Building of Vital Power; Deep Breathing and a Complete System for Strengthening the Heart, Lungs, Stomach and All the Great Vital Organs - Bernarr MacFadden

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ...circulation is interfered with and the skin is unable to throw off its impurities in a natural way, for it should be remembered that breathing is done through the pores as well as through the lungs. In such a bed in which the body sinks too deeply the tissues and muscles become flabby and weak, and the effect of any exercises that may have been taken during the day in the hope of building up the strength, are duly neutralized. In the same way pillows are enervating, unhealthful and unrestful. The head sinks into the soft and smothering cushions; the breathing is thus rendered imperfect; the muscles of the neck are really strained instead of being rested. Yet, that is the position assumed by millions nightly. The flesh of the face, instead of being untouched and impassive through the night, is always half covered, and the pressure upon it even by the soft pillows throws it out of shape, and causes unnatural folds that in time re.npillowor"elseaverylow form into wrinkles. As has been said, it is during sleep that Nature is building and the body is growing, or repair is going on. To assist this work there is nothing so good as a moderately hard bed with no pillows or very small ones. When Bleeping on your back It is custom that has given us the bolster and pillow. They are a legacy and an absurdity of bygone times, when people were less enlightened than they are supposed to be now, and when physical culture was not the popular study with high and low alike, that it is to-day. Customs die hard and, of course the elimination of these harmful sleeping appliances is a very slow one. Physiologists are still unable to state positively whether the brain is congested or anaemic during sleep, but it has been conclusively demonstrated that the...