Rest period

“ Those animals which are nocturnal feeders are diurnal sleepers, while those which are crepuscular, sleep partly in the night and partly in the day; but in all, the complete period of these functions is twenty-four hours. Man, in like manner, in all nations and ages, takes his principal rest once in twenty-four hours; and the regularity of this practice seems most suitable to his health, though the duration of the time allotted to repose is extremely different in different cases. ”

“ And the nature, as well as the period, of this rest varies according to the different temperaments of individuals and the peculiar circumstances in which they may chance to be placed. To those who work with their minds, bodily labour is rest; to those who labour with the body, deep sleep is rest ”

“ 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. ”

“ Throughout the remainder of eight months they are actually occupied about four hours per diem, and at the end of these eight months they count on having four months for rest, recreation and relaxation. ”

“ I have, of course, made use of every grade of rest for my patients, from repose on a lounge for some hours a day up to entire rest in bed. In milder forms of neurasthenic disease, in cases of slight general depression not properly to be called melancholias, in the lesser grades of pure brain-tire, or where this is combined with some physical debility, I often order a "modified" or "partial rest." ”

“ Therefore all the tissues and organs of the body require periods of rest to alternate with periods of activity; and what is true of each part of the body is likewise true of the body as a whole—sleep being nothing other than a time of general rest during which the process of nutrition is allowed to gain upon that of exhaustion. Thus we may have local exhaustion—as when the muscles of our arm are no longer able to hold out a heavy weight—or we may have general exhaustion, as in sleep ”

“ But eight hours is the maximum for all persons in ordinary health, with ordinary occupations. In cases of extra physical exertions, or the debility of disease, or a decayed constitution, more than this is required. Let eight hours, then, be regarded as the ordinary period required for sleep, by an industrious people, like the Americans. ”

“ It is astonishing what interest and energy will do in enabling a man to dispense with rest. It has been said that the twenty-four hours might be advantageously divided into three equal parts—eight hours for sleep, eight for meals, exercise, recreation, &c., and eight for mental work. ”

“ To be ready with these lectures, his habit was to rise early in the morning and carefully study them before he breakfasted, so that in the delivery nothing would be trusted to the mere effort of memory or the impulses of the moment. To be enabled to do this he retired early, his feeble health entailing upon him the necessity of more than the usual amount of rest to sustain him under the labors performed for many years of his busy life. ”

“ For children, from the age of seven years to that of adolescence, and also for aged persons, eight or nine hours of nightly rest will be required; but for adults, and those who are not obliged to fatigue themselves with mental or bodily exertions, six or seven hours will be sufficient. ”

“ First, regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, namely, regulating the minimum period to be devoted to sleep. There is much conflict of opinion as to the amount of sleep necessary for the average adult. ”

“ But if præcordial embarrassment be the result of the attempt, or of ordinary professional work, as occasionally happens, further rest will have to be taken, that is, rest for hours or days, according to the severity of the symptoms. I have already mentioned to you that middle-aged patients with cardiac strain, dating from their youth, occasionally break down in their work for months or even years. In such an event a thorough change of air and scene should be combined with rest as a method of treatment. A long voyage may prove invaluable, or foreign travel of an easy and interesting kind. ”

“ The body must have proper rest also. Do not keep late hours. Go to bed early. If you have work which must be done, it is a good deal better to rise early in the morning and do it than it is to sit up late at night and work. ”

“ According to physicians, seven hours out of every twenty-four should be spent in bed, and the hours before midnight are much more precious for rest than the early morning hours. Some holidays and vacations are a necessity in these days of rapid and strenuous life. ”

“ The intelligent and watchful physician must, of course, know how far to enforce and when to relax these rules. When it is needful, as it sometimes is, to prolong the state of rest to two or three months, the patient may need at the close occupation of some kind, and especially such as, while it does not tax the eyes, gives the hands something to do, the patient being, we suppose, by this time able to sit up in bed during a part of the day. ”

“ Thus, while exercise is a duty, rest is equally imperative.
The eye, when exactingly used in fine work, should have frequent intervals of rest in a few moments of darkness by closing the lids. The brain, when urged by strenuous study, should have occasional seasons of rest by a dash of cold water upon the forehead, and a brief walk with slow and deep inspirations of fresh air. The muscles, long cramped in a painful attitude, should be rested as often as may be, by change of posture or by a few steps around the room. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The days are made as regular as possible in point of baths, meals, rest-hours, lessons and play. Temperatures and weight charts are made up daily and diet or rest regulated accordingly under the direction of the physician on his weekly or semi-weekly visit. ”

“ It is certain that too much exercise will prevent sleep, as well as too little. We seldom however hear the active and laborious complain of restless nights. It is the indolent and slothful who generally have these complaints. Is it any wonder that a bed of down should not be refreshing to a person who sits all day in an easy chair? A great part of the pleasure of life consists in alternate rest and motion ”

“ Of course one should use discretion in taking a sun bath.
“One should not forget that he needs a lot of [61] sleep—eight full hours of it. Sleep is necessary for resting not the body only; it should also be a rest for the mind and the nervous system. Remember that sleep is not mere rest in the sense of inaction; sleep is a vital process in repairing and rebuilding used-up nerve and brain cells, so you see it is essential that the brain be at rest in order to gain full recuperation.
“As one becomes more advanced in the sport he will realize how large a part the mind plays in a race. ”

“ Napoleon Bonaparte could pass days with only a few hours’ rest. Persons whose labors are mental require more sleep than those who work with their hands.
The average person in good health requires eight hours’ sleep. Children, invalids, and the aged need more. ”

“ Now bodily fatigue and appetite constantly keep pace with each other; they manifest themselves in the body in intervals of three or four hours. Since, then, we must rest at noon from the fatigue of the morning's labor, it is best for us to use this time of rest for our dinner; all the more so as the labor of eating ought not to be performed during manual labor. And because just at the middle of the day we rest from our labor and prepare ourselves for the afternoon work, it is natural that we should eat our principal meal at that time. ”

“ This brings us to the second division of the subject—namely Rest, which does not only largely diminish the ill-results of not sleeping at night, but is probably good for all hard workers either of mind or body, at certain times during the day, in particular after a long continued stretch of brain-work, when an interval should be taken by the mind; after a meal, when quiescence on the part of the body leaves the digestion more energy to do its work; and after physical exercise, when those limbs which{208} have borne the brunt of it should be left quiescent. ”

“ Whenever the heart is compelled to more rapid contraction than is natural, it has less time to rest. Although it seems to be constantly at work, it really rests more than half the time, so that, although the periods of relaxation are very short, they are so numerous that the aggregate amount of rest in a day is very great. ”

“ But right now it needs rest, which means that you're going to take it easy for the next six months. In addition to your regular night's sleep, lie down for at least three hours every day. We'll see after that. ”

“ Every person must have a certain amount of rest each day. A man should have at least eight hours' sleep in every twenty-four hours; boys and girls should have from nine to ten hours' sleep in every twenty-four. ”

“ You can have just as much fun at a party in the afternoon as you can at night, and then your stomach will have time to dispose of the cake and candies you have eaten, and will be ready to rest when you go to bed.
Small children should be in bed by eight o'clock at night, and even big girls and boys should be asleep by ten o'clock every night. If you do not give your bodies rest, you can never grow into strong men and women. ”

“ During a long course of adjustments it is well to allow the patient an occasional week of complete rest, or even more, and it may be wise after a time to reduce the number of adjustments to two per week in some cases. ”

“ The restoration of the Sunday rest was promptly followed by an increased output, for nature seems to need such a rest, or after a while there comes a lassitude and relaxation of muscular power which actually prevents men and women from accomplishing their tasks with anything like the energy that they have under a regime of six working days followed by a day of rest. Only the most menial of routine labor, requiring no thought for its accomplishment, can be kept up without definite days of rest for relief and recuperation of forces. ”

“ Sometimes pain in the head sets in from overwork. Even in the young, fainting may show itself. Rest is essential, and will prove a perfect cure, together with a little brain exercise of the kind described in article Brain Exercise, always avoiding fatigue. Let all readers remember that it is better to lose six months in rest than become permanently incapable, therefore let old and young take rest in time. ”

“ It is a mistake to spend too long over these rests; if two a day are taken, a quarter of an hour, provided it be real rest, is likely to be sufficient to freshen one up again completely, while if the muscles are left too long relaxed, they will be disinclined to begin work again. ”

“ Regularity as to the time of going to rest is the chief point to attend to; permit nothing to interfere with it, and then only let the child sleep without disturbance, until it awakes of its own accord on the following morning, and it will have had sufficient rest. ”

“ Several persons will very commonly be found in bed; one is probably sick, a second is perhaps sleeping away the effects of the previous night’s debauch, while another is possibly dozing away his time because he has no employment, or is taking his rest now because he obtains his living by some night work. ”

“ Late hours should be absolutely avoided and little brain work should be done in the evening, so that the brain and all its important arteries can sink into relaxation and sleep at once. The rest to the heart and circulation is of course never so prolonged, but nature has designed them to get their rest only in moments. The heart in an adult rests more than thirteen hours out of the twenty-four, under quiet normal conditions, the time of rest being the diastole, and the time of work being the systole or contraction. ”

“ No definite rules can be given for the exact amount of exercise to be taken at one time, but the occurrence of fatigue is the signal for rest; after a five minutes’ rest, exercise may be again resumed, to be stopped again at the same signal of fatigue. ”

“ If they have been accustomed to work at particular periods of the day, and the order of things is suddenly reversed, the working hours changed into hours of rest, and vice versa, they may not do as well for a short time, but they will soon accustom themselves to the change, and eat and rest as well as before. ”

“ If through business travel or other circumstances I stay up late one or two nights a week, I balance books before the week is up by taking a rest on Sunday afternoon or going to bed earlier one or two nights. ”

“ But some time between seven and fourteen, if they are too great lovers of their beds, I think it may be seasonable to begin to reduce them by degrees to about eight hours, which is generally rest enough for healthy grown people. ”

“ 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 Rise27. ”

“ We do need our hours of relaxation and rest and our too infrequent holidays, and they are absolutely essential to good health and good work. Don't, however, confuse the words rest and relaxation with sloth and idleness, and don't think your professional work completed when your round of daily visits is done. Indeed, if you would know medicine you must woo your mistress in the small hours of the night, and in many of the leisure moments that the day may bring you. ”