Chapter 34 Stay awake for an extra hour every day

An hour of rest is not a waste of life, it allows you to stay awake for more time, so that you can do more awake and efficient things. In this book on how to prevent worry, why am I writing about how to prevent fatigue?Quite simply, because fatigue tends to make you worry, or at least makes you more likely to worry.Any medical student will tell you that fatigue reduces the body's resistance to common colds and illnesses; and any psychotherapist will tell you that fatigue also reduces your resistance to feelings such as worry and fear. So preventing fatigue also prevents worry. So, do I say: "Unhappiness can be prevented"?That's a little too mild a word.Dr. Edmund Jacobson put it more clearly.He is the director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the University of Chicago and the author of two books on how to relax your tension—Removing Tension and Letting Go of Tension.He has spent many years presiding over the research on the medicinal use of the method of relaxing tension.He believes that any kind of mental and emotional tension "cannot exist after complete relaxation"—that is, if you can relax the tension, you will not continue to worry.

So the first rule of thumb to prevent fatigue and worry is this: take frequent breaks, and rest before you feel tired. Why is this so important?Because fatigue builds up surprisingly fast.The U.S. Army has done many experiments to prove that even strong young men who have undergone years of military training, if they do not wear a backpack and rest for 10 minutes every hour, their marching speed will be accelerated and last longer. Therefore, the U.S. Army Always force them to do so. Your heart is as bright as a US Army soldier's.The blood that flows from your heart every day through your body is enough to fill a railroad car; every 24 hours it supplies enough energy to shovel 20 tons of coal onto a platform 3 feet high energy.Your heart can do an incredible amount of work, and it can last for 50 to 70 years, even as long as 90 years.Why can your heart bear it?Dr. Walter Cannon of Harvard Hospital explained: "Most people think that the human heart beats continuously all day. In fact, after each contraction, it has a period of complete stillness. When When the heart beats at a normal speed of 70 beats per minute, its actual working time is only 9 hours in a 24-hour day. That is to say, the heart has a full 15 hours of rest time every day.

During World War II, Churchill was 67 years old, but he was able to work 16 hours a day and insist on commanding the British army for many years. This is really not easy.Where is his secret?He works in bed every morning until 11 am, reading reports, dictating orders, making phone calls, and even holding important meetings in bed.After lunch, he goes to bed for another hour.He goes to bed for another two hours before dinner at eight o'clock in the evening.He does not eliminate fatigue by doing this, because he has prevented it beforehand, so there is no need to eliminate it at all.Since he takes frequent breaks, he can work vigorously until midnight.

John Rockefeller also set two amazing records: he made the world's largest fortune at the time, and lived to the age of 98.How did he do both?The main reason is of course that the members of his family live a long life, and the other reason is that he takes a half-hour nap in the office at noon every day.He would rest on the big sofa in the office.And while he was taking a nap, he wouldn't even answer a call from the President of the United States. In the book "Why You Get Tired", Daniel Kexilin said: "Rest does not mean not doing anything; rest means mending." The ability to mend, even a 5-minute nap can help prevent fatigue.For example, the famous baseball player Conley Mark once told me that if he didn’t take a nap before every game, he would feel exhausted by the fifth inning; however, if he took a nap, even if it was only 5 minutes, He can also play the entire game without feeling the slightest bit of fatigue.

I once asked Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt how she coped with such a tight and cumbersome program during her 12 years as first lady in the White House.She told me that before meeting a large group or giving a speech, she usually sits down on a chair or sofa and closes her eyes for 20 minutes. I was recently at Madison Square Garden to meet Gene Autry, a World Championships rider.I found a camp bed in his lounge, "I lay in there every afternoon," says Gene Autry, "for an hour between shows. When I was in Hollywood filming When I was young, I used to recline in a large soft chair and take two 10-minute naps a day, which kept me energized."

Edison credited his habit of being able to fall asleep whenever he wanted to ensure his boundless energy and endurance. I visited Henry Ford before he turned 80.I really can't figure out why he looks so energetic and healthy.I asked him what is his secret?He said: "I will never stand when I can sit down, and I will never sit when I can lie down." Horace Mann - known as the "Father of Modern Education", even in his later years.When he was the president of Antioch University, he would always lie on a couch and talk to the students. I suggested that a Hollywood film director try something like this, and he later told me that it would work wonders—the director I'm talking about was Jack Chanak, the most famous actor in Hollywood. one of the directors.When he came to see me a few years ago, he was also the manager of MGM's short films department, and he was also often tired and exhausted.He tried everything he could think of: mineral water, vitamins and other supplements, but to no avail.So I suggested that he take a "vacation" every day.how should I do it?That's when he's in an office meeting with his people, lying down and relaxing.

Two years later, when I saw him again, he said: "A miracle happened, this is what my doctor said. Every time I used to talk about short films with my people, I always sat in a chair and was very nervous. Now every time I have a meeting, I lie on the couch in the office. I can work two hours more a day, and I feel less tired. I feel better than I have in 20 years." How do you use these methods?If you're a typist, you can't take a nap in the office every day like Edison or Sam Goldwyn; and if you're an accountant, you can't lie on the couch with your boss. Discuss accounting issues.But if you live in a small city and go back to have lunch at noon every day, you can take a 10-minute nap after the meal.This is what General Marshall used to do.During World War II, he felt so busy commanding the U.S. Army that he had to rest at noon.If you're over 50 and feel like you're too busy to do that, buy life insurance now.Funeral costs have been going up quite a lot lately--and these things happen very suddenly, and your little lady is probably trying to take your insurance money and marry a man younger than you.

If you can't take a midday nap, lie down and rest for at least an hour before dinner, which is much easier and cheaper than having an aperitif.And when it comes to tallying the ledger, it's many times more effective than drinking a glass of wine.If you can get an hour of sleep around 5 or 6 in the afternoon, or around 7, you can add an hour of waking time to your daily life.Why do you say this way?Because the hour before dinner, plus the six hours of sleep in the night, makes a total of seven hours, doing so will do you more good than sleeping for eight straight hours. People who are engaged in physical labor can do more work in a day if they have enough rest time.Frederick Taylor demonstrated this firsthand when he was a scientific management engineer at Bedham Steel.He had observed that each worker could load a wagon with about 12.5 tons of pig iron a day, and they were usually exhausted by noon.He made a scientific study on the factors that lead to worker fatigue, and believed that these workers should not only send 12.5 tons of pig iron per day, but should ship 47 tons per day.According to his calculations, they should be able to achieve 4 times the current performance without fatigue, but this conclusion must be proved.

So Taylor chose a man named Schmid and asked him to work according to the time stipulated by the horse watch.He had a man stand aside with a horse watch and directed Schmid: "Now take a piece of pig iron and go... now sit down and rest... now go... now rest." What was the result?Others can only ship 12.5 tons of pig iron per day, but Schmid can ship 47 tons of pig iron per day.During Frederick Taylor's three years as an engineer at Bedham Steel, Schmid's ability to work never diminished.He's been able to stay that way because he has time to rest before he gets tired: He works about 26 minutes per hour and takes 34 minutes of rest.He rests more than he works - yet he works almost four times as much as anyone else.

Let me reiterate: do what the US Army does - take regular breaks; do what your heart does - rest before you get tired and you'll be awake for an extra hour per day up.