As a
result, I began to have headache after every period of intellectual
exertion. Then I lost power to sleep. Although I have partially
recovered, I am now always warned when I have done enough, by lessening
ease in my work, and by a sense of fulness and tension in the head."
The indications of brain-tire, therefore, differ in different people,
and are more and more apt to be referred to the thinking organ as it
departs more and more from a condition of health. Surely a fuller record
of the conditions under which men of note are using their mental
machinery would be everyway worthy of attention.
Another reason why too prolonged use of the brain is so mischievous is
seen in a peculiarity, which is of itself a proof of the auto-activity
of the vital acts of the various organs concerned in intellection. We
sternly concentrate attention on our task, whatever it be; we do this
too long, or under circumstances which make labor difficult, such as
during digestion or when weighted by anxiety. At last we stop and
propose to find rest in bed. Not so, says the ill-used brain, now
morbidly wide awake; and whether we will or not, the mind keeps turning
over and over the work of the day, the business or legal problem, or
mumbling, so to speak, some wearisome question in a fashion made useless
by the denial of full attention.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25