Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-29
THE AFTERNOON NAP
A THING BENEFICIAL TO HEALTH
SAYS AN ENGLISH PHYSICIAN.
A Noontime Full, Stomach Demands
That It Alone Shall Have All the
Blood in the Body.
From the London osron,c,e,.

From the London ChfoBicle.-
The majority of people take a meal of
some kind between the hours of IL and 2
daily, says physician. With a number of
persons this meal assumes the form of a
substantial dinner, while with others it
amounts to nothing more than light
luncheon. In either case. however. the re-
past requires to be digested, and this neces-
states some modification of the activities
of the brain, since neither that organ nor
those concerned in the processes of diges-
ton are capable of good work when an at
tempt is made to put forth their energies
simultaneously. The exceedingly complex
processes OF digestion and assimilation
whereby dead animal and vegetable mat
tiers are transformed into living human It's
sues demand for their rapid and healthy
performance an increased circulation of
Dlood In the stomach and ancillary organs
as well as a concentration of nervous en-
ergy In the same region. now, increase
OF circulation In one organ or set of organs
entails diminution in the others Conse-
quently the supply of blood to the brain is
eurtailed Immediately after a meal has been
eaten, and since the blood is the life, the
higher functions of that great organ are
performed only with difficulty. If at all.
Drowsiness.
A tendency to drowsiness, confusion Of
thought and inability to make any great
mental effort are among the results of a
diminished cerebral circulation. These feel
ings are, therefore, experienced by most
persons after meal, and they are the more
pronounced In proportion to the greater
amount OF digestive energy expended.
Since brain work of good quality cannot
be produced while the processes of diges-
ton are in active operation, it is wise not
to attempt 1t. 1t is never prudent to thwart
the beneiicent intentions of nature. Many
persons struggle against the mental and
physical lethargy that accompany the ear
'iler stages of the digestive act, apparently
under the delusion that all time given TO
the important business of building up and
repairing their tissues is time wasted. So
far from this being the case, a well-spent
post-prandial interval tends to the preser-
walton and prolongation of life. If ten
dency to drowsiness is felt, sleep should
be allowed to prevail, for the proverbial
forty winks'' is justified by science. A ten
or fifteen minutes nap after meal Gu
riously enough, will enable many brain
worker to arise refreshed who might have
spent an hour or two in a vain and men
tally confused struggle against the "drowsy
god. A cup of tea coffee about an
hour after a light luncheon will facilitate
and expedite the last stages of gastric di-
gest1on, and so assist in the rapid re-estab-
lishment of mental vigor and clearness of
mind.
There are some persons who, instead of
resting after luncheon or early dinner, take
some form of exercise, such as walking or
DIT
stantial, muscular exercise must tend to
retard and weaken digestion by withdraw
ing certain modicum of nerve energy to
the lower limbs and the centres which
govern their movements, and diminishing
the circulation in the aiimentary canal by
increasing it in the legs and arms. Unless
their digestive powers are very keen, peo-
pie who take active exercise after food find
that the process of digestion is thereby
only prolonged. So
Rest After Eating.
On many grounds rest after food is more
in accordance with physiological require
ments than exercise, and the afternoon nap,
so scoffed at by the needless. is a meas
ure to be not only defended, but recon-
mended. 1t is practice beneficial not only
to digestion, butStoy many of the other func--
tons of the body. Rest .is' the one thing
needful in this restless age and it is never
so necessary in the small hours of the
afternoon Among the many generally
unsupported benefits conferred on the post
meridian sleeper, rest of the heart and sys-
temic circulation must be placed in the
front rank. Now the more rest, within the
limits of health, the heart is able to OBJ
tain, the more efficiently and the longer will
it continue to carry on its work. For the
heart is, with most people much over
worked organ, and any indulgence given
it will be repaid several times over.
Another very important organ which OBJ
tainS a much-needed rest during the after
why people should be constantly laying
waste the powers of the organ of vision, the
optic nerve, and the visual centres of the
brain itself, by continual gazing at what
ever trivial objects chance to present
themselves within the field of vision. Even
the most casual of things seem entails an
expenditure of nerve energy, an adjustment
of accommoda ton, wear and tear of the ex-
ceedingly fine and complex ocular mechan-
ism, and corresponding exhaustion of the
nerve cells constituting the visual centres
"A, IT @z~,l ,,1%
mately to curtail the period during which
the visual sense should be at it's best.