The Royal Road to Health; or, the Secret of Health Without DrugsTyrrell, Chas. A. (Charles Alfred)
Science
The Royal Road to Health; or, the Secret of Health Without Drugs
Tyrrell, Chas. A. (Charles Alfred)
Enema; Health; Health -- Popular works; Health promotion; Hygiene
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. We have in mind an old saying which runs as follows: “Six hours’
sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.” This is
somewhat arbitrary, and, moreover, is not in harmony with physiological
law. In the first place, no hard and fast rule can be laid down that
will cover all cases. Apart from the difference of sex, there are
temperamental conditions which vary with every case. We are decidedly of
the opinion that eight hours’ sleep is necessary for the adult
individual. It has been affirmed by some authorities that the more the
individual sleeps the longer he will live, which is a perfectly rational
claim, in view of the fact that night is Nature’s repair time, when she
is busy at work replacing the ravages committed by wear and tear during
the day. It is a well-known fact that nearly all growth takes place
during sleep.
Again, it is a fact not generally known that the heart receives no
nourishment during the period of contraction, owing to the pressure upon
the arteries which supply it with nutriment. It is only during the
infinitesimal pause between the contractions that these arteries can
carry blood to the heart tissue; hence during sleep the heart-beats
differ from those of our waking hours, being fewer in number, and with a
more decided pause between. Now, the heart being to the body what the
mainspring is to a watch, the necessity of affording it ample time for
recuperation becomes apparent.
Having stated that eight hours’ sleep is the minimum amount for the
individual, the question of regularity presents itself, and this should
be understood to refer especially to the time of rising, which, unless
the individual is in ill health, should be at 6 A.M. This not only
proves invaluable in economizing time, but paves the way for regularity
in eating, which we will now consider.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account