have a bath, change of clothes, and am ready for my work. Early morning and evening are the only times that life is enjoyable here, and unless one takes exercise then one cannot expect to keep in health. ”

“ If they could speak for themselves, would they not say—"Give us some rest one day in the week, and we will do all the more for you the other six, and last the longer for it. You yourself work the better, and live the longer, for one day's rest. ”

“ Those only who observe a proper interchange of exercise and rest, can expect to enjoy health of body, or cheerfulness of mind. It is the only means by which the economy of the human frame can be regularly preserved. ”

“ Our other domestic habits are in harmony with those of diet. We rise with early dawn, begin the day with cold bathing, succeeded by a music lesson, and then a chaste repast. Each one finds occupation until the meridian meal, when usually some interesting and deep-searching conversation gives rest to the body and development to the mind. Occupation, according to the season and the weather, engages us out of doors or within, until the evening meal,—when we again assemble in social communion, prolonged generally until sunset, when we resort to sweet repose for the next day’s activity. ”

“ Pure air, nutritious food, physical exercise in the open, long walks, observation of hygienic rules, the short and interesting method of instruction, and, above all, our affectionate understanding and care of the children, have produced admirable physical and mental results. ”

“ Not to work to excess, to permit one’s self to rest at the proper time—this is the chief precept in the hygiene of the mind. The brain requires rest even more than any other organ from which great activity is demanded. One should not work more than a few hours at a stretch. ”

“ MY DEAR NEPHEW,
In a former letter I recommended to you certain modes of relaxation, having some connection with intellectual improvement. You will, perhaps, tell me that you want relaxation more entire and complete; that the intellect requires perfect rest; that you must have amusement in the strict etymological sense of the word. You may be right. I have already advised you to take sufficient time for exercise, and the exercise of the body will generally give rest and refreshment to the mind. ”

“ As concerns the home life, it is also easy to get at the parents by annual circulars enforcing good counsel as to some of the simplest hygienic needs in the way of sleep, hours of study, light, and meals. ”

“ I am confident that there has been within the last twenty years a great improvement in the physical habits of the more cultivated classes, at least, in this country,—better food, better air, better habits as to bathing and exercise. ”