G. H. HEALD by G. H. Heald

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Sep 15, 1904

G. H. HEALD

By G. H. Heald

Rest

G. H. HEALD

What a blessing is rest to the tired mother or the weary brain worker! How much it means for hard worked muscles and nerves and brain to have an opportunity to recuperate!

But rest presupposes work. No rest can be really enjoyed which has not been earned. Idleness is not rest. There is all the difference in the world between the delicious rest of the tired person and the leisure of one who has nothing to do and no ambition to do anything.

One can get so tired though that rest is well nigh impossible. The complaint is sometimes heard, “I’m so tired I can’t rest.” A mother who has sat by the side of a darling child while, day by day, its life ebbed away, unwilling to trust her loved one to the care of any one else, finds, after a while, that she can not sleep well. Her troubled slumber is disturbed by dreams, and she awakes in a short time, unrefreshed. The professional nurse, when on very severe day and night duty, may have her rest so broken that she finds it hard to get good sleep.

So while one must work to obtain true rest, one should not overwork. And, above all, one should not let the work encroach on the resting hours. Nothing is more surely suicidal.

One can do without food for several days,—yes, for several weeks even,—and, if we may believe the testimony of some reported cases, with decided benefit. One can do without food and water for a few days; but one does without sleep, at considerable hazard.

Many cut down their sleeping hours until they form a habit of wakefulness, and are unable to obtain a fair night’s rest; and, as a result, they go through life with only a part of the energy they ought to possess.

Slaves to Success

Business and professional men may, by close attention to details, become so identified with their work that they can not (or think they can not) turn the details over to others. As their work increases in volume, instead of depending on subordinates for the detail work, they still attend to much of the minutiae. Little questions of policy, about which they should never bother their heads, are brought to them for adjustment, causing them to devote, perhaps, long hours to intense brain work, with little exercise in the open air, and insufficient time for meals and sleep.

Under such circumstances the brain is more apt than not to continue during the meal “hour” (a very short sixty minutes usually) and the sleeping time in the line of the day’s work. Is it a wonder that such men are often compelled by severe nervous symptoms to drop their work?

They may seek relief in a vacation trip, going, possibly, to some wild creek to camp and fish; but the next stage brings out a batch of mail, which the clerks, not having been trained to assume responsibilities, are afraid to decide upon.

Such a man is a slave to his success. Why can he not realize that there are others who can do the work he is doing, and that others will have to do it after he is dead? Why can he not do more directing and less detail work? Why not throw more responsibilities on those in lower positions? Responsibilities develop men.

Slaves to Family Cares

The mother, in a spirit of mistaken kindness, continues to manage the details of the family, not throwing on the daughters that share of the work and the responsibility which would be of inestimable benefit to them. She wears out; they rust out. She takes no rest; they vegetate or develop in those lines which make them ornamental rather than useful,—helpless, dependent, unable to fill properly the place of wife in the household.

System

Some people are never tired, yet they accomplish a large amount of work. They find time to read, to practise music, to entertain friends, and to rest. They never appear to be rushed. Their secret is system. They have learned to work to a plan. Perhaps early in the morning, or the evening before, they plan out the day’s duties; and then, without any unnecessary steps, they make every movement count. Their work is always up to date, and they always have time to rest.

Those who have never mastered a system in housekeeping—or in any other occupation for that matter—will work just as hard,—harder, even,—and will not do so much work, will be always hurried, with little or no time for rest or recreation.

To Secure Rest at Night

First, cares and business must be banished from the mind,—not only at bedtime, but also at meal-time. When the cares of business or domestic life invade these times, ill health will surely follow, with lessened power to carry on the work. The very anxiety for the success of the work defeats itself by reducing the working capacity.

The evening hours should be devoted to some occupation or recreation sufficiently diverse from the work of the day to call into play a new set of brain cells, and thus give the other cells an opportunity to rest. Those engaged in sedentary occupation should engage in something involving muscular exercise, as gardening, walking, cycling, rowing, followed, perhaps, by some suitable reading. The one who has been all day at physical work should exercise the mind by reading, music, conversation, etc.

Most people who have difficulty in sleeping will find that by omitting the third meal, or eating very lightly at night, they will rest more soundly. The work of digestion going on during the sleeping hours is very apt to cause disordered and fitful slumber.

In some cases it is found that a small amount of food, as a cracker, will aid in producing sleep, when the patient finds it impossible to sleep on an empty stomach.

An excellent means of securing sleep for the sleepless is the neutral bath, the water being at a temperature of from ninety-two degrees to ninety-five degrees. This is very soothing in action, and often one who has not been able to sleep for nights will go to sleep in the bath. From the bath the person should be put into bed by an attendant, with as gentle rubbing as is consistent with making the patient dry. Father Kneip would say, Put them to bed without wiping. A neutral spray may be used with similar effect.

Some persons can go to sleep well after a cold spray and rub, though with many this would have the effect of causing wakefulness for hours.