The cool shower or sponge bath in the morning, preceded and followed by a few minutes' vigorous exercise, is a splendid sedative for irritated nerves.
RECREATION
The nervous person should divide the day as nearly as possible into three equal parts—eight hours' pleasant but useful work; eight hours' recreation, and eight hours' sleep.
Necessity for true recreation
Under modern civilized conditions the majority of people do not seem to understand recreation. The summer seashore resorts, with their expensive attractions and whirling life, the great hostelries in the hills and mountains, and the lakes where thousands of people congregate, entail upon them certain duties, anxieties, expectations, disappointments, and often financial strain that deprive these places of all features of recreation, and make the sojourn there one of labor and strife. The real purpose that takes most people to these resorts is to be seen; to "star" themselves before the multitude, which in its last analysis is a kind of vanity, and it is obvious that from any effort in this direction no recreation can be obtained.
The nervous person should seek a few congenial and thoughtful companions, and get back into the great heart of nature where everything moves in obedience to supreme law. Associate intimately with animals; study their habits, and notice how they respond to kindness; admire their honesty; analyze the love and fidelity of a dog. This is true diversion and recreation. This defines the purpose of life, if there be purpose behind it. This draws a sharp distinction between the condition that makes nervousness and the condition that makes honest, thoughtful, useful human beings.