It is just as important to know how to rest as it to know how to eat and exercise.

Exercise develops power which uses up fuel and wears away the machinery of man. Nourishment replaces the fuel and the materials for repairing the machinery. Time is needed by the inhabitants of the billions of tiny cells of man to rebuild the worn-out parts and so man must relax a certain portion of his life to afford time for the building work to be done or the body would become so dilapidated from the wearing away of the machinery without repair that he would collapse altogether in a short time.

Plenty of rest, therefore, must be constantly taken to offset the exercise.

When exercise is taken a contraction movement is produced in which Pressure uses up for power the available supply of vitality and then squeezes out of the body the waste matter, which then leaves a vacancy to be filled, and according to Lawsonomy this vacancy is filled by the Suction movement whereby food is drawn into the stomach and air into the lungs for the purpose.

Food and air thus drawn into the system must not only be given a chance to digest, and be stored up for more power, but time must also be allowed for its distribution and reparation of the cells and tissues in all parts of the body.

In proportion to the quantity of vitality used up and forced out of man by Pressure during activity so an equal quantity must be drawn back again by Suction if he is to remain at a certain physical standard.

It is the resting period that allows time for drawing into the system new substances, storing them away and building up new life therein. In fact, rest is necessary in order that the internal work of the body may be attended to, which could not be done if man used all of his time expending his vitality for muscular exercise.

Frequent periods of rest for the muscles are more strengthening than the taking of long stretches of time for work and rest. The heart of man is able to work twenty-four hours a day because it takes a short rest between each beat. In fact, the heart takes more time for rest than it does for work. It rests approximately eleven hours each day and the entire body of man requires the same time for rest that his heart requires.

The resting periods of the entire body, of course, cannot be as often as the beating of the heart, but man will balance himself better and increase his efficiency and length of life if he will shorten his periods of work and rest.

Man must rest at least five minutes every hour he is awake to produce the best results.

Eleven hours rest can be distributed to good advantage each day as follows: Eight hours during the night for sound sleep. (The best time for sleep is between 9 o’clock p. m. and 5 o’clock a. m.) One half hour after breakfast, one-half hour after lunch, one hour after the larger evening meal, five minutes’ relaxation during each hour of the remaining wakeful hours.

If factory owners would divide up the day into more periods of work and rest, their employees would not only be benefited by better health and longer life, but the employer would also be benefited by larger production results as well, owing to the often revitalized employees working with renewed and increased power and ambition between times.

A seven-hour working day could be divided up to advantage as follows: Work from 8:00 a. m. until 9:30 a. m. Rest or play from 9:30 a. m. to 10:00 a. m. Work from 10:00 a. m. until 12 o’clock noon. From 12 noon until 1 p. m. should be taken for lunch and rest. Work from 1 p. m. to 3 p. m. Rest or play from 3 p. m. to 3:30 p. m. Work from 3:30 p. m. to 5 p. m.

The time will come when finance will no longer be man’s master and slave driver and the distorter and destroyer of his body and soul. His work will be so regulated that he will not be shorn of all of his vitality before he has reached his greatest capacity. And after he has reached his greatest capacity for usefulness it will be found better to conserve his power for a long period by plenty of restful spells interspersed during work hours than by gluttonously draining the last drop of his vitality for a short period and sending him to an early grave long before his greatest output is attainable.

All functions of man must harmonize or the machine will be thrown out of balance. The farther away from balance the less efficient man becomes. Upon the pivot of manlife there must be balanced the three cardinal principles—Exercise,—Nourishment,—Rest.

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