Chapter XII: Rest Essential to Health

[Sidenote: Why exercise is necessary]

Exercise is necessary to make our bodies grow and become strong. If we stayed in bed all the time, our muscles would not grow and we could not even walk. If we did not exercise them, the cells in our brains would not grow and we should not know anything. Every part of our body must have exercise, that is, each part must do some work every day. If we used only one part of the body and did not give the other parts any work to do, only the part that we used would grow, while all the rest of the body would be small and weak.

[Sidenote: Proportion of rest required]

While every part should do some work each day, the whole body needs also to have a proper amount of rest. Even the heart, which seems to be working all the time, must rest. It rests between each beat. The muscles with which we breathe rest between each breath. Every person must have a certain amount of rest each day. A man should have at least eight hours' sleep in every twenty-four hours; boys and girls should have from nine to ten hours' sleep in every twenty-four. It is only while we are sleeping that we have complete rest.

[Sidenote: Effect of overwork]

Everybody should have some work to do. Boys and girls should learn that work is a part of life, though they should not be expected to do too much. They should not be required to get up at four o'clock in the morning and work until eight, then go to school until four in the afternoon, and then work again until dark. They cannot do this and keep well. Such children will surely neglect their lessons and will fail to keep up in their classes. It is not the children's fault, but the fault of the people who give them so much to do outside of school.

Sometimes bright children fall behind in their classes and seem to be sleepy during school hours. Very often these children do not have to do any work at home, but play all the time they are out of school. We usually find that these children not only play all the afternoon, but also go to parties at night and often stay up until midnight.

[Sidenote: Ways in which children overwork their bodies]

You may think it is not work to go to a party, but it really is. You are working the muscles and the cells of your brain when you are playing games, and these get tired from play work just as they do from working. It is more fun to do play work than to do real work, but the cells are tired and need rest after either kind of exercise. When you go to a party and stay up until midnight, you do not get nine hours of sleep. How do you expect the cells of your bodies to get enough rest when you treat them in this way?

Another thing you do at parties is to eat food that tastes good, but which is not good building material or nourishing for the cells of the body. These things eaten late at night stay in your stomach long after you have gone to bed, and the cells of your stomach do not have a chance to rest at all.

Children should have their parties in the afternoon. You can have just as much fun at a party in the afternoon as you can at night, and then your stomach will have time to dispose of the cake and candies you have eaten, and will be ready to rest when you go to bed.

Small children should be in bed by eight o'clock at night, and even big girls and boys should be asleep by ten o'clock every night. If you do not give your bodies rest, you can never grow into strong men and women.

[Sidenote: The importance of regular meals]

We have learned that every part of the body needs regular rest. Your stomach is a part of your body. In the stomach and intestines all the food is changed so that the little cells can make use of it. Do you think the cook would serve good meals if she were kept cooking all the time, both night and day? You know she would soon stop cooking for you if you did not give her time to rest. Your stomach does work that is even more important to you than cooking.

[Sidenote: Why meals should be at least four hours apart]

It takes about four hours for your stomach to dispose of what you give it at a single meal. If you eat your breakfast at eight o'clock, your stomach is going to be kept busy to get rid of it by noon. Of course you expect to give it more work to do at noon; that is, you expect to eat a good luncheon. It will be after four o'clock by the time your stomach has finished the task you put on it at noon, and there will be only about an hour and a half for the stomach to rest before you will be ready to give it another four hours' task, digesting your supper. This means that your stomach cannot go to sleep until ten o'clock. If you eat three meals a day, you will give your stomach just about two hours' rest between eight in the morning and ten at night. If you let it rest from ten at night until eight in the morning, it is not likely to give you any trouble.

[Sidenote: When and why candy eating is harmful]

Some people will not let their stomachs rest at all. Often boys and girls give their stomachs extra work to do by eating sweetmeats in the middle of the morning while their stomachs are still busy with breakfast. Then, as soon as school is out in the afternoon, they want to eat more cake and candy, and thus take away from the stomach the little rest it has a right to expect before it goes to work on supper. Then suppose they go to a party and eat again about midnight. How much time will the stomach have to rest before breakfast?

[Sidenote: When candy eating is not harmful]

Now, I have not said that boys and girls must not eat candy; and what is more, I am not going to say any such thing. You may go home and tell your mother that candy is good for girls and boys and that they like it so well they ought to have it--no, not all the time. Here is the part that some of you will not like. Girls and boys ought to have all they want just after eating luncheon or dinner. If you have eaten a hearty meal, it is entirely safe for you to eat candy then; you will not be giving extra work to your stomach, for the candy will be taken care of along with the rest of the meal.

=Questions.= 1. Why should we all take exercise? 2. How much rest
is needed each day? 3. Name some of the effects of overwork. 4.
How do children overwork their bodies? 5. Why should children
have their parties in the afternoon? 6. Why should meal hours
be regular? 7. When and why is candy eating harmful? 8. When is
candy eating not harmful?

=Remember.= 1. Proper rest is necessary to health. 2. Rest from
play is as necessary as rest from work. 3. You must give the
stomach rest by having regular meal hours and by eating nothing
between meals.