“Early to bed and early to rise” should be your motto. Children need abundant sleep, and ought to retire early and rise as soon as they awake in the morning. Their bodies and brains require regular rest.
Never lie on your back when sleeping, but on the left or right side. Place your limbs in the easiest position possible; otherwise you will be troubled by bad dreams, which will awake you from slumber. Try to keep your mouth closed, so as to breathe through your nostrils. You will thus escape the unpleasant habit of snoring.
TIME FOR SLEEP.
Infants and old people need more sleep than boys and girls. Night is made for rest, and the day for work. Do not take naps through the day nor sit up late at night. Never lie down to sleep directly after a meal.
POSITION IN STANDING, ETC.
Children are apt to stand and sit in a wrong position. When walking, the head and shoulders should be thrown back, so as to give the lungs full play. Breathe slowly and deeply, filling every part of the lungs at each inspiration. When in the school-room or at home, be careful not to lean over by bending the body in the middle of the back.
SHOWING POSITION OF LUNGS AND HEART.—(1) Left Auricle, (2) Right Auricle, (3) Left Ventricle, (4) Right Ventricle, (5) Pulmonary Artery, (6) Great Aorta, (12) Larynx, (13 to 16 and 14 to 16) Lungs.
I am afraid that a good many children will find, if they notice their posture when studying their lessons, that their spines are curved like a bow and their shoulders pushed forward so as to crowd the lungs and prevent deep, healthful breathing. The boys, perhaps, will find a large dent or wrinkle in their clothing in front at the pit of the stomach. This shows that their posture is wrong.