which would be better than _no_ change, but the human mechanism would
finally give way under such violation of fundamental law. The mental
worker may change, however, to any manual labor requiring little
thought, and the physical worker to some form of mental labor, with far
better effect. But, in our present civilization, specialization has
become so far advanced that the physical laborer is seldom qualified
for mental work, and the mental worker has almost neglected manual
training.
_True rest and re-creation is found in mental tranquility and sleep._
SLEEP
From observation and study of the state we call sleep, we notice that as
night approaches and the activities of the day wear upon us, both the
nervous and the muscular organisms relax, so that it becomes more and
more difficult to maintain a positive and an active attitude of mind.
There is a tendency toward cessation and rest, which gradually brings
upon us that passive condition called sleep.
[Sidenote: Evidence of acquired energy during sleep]
In spite of the fatigue often experienced before we retire, we awake
again on the morrow with renewed strength and power. From these and
other reasons we are led to believe that during the hours of activity
the body is constantly expending vital energy in both internal and
external work, and that during the hours of sleep, through some unknown
process, the body is charged with vital energy which is stored up and
used gradually for carrying on the various functions and activities of
the system.
[Sidenote: The mystery of energy]
Just what this energy is, just where it comes from, just how it is
stored, just the manner in which it is delegated to the body, we cannot
say. We can only observe its workings, or effects, and formulate
therefrom a theory. We are led to believe, however, that this energy is
stored in the nervous organism, perhaps most largely in the brain, as
brain tissue is the last to break down or waste away in sickness, ill
health, dis-ease, or starvation, often maintaining its full weight up to
the point of death.
[Sidenote: Vital processes expend energy during sleep]
Even in sleep the expenditure of energy in the vital processes continues
vigorously, depending upon conditions immediately preceding sleep, but
usually in a much more passive degree than in the waking hours. These
activities, however, are no more pronounced in their constructive action
or repair, than in ordinary periods of rest during the waking hours.
SOME REASONS
[Sidenote: Food furnishes but a fraction of the total body-energy]
The processes of nutrition, alone, demand the expenditure of much
energy, and the degree of energy available from foods, even by perfect
combustion, would yield but a fraction of the energy expended by the
body.
[Sidenote: Energy required for work in excess of energy obtained from
food]
The average laborer in shoveling coal, swinging an axe or a pick,
expends energy far in excess of the amount that could possibly be
obtained from his food. A day laborer may eat a piece of beefsteak, two
or three potatoes, and a few slices of bread, and will shovel twenty
tons of earth to a height of five feet; a Japanese soldier will carry a
heavy load and walk all day, subsisting only on a handful of rice, and
besides this, will do some thinking, which consumes energy.
[Sidenote: Evidence gained from "fasts" and "no breakfast" plan]
We also have on record fasts, of from thirty to forty days, which, in
some cases, show a slight gain in strength. There are also hundreds of
students of natural living who adopted the "no breakfast plan" and again
many, only one meal a day, limiting their consumption of food to
comparatively small quantities of nuts, fruits, and vegetables, who have
found thereby a remarkable increase in vitality, strength, and general
physical and mental power.
[Sidenote: Relation of sleep to expenditure of energy]
Since the processes of nutrition, including digestion, circulation,
assimilation and excretion consume energy, and notwithstanding this we
are able to perform hundreds of foot-tons of labor a day besides; since
we have found it possible to continue to live, and in some cases to even
increase the amount of strength and work-power on a very limited diet;
since it is a mathematical impossibility to produce as much energy from
the food consumed as the body expends, we are forced to the conclusion
that we do not obtain all our energy from food. Therefore, from a
careful analysis of the phenomenon of sleep, we conclude that it is very
closely connected with this mystery.
OXIDATION AND AIR
[Sidenote: Relative importance of air, food and water]
One of the most important of the vital functions is breathing.
Physiologists, teachers, and lecturers continually remind us of the
comparative time we could live without food or water, and the remarkably
short time we could live if entirely deprived of air.
[Sidenote: Oxygen not the only required element in breathing]
Oxygen is vitally necessary for the purpose of purifying the blood and
supplying the various tissues and fluids in the body, of which oxygen
forms an important constituent. However, oxygen is not the only
necessary element which is utilized by the system in the process of
breathing, as human beings die immediately upon being placed in a
receptacle of undiluted oxygen. Just what this other factor is, science
has not clearly defined, but that it is concerned with rest and sleep we
have at least unconsciously recognized, as shown by our often referring
to periods of rest as "breathing spells"; from the fact that we have
found it of great importance to keep the air we are breathing moving
constantly about us, especially while asleep. From all these facts we
are forced to believe that sleep plays an important part in producing
and maintaining body-energy, besides constantly recharging the system
with oxygen.
LESSON XXII
A LESSON FOR BUSINESS MEN
That which tends to make a good business man, in the popular mind, is
the establishment of great industries and enterprises, coupled with
accumulation of money by the individual.
A careful review of the history of business men who have made a success
along these lines shows that the majority of them sacrificed their
health and their lives to their business. In the last and final
analysis, therefore, these were not good business men.
The best musician is he who can bring more sounds into harmony. The best
artist is he who can best harmonize colors and reproduce nature.
Likewise, the best business man is he who can best harmonize or balance
the affairs under his control.
Health being entirely under and within his control, if he disregards
it--gives it no thought--violates the laws that govern it, and finally
wrecks it, he is not a good business man, as all business depends upon
the power of the individual, and the powers of the individual depend
upon his health.
[Sidenote: Examples of poor business men]
The man who, from a cheap tin store, founded "The Fair" in Chicago, and
allowed the business to dethrone his reason, and to send him to his
death before he was sixty, could hardly be considered a good business
man. Measured on the same scale, Marshall Field, the merchant prince,
was not a good business man. President Roberts, who arose from the ranks
of a car-wheel molder, to the presidency of the Pennsylvania railroad,
and died at the age of fifty, was not a good business man. J. P. Morgan,
who accumulated many millions of dollars, and who died when he should
have been in his prime, was not a good business man.
[Sidenote: Wealth at the expense of health]
The accumulation of money and the founding of great industries is only
one requisite of the business man, and by no means the most important
one. What profiteth a man to make a great fortune; to put in motion a
million spindles; to chain continents together with cables; to flash his
silent voice over oceans and continents on currents of common air; to
make the ocean's billowed bosom a commercial highway; to transform the
oxcart into a palace, and set it on wheels and hitch it to the
lightning; to build sky-scraping structures of stone and steel; to
transfix human figures and faces on sensitized glass; to direct the
methods of burrowing in the earth for coal and gold until his name is
known around the world, and his fortune is a power in the land?--what
boots it, I say, to know all these things and to glide blindly into the
shambles of unrest and dis-ease, or to furnish a fashionable funeral at
forty?
[Sidenote: The abnormal, or one-idea man]
The religious fanatic who robes himself in sackcloth and eschews the
razor; the food crank who cries out "back to nature," and takes to
grass; the one-idea social reformer who preaches on the curb, and the
business man who allows his business to become his absolute master and
governor, are in reality all in the same class. The unfortunate thing is
that the business man sits him down and weaves about himself the meshes
of a prison. Every year puts in a new bar, every month a new bolt, and
every day and hour a new stroke that rivets around him what he calls
business, until he feels and really thinks he cannot escape.
A GOOD BUSINESS MAN
A good business man is the man who can direct the wheels of industry,
who can draw a trial balance between his income and his expenses, and
who can measure his own ability on the yardstick of endurance.
[Sidenote: Qualities of a good business man]
He is a good business man who gives as much study to the laws of his own
physical organization as he does to the organization of his business,
and in the final analysis I doubt if he would not consider himself a
better business man, "Penniless," and in good health at ninety, than
sojourning in a sanatorium with a million at his call, but out of the
fight at fifty.
[Sidenote: Knowledge of health-laws a public necessity]
It is truly unfortunate that the general laws of health and hygiene are
not more universally taught and understood. We learn that best with
which we are thrown in most frequent contact. The business man would
absorb enough information on these subjects to extend his period of
longevity and usefulness many years, if they were taught in our public
schools, or were matters of general knowledge.
THE ROUTINE LIFE OF THE AVERAGE BUSINESS MAN
[Sidenote: Bad habits of the business man]
He rises between six and seven a. m., takes no exercise or fresh air;
eats a breakfast composed largely of acid fruit, cereal starch, meat,
and coffee. He then goes at once to his business, sits at a desk until
noon, takes luncheon at a neighboring cafe. This repast is composed of
meat, cereal, or potato starch, beer, or coffee. He hurries back to his
business, sits at his desk five or six hours longer, hurries home, takes
a dinner composed of more meat, more starch, more tea or coffee--no
exercise, no diversion, no association with the great authors; no music,
no poetry, no change.
[Sidenote: The ancient remedy for Nature's warnings]
A friend may come in, or he may go out to visit; then comes the soothing
and soporiferous cigar which may have been his companion since
breakfast. The market, the business, the chances for making or losing
dollars are the topics of discussion. He is in the power of his master,
"business," and must do him continual obeisance. Within the domain of
the tyrant he lives, moves, and has his being. If he has a headache,
sour stomach, indigestion, a tinge of rheumatism, dizziness, insomnia,
nervousness, or any one of the thousand symptoms or warnings that Nature
gives him for the violation of her laws, instead of thinking a little
and trying to ascertain the cause, he sends, with "chesty pride," for
His physician, and his physician writes out something in a dead
language--the only suitable language. The local druggist sends over the
"stuff," and it is swallowed with that childish confidence that fitly
becomes the modern business man who knows a great deal about business,
but nothing about himself.
The days and the months go on, the symptoms or signals become more
numerous, more expressive, more impressive, more painful. His physician
is called more often; the dead language paper goes to the druggist more
frequently, and with faith he still swallows the drugs; they relieve him
for a little while, usually by paralyzing the little nerve fibers that
are carrying to the brain the messages of warning.
[Sidenote: The ancient system declared a failure]
HIS physician finally acknowledges a trip, or a sanatorium. It is either
this procedure or the fate that befell Messrs. Roberts, Morgan, Colonel
Ingersoll, and the uncounted thousands who had no reputation beyond the
domain of their own locality, and of whom we never hear.
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR A GOOD BUSINESS MAN
[Sidenote: Twelve health rules for the business man]
Don't allow your business to become your master.
Don't discuss business at home, or in social life.
Immediately on rising, take a cool shower bath, followed by vigorous
exercise before an open window.
Eat a very light breakfast an hour after rising, eliminating tea,
coffee, white bread and meat.
Walk to your business, if possible; breathe deeply.
Eliminate woolen underwear; dress as lightly as possible.
Take an hour for luncheon. Omit tea, coffee, tobacco, beer, and
sweets.
Keep your office well ventilated.
Secure competent help and trust them.
Love some one or some thing--a dog will do.
Leave your office early enough to walk home, or at least a part of
the way.
Masticate your food infinitely fine, and by all means _do not
overeat_. This is the crowning sin of the civilized table.
Take from ten to fifteen minutes exercise before retiring; sleep in a
cold, thoroughly ventilated room. Spend as much time as possible in the
sunshine and open air. Drive an automobile, play golf, join a gymnasium,
dance, sing, kick and play with the boys, for it is infinitely better to
dig in the ditch for your dinner and be able to digest and enjoy it,
than to lie invalid in your self-made prison, and perhaps die. (Probably
if the truth were written on your tombstone, it would read:
There was a fool who made a fortune, but he died;
The world called him great, but it lied.)
LESSON XXIII
EXERCISE AND RE-CREATION
PROGRAM FOR DAILY EXERCISE
_Every morning, just after arising, take a cup of water, and go through
the following deep breathing exercises_:
EXERCISE No. 1
[Illustration]
Stand erect, feet about 30 inches apart, extend arms above head,
clasping hands and holding elbows rigid, inhale deeply. Bend toward the
left and try to touch the floor with the clasped hands as far from the
foot and to the rear as possible. Exhale while returning to position.
Inhale deeply, reversing motion to the right. This movement should be
repeated about 24 times.
EXERCISE No. 2
[Illustration]
Rest the body upon tips of toes and the palms of the hands. Move the
body up and down as far as possible, bending only at the waist line. If
this position is too strenuous the tension can be reduced by resting on
the elbows, knees, or both, while executing the movement. Inhale deeply
while taking this exercise, and exhaust the breath suddenly, as if
coughing, with the downward motion. This movement should be repeated
about 12 times.
EXERCISE No. 3
[Illustration]
Rest the hands on the rim of a bathtub or on two chairs placed about 2
feet apart. Assume position shown by cut. Lower the body until chest
touches the knee; rise, bringing the other knee under the chest,
repeating the movement. Execute this movement rapidly as if running,
rising first on one foot and then on the other, from 50 to 100 times.
If sufficiently strong, this can be taken without support for the hands.
This exercise is especially recommended for those suffering from
constipation.
_Every evening, just before retiring, take a glass of water and go
through the following movements and deep breathing exercises_:
EXERCISE No. 3.--Same as in the morning.
[Illustration]
EXERCISE No. 4
Stand erect, feet about 30 inches apart, inhale deeply and strike a blow
toward the left with the right fist, passing the left fist behind the
back. Alternate this movement, striking toward the right with the left
fist, giving the body a swinging and twisting movement.
EXERCISE No. 5
[Illustration]
Stand erect, feet about 30 inches apart, hands clasped over head, elbows
rigid, inhale deeply. Bend toward the left, describe a complete circle
with the clasped hands. Exhale when erect. Reverse, describing a circle
in the opposite direction completes the movement.
LESSON XXIII
EXERCISE AND RE-CREATION
EXERCISE
[Sidenote: Civilization prevents the play instinct]
The child from the time it begins to walk until it is ten or twelve
years old, or until the pressing hand of necessity forces upon it the
power of restraining duty, will in a great measure obey the play
instinct or the natural laws of exercise. However, our complex
industrial organism forces most of us into its vortex at the very time
we are beginning to change the body from the youth to the adult, and the
responsibilities with which we are laden, the struggles we carry on,
prevent the majority from giving attention to and maintaining a system
of development exercises which is so vitally important, and which would
provide a great store-house of energy to be drawn upon in after years.
Inasmuch, therefore, as the conditions under which we exist prevent the
free play of our instincts, and the exercise of our natural desire for
certain kinds of play or motion, it becomes necessary for us to devise a
method of overcoming the repressing influences that crush out the play
instinct of civilized man.
CONSTRUCTIVE EXERCISES
[Sidenote: Constructive period of life from ages 15 to 25]
Constructive exercises should be taken and practised regularly between
the ages fifteen and twenty-five. It is largely during this period that
the physical condition of the body for the balance of life is
determined.
[Sidenote: Poisoning and purifying the blood]
Many a college youth, endowed by Nature with a sound physical body and a
healthy brain, has irreparably injured both by sitting on the end of his
spine with his feet higher than his head, poisoning his blood with
tobacco narcotics from a stylish pipe and failing to keep it purified by
obeying the laws of motion and of oxidation. Constructive exercises
should employ every muscle in the body long enough once in every
twenty-four hours to generate sufficient heat to cause perspiration, or
at least to force twice the normal quantity of blood to the lungs for
purification. Exercise thus taken up to the point of fatigue, and of
sufficient duration to use all the nutrition taken in the form of food,
will, under favorable conditions, build the body to its highest degree
of physical strength, provided we keep Nature supplied with the right
kind of material (food) with which to do her work.
EXERCISE FOR REPAIR
[Sidenote: In mature life exercise only for repair]
After the body has reached maturity, or attained its full growth, the
only exercise needed is for repair. This it must have or Nature will
inflict her inexorable sentence in some form of congestion.
[Sidenote: Why the "trunk" requires exercise]
In various industrial and professional pursuits the legs, neck, and arms
are used enough to keep them in a fair state of repair. That part of the
body, therefore, that suffers most for want of motion, or exercise, is
the trunk. In this part of the anatomy are located the vital organs
controlling not only the circulation and the oxidation of blood, but
also those organs upon whose normal action depend solely the questions
of digestion, assimilation of food, and elimination of waste.
[Sidenote: If properly nourished the body will demand a certain amount
of exercise]
If the food is selected, combined, and proportioned so as to produce
chemical harmony in the stomach, and to meet the requirements of age,
temperature of environment, and work, the body will be kept sufficiently
charged with energy to demand a certain amount of exercise. If the
command is obeyed the body can be trained to work automatically, as it
were, but where the vocation is sedative, or prevents obedience to these
demands, the trunk should be exercised in the open air from thirty to
forty minutes daily by flexing, tensing, twisting and bending in every
possible way, long enough and rapidly enough to double the normal heart
action and inhalations of air.
PHYSIOLOGY OF EXERCISE
[Sidenote: Necessity of motion for body development]
By motion (exercise) the muscles are stimulated in growth, becoming
larger and more firm, thus giving strength and symmetry to the body.
Food, without proper motion, will not develop muscular tissue to its
highest degree. Exercise must be taken to stimulate the growth of the
tissues forming the muscle-cells.
Among the benefits derived from exercise, the following may be noted:
[Sidenote: Growth produced by exercise]
First: Surplus nitrogen is usually cast from the body as waste matter
when it is not deposited as muscle tissue by proper exercise. If the
diet is balanced, regular exercise will add this nitrogenous substance
to the muscle-cells far beyond normal growth, thus causing an actual
increase in the size and the number of fibres.
[Sidenote: Brain and nerve force increased]
Second: A second benefit derived from muscle activity is the consequent
change that occurs in brain and in nerve activity. There are certain
cells in the brain and in the nervous system which control the movements
of the muscles. When these cells are not used, they degenerate, but
their use in exercise is not only beneficial in developing a
well-rounded nervous mechanism, but also in strengthening the
brain-cells that are used in intellectual work.
[Sidenote: Blood circulation increased]
Third: A third and perhaps most important of all the benefits to be
derived from exercise is the general increase in the circulation of the
blood. The muscles form a larger proportion of the body-weight than any
other group of organs. When general exercise involving the larger
muscles is participated in, the demand for food material in this
particular muscular tissue is so great as to cause a notable increase in
the strength and in the rapidity of the heart beat, and consequent deep
breathing. This acceleration of the circulation continues long after the
exercise has ceased, thus replenishing and building up the muscles. As a
result of the better circulation of the blood, all organs receive an
increased blood-supply, and every part of the body shares in the general
improvement. This explains why one can do better brain work, or digest
food with greater ease after taking moderate exercise.
[Sidenote: Evil effect of long-continued exercise]
Exercise is constructive up to the point of fatigue, but beyond that
point it is destructive. The waste products of all cell-metabolism are
harmful and poisonous. When exercise is long continued, the waste matter
accumulating therefrom weakens or poisons the cells that secrete them.
[Sidenote: Different forms of exhaustion]
The products of cell-metabolism are of two classes, and each class has
different effects. The first is due to oxidation. A runner, who falls
exhausted from shortness of breath, has simply been suffocated by the
excess of carbon dioxid in his muscles. After the breath is regained,
or, in other words, after the body has had time to throw off the carbon
dioxid, the runner is in nearly as good condition as before. A more
lasting and serious form of exhaustion is due to the accumulation of
nitrogenous decomposition products, which, not being in a gaseous form,
cannot be thrown off from the lungs, and hence are not as rapidly or as
easily removed from the tissues. The presence in the tissue of these
waste-products is the cause of extreme weakness and fatigue.
[Sidenote: The causes of soreness or stiffness of the muscles]
The well-trained muscles contain only healthy protoplasm, and give off
but a small percentage of nitrogenous decomposition products. Let the
well-fed person who takes but little exercise, run half a mile, or play
a simple game of ball, and the following day the muscles will be stiff
and sore; this unusual exertion has caused the breaking down of much
loosely organized tissue which could have been made firm and healthy by
daily muscular activity.
[Sidenote: Why vegetarians have more endurance than meat eaters]