54 GOOD HEALTH 



I learned to say it from the middle out again, like this: 

 mnlokpjqirhsgtf uevdwcxbyaz. That 

 seems a foolish business now, but it helped me to go to 

 sleep many times in those days. 



Children do not lie awake very often. For them the 

 principal questions are when to go to bed and how long 

 to sleep. Or we might put it this way: if a man or a 

 child wants his brain to work for him in the best way it 

 can, and as fast as it can, how many hours ought he to 

 sleep each night ? Merely to be in bed is not enough. 



Babies need more sleep than young men, and people 

 who are feeble need more than those who are strong. 

 From this we see that there can be no very definite 

 rules. Here are some pretty good ones, however. 



1. Children four years old need to sleep 

 about twelve hours. 



2. Children seven years old need to sleep 

 about eleven hours. 



3. Children eight and nine years old need 

 to sleep about ten and a half hours. 



4. Children ten and eleven years old need 

 to sleep about ten hours. 



5. Children twelve years old need to sleep 

 about nine hours. 



Even grown-up people are healthier as a rule and can 

 use their brains and bodies better when they sleep seven 

 and a half or eight hours a night. 



