WHEN TIRED by Dr. C. W. Lyman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 26, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 55.

WHEN TIRED.

By Dr. C. W. Lyman

WHAT is one to do if overtaken by fatigue when the day is but two-thirds through with, or if by supper time one's spirits are quite ebbed away, and nothing remains with which to enjoy the program for the evening? The chief point of counsel is that one should not try to do too much in the line of expelling fatigue in short order. Is not being tired an entirely natural condition, and one to be accepted patiently, and not impatiently sought to be rid of by means that are not natural?

While it is imperative that one should work with such strength as his body produces (and, fortunately for most of us, we have to), it is equally necessary that when that force is spent and the cup that was full is well-nigh empty, we should then promptly call a halt and let the empty cup have a chance to fill up again. Of course, if one can work easily and steadily quite to the day's conclusion, enjoy a quiet evening, sink to sleep when the proper time arrives, and wake fresh and strong next morning, nothing more is to be desired. But it is when one becomes quite fagged out along in the afternoon that he is tempted to think he ought to "drive it off" somehow, like an intruder; or there is more restlessness and faintness at supper time than honest appetite, and for that condition too many seek for some means to give them a better heart for their food. Others, again, feel that they need to be "brightened up" for the evening. And what is then to be done?

Of all things, at such a time do not stimulate. Look upon the scene of weariness and the invitation to quiet and relaxation that accompanies it as a message direct from headquarters, issued entirely in your own interest. The last thing to do in your own behalf is to answer that message by dispatching in a ruffian carrying a poison-tipped goad, who is to force work out of the machine after all the vital steam in the "boiler" is spent. Certain substances there are which will for a time act in this way, to force the body to an extra action, born of excitement; and this excitement is merely distress at the contact of some irritating poison in the blood. What force we get then comes out of the machine's own substance, and is most disastrously expensive to its elasticity and tone in days to come.—Dr. C. W. Lyman.