THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



necessary period of rest, and when it is really ready 

 for active exertion. A short "nap" later in the day, 

 after the brain has been for several hours intensely 

 active, is quite another matter. There are some per- 

 sons who, either from intense activity of mind, or be- 

 cause of lack of initial vitality, cannot seem to store 

 enough energy to carry them through sixteen or eigh- 

 teen hours of continuous mental activity. Such per- 

 sons may be enormously benefited by a nap, usually 

 of not more than a half-hour's duration, at mid-day. 

 Even so brief a period of sleep as this often suffices to 

 wash out the waste products of activity, and bring the 

 brain to a plane of recuperation that will enable it to 

 act efficiently during the remainder of the period of 

 waking. 



As a rule, however, where the brain is not asked to do 

 more work than it can healthfully accomplish, a single 

 period of sleep of the right duration and intensity is all 

 that the organism requires in the twenty-four hours. 

 He whose brain has been taught to ask for such re- 

 freshment at a given interval and to partake of it fully 

 and eagerly, knowing that its time for recuperation is 

 only just so long, has not only taken an important 

 step toward warding off insomnia and the diseases 

 that attend it, but has attained a most advantageous 

 mental coign of vantage from which to sally forth upon 

 the battle of life. His estimate of the ideal of hap- 

 piness will be truer and saner; his chance of attaining 

 that ideal will be vastly enhanced. 



[so] 



