Having seen the doctor, assist him by carrying out the following advice as far as real limitations--not lazy inclinations--permit. Do not say after reading this chapter, "I know all that"; you have to _do_ "all that", for medicine alone, whether patent or prescribed, is useless. * * * * * Go for a long sea voyage, if possible. If not, get a long holiday in a quiet farmhouse, or, better still, get to the country for good, be it in never so humble a capacity, for a healthy cowman is happier than a neurasthenic clerk. The rural worker has no theatres, but he can walk miles without meeting another; he has woods to roam in, hills to climb, trees to muse under: he has ample light and air, and his is a far happier lot than that of a vainglorious but miserable, sedentary machine in a great city. The rural districts round Braemar, the Channel Islands, Cromer, Deal, Droitwich, Scarborough, and Weston-super-Mare are, in general, suitable holiday resorts for neuropaths. Avoid alcohol, tea, coffee, much meat, all excitement, anger and _worry_. Take tickets only for comedy at the theatre, and leave lectures, social gatherings and dances alone. Nerve-starvation needs generous feeding with easily digested food. Drink milk in gradually increasing amounts up to half a gallon per day. If more food is needed, add eggs, custard, fruit, spinach, chicken, or fish, but do not forgo any milk. Avoid starchy foods and sweets. Eat only what you can digest, and digest all you eat. Chew every mouthful a hundred times. This is one of the few sensible food fads. Drink water copiously between meals, and take no liquid (save the milk) with them. Keep the bowels open. If you _must_ "occupy your mind", take up some very simple, quiet hobby. Gardening, fretwork, photography and gymnastics are not necessarily quiet hobbies. Chess, billiards, and contortions with gymnastic apparatus are not to be recommended. If you _must_ read, peruse only humorous novels. Never study, and leave exciting fiction and medical work alone. Symptoms are the most misleading things in a most misleading world. After your evening meal, take a quiet walk, go to bed _and sleep_. You should occasionally spend from Saturday midday to Monday morning in bed, with blinds drawn, living on milk, seeing nobody and doing _nothing_. The deepest degradation of the Sabbath is to fill it with odd jobs which have accumulated through the week. Do not get out of bed too early in the morning, but rise in time to eat your breakfast slowly, attend to the toilet, and catch the car without haste. If your occupation be an indoor one, rise an hour earlier, and walk or cycle quietly to work. Take a warm bath followed by a cold douche on rising. If no warm after-glow follows, use tepid water. Keep your body warm; your head cool. Be continent. Nerve-tone and sexual delights are not compatible. Matrimony, while a convenient cloak, is no excuse for lust.