It is a matter of the utmost consequence, therefore, to consider in what way rest can most easily be obtained both for body and mind.
Bodily rest.
Bodily rest can only be got by having the muscles completely relaxed. The ordinary sitting position in a chair is not sufficient, as the lower extremities are still more or less rigid. The chair should be an easy one, with an extension or a footstool to support the lower limbs just a trifle below the level of the body. A better rest can be had, however, by lying full length on a couch or bed with the arms and legs sprawling in the manner adopted by the tramp when he takes a sleep by the wayside. This attitude assures ease if not elegance. And it does more than relax the limbs, for it gives repose to the heart as well. When the body is in this position the heart beats more slowly than when we are standing, walking, or even sitting.
When we consider that from the moment of birth to that of death this organ is working incessantly, it is evident that it needs rest more than any other muscle in the body. Suppose a hard-working man takes a quarter of an hour’s loll in the middle of each day; multiply this by 365 and again by the number of his adult years, and you will have some idea as to the amount of rest his heart has had by the time he has reached middle age.
This position of ease and relaxation has a beneficial effect on the mind also. When we are thinking hard we instinctively contract our muscles. The face of the thinker is always associated with a rigid cast of countenance and a furrow between the brows. Conversely, when our muscles are more or less stiffened the mind tends to be concentrated at the same time. Relax the muscles, and the mind also tends to relax.
There is no more efficacious restorative to a tired body than a hot bath, as hot as it can be borne, in fact. It should be fairly deep too, so that the whole body is immersed. Ten minutes or so of this acts marvellously as a refreshing tonic to body and mind alike, especially if followed by a rest in the horizontal position.
Rest of mind.
Rest for the wearied mind is of even greater importance than for the body, for a tired brain is apt to keep the latter on the rack. Every evening thousands of men and women reach home too tired to think and too tired to stop thinking, especially on the very subject which should be strictly left alone, viz. their daily work.
It is not unnatural that they should feel tired. Yet they do not always look at it in this light.
One Sunday evening a parson was sitting by his fireside with a book in his hand which he was vainly trying to read. Time after time he had taken it up, only to put it on one side again after scanning a few lines. He had a look of utter weariness and dejection, and every now and then would start out of his chair and pace restlessly up and down. It was not the first time he had gone through this experience, and he was not the only one of his kind who at that very hour and in a precisely similar manner was having a bad time of it.