You Can Do About It
Here is an astounding and significant fact： Mental workalone can’t make you tired. Sounds absurd. But a few years ago，scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labourwithout reaching “a diminished capacity for work”， the scientificdefinition of fatigue. To the amazement of these scientists， theydiscovered that blood passing through the brain， when it is active，shows no fatigue at all！ If you took blood from the veins of a daylabourer while he was working， you would find it full of “fatiguetoxins” and fatigue products. But if you took a drop of blood fromthe brain of an Albert Einstein， it would show no fatigue toxinswhatever at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned， it can work “as well and asswiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at thebeginning”. The brain is utterly tireless.... So what makes you tired？
Psychiatrists declare that most of our fatigue derives fromour mental and emotional attitudes. One of England’s mostdistinguished psychiatrists， J. A. Hadfield， says in his book ThePsychology of Power： “the greater part of the fatigue from whichwe suffer is of mental origin； in fact exhaustion of purely physicalorigin is rare.”
One of America’s most distinguished psychiatrists， Dr. A. A. Brill， goes even further. He declares： “One hundred per centof the fatigue of the sedentary worker in good health is due topsychological factors， by which we mean emotional factors.”
What kinds of emotional factors tire the sedentary （or sitting）worker？ Joy？ Contentment？ No！ Never！ Boredom， resentment，a feeling of not being appreciated， a feeling of futility， hurry，anxiety， worrythose are the emotional factors that exhaust thesitting worker， make him susceptible to colds， reduce his output，and send him home with a nervous headache. Yes， we get tiredbecause our emotions produce nervous tensions in the body.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company pointed that outin a leaflet on fatigue： “Hard work by itself，” says this great lifeinsurancecompany， “seldom causes fatigue which cannot becured by a good sleep or rest.... Worry， tenseness， and emotionalupsets are three of the biggest causes of fatigue. Often they areto blame when physical or mental work seems to be the cause....
Remember that a tense muscle is a working muscle. Ease up！
Save energy for important duties.”
Stop now， right where you are， and give yourself a check-up.
As you read these lines， are you scowling at the book？ Do you feela strain between the eyes？ Are you sitting relaxed in your chair？
Or are you hunching up your shoulders？ Are the muscles of yourface tense？ Unless your entire body is as limp and relaxed asan old rag doll， you are at this very moment producing nervoustensions and muscular tensions. You are producing nervoustensions and nervous fatigue！
Why do we produce these unnecessary tensions in doingmental work？ Josselyn says： “I find that the chief obstacle... isthe almost universal belief that hard work requires a feeling ofeffort， else it is not well done.” So we scowl when we concentrate.
We hunch up our shoulders. We call on our muscles to make themotion of effort， which in no way assists our brain in its work.
Here is an astonishing and tragic truth： millions of peoplewho wouldn’t dream of wasting dollars go right on wasting andsquandering their energy with the recklessness.
What is the answer to this nervous fatigue？ Relax！ Relax！
Relax！ Learn to relax while you are doing your work！
Easy？ No. You will probably have to reverse the habits of alifetime. But it is worth the effort， for it may revolutionise yourlife！ William James said， in his essay “The Gospel of Relaxation”：
“The American over-tension and jerkiness and breathlessnessand intensity and agony of expression... are bad habits， nothingmore or less.” Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. And badhabits can be broken， good habits formed.