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Show How to Be Fit to Live With HEN YOUfirst wake up, you are in your most primitive state of mind.To get from sleep to a cultivated 20th-century humanbeing takes little time,” says Dr. Dominick Purpura of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. You can actually “set your mind” to wake you up at a certain hour. A California researcher who tested college students on 250 nights found they were able to wake up within five minutes of the chosen time! All you need do, just before you fall asleep, is to repeat silently to yourself 10 times: “Wake me up at X o'clock.” Unconsciously, many persons reset their biological clock when they turn off their alarm and remain in bed. Without the buzzing clock, they wake up anyway in half an hour or whenever their mental timer tells them to open their eyes. What about a clock radio to start you out “in tune” with the new day? “It’s good,” Dr. Purpura says, “for people who associate music with festivity or happiness” Listening to news broadcasts, too, takes you away from the drowsy state and closer to the reality of wakefulness. An invigorating shower or bath also helps the transition. Coffee is a stimulant, but caffeinefree beverages do just as good a job as awakeners; it’s the habit that’s important. Dr. Purpura, who has been studying the neurophysiological mechanisms of how we change from drowsiness to wakefulness, adds: “Some persons—those on the go who are doing purposeful work—can makethe transition in five minutes. Others, whose lives are humdrum and boring, take much longer. These ‘slow wakers,’ who are in the majority, are likely to be cranky and edgy until they grab their first cup of coffee or cigarette. “Many people need a bufferzone between sleep and normal activity. If you usually wake at 7 am. and feel irritable, try getting up half an hour earlier in order to make peace with yourself by the time you must leave home.” It also may help you to face each day more amiably if you know something about the mechanism of waking. First to “awaken” are your large muscles—in your legs, arms, back, and neck. Your senses return one by one: touch, then hearing, vision, and finally the sense of smell. UNLIGHT, which awakens nature’s creatures from bees to lions, should make you feel good on arising. One sleep authority suggests: connect a string from your bed to your window shade; sleep in the dark, awake to sunlight. As soon as you wake, mentally program your day, advises Dr. Purpura. “The nervous system occasionally needs reminding that there’s work to be done. By turning on that part of the brain involved in establishing continuity between the day before and the day ahead, you bridge a gap.” To be really alert, every part of your nervous system has to be functioning fully. But upon awakening, your reflexes are not up to full fettle for about 15 minutes. Weall have strong habit patterns of waking. Dr. Purpura says: “In changing from the idling state or first gear of wakefulness to high gear for the day’s regular business, we perform certain habit rituals which are reassuring. Having a glass of orange juice, for instance, makes it a lot easier to bridge the gap between drowsiness and reality.” (Fruit juice, by the way, quickly replenishes your blood-sugar reserve, which has been depleted during sleep.) Many men—and women, too—find that the best © ROUSE THEMSELVES, some persons need an “emergency association,” such as the clamor of a telephone from an answering service. People fortunate enough to have a swimming pool find that a quick dip is an ideal waker-upper. Bons vivants and those who “think rich” may rely on fine champagne for breakfast. And some men attually go for a beer in the morning! But for sensible, well-adjusted individuals like you and me, what are the best ways to rise and shine? One psychiatrist contends the ideal technique is to have someone pull gently on your blanket. It’s far better, however, to depend on your own “biological clock.” COVER: Push-ups, breakfast in bed, using your biological alarm clock—they’reall part of the fine art of waking up without a grouch By THEODORE IRWIN waker-upper is fresh air and some strenuous stretching of muscles. Standing before a wideopen window and taking deep breaths will ventilate your lungs. Then a few minutes of push-ups or any other kind of setting-up exercise will stimulate circulation and drive any remaining cobwebs from your brain. Breakfast in bed? It’s really not a luxury to pamper yourself this way because it gives you a little more time to mobilize your physical and psychological resources. As your senses are aroused, they mold your mood according to the messages they carry to your brain. If the stimulus is pleasant—such as seeing a vase of flowers instead of a pile of bills on the night table—you’re apt to greet the new day more cheerfully. When you're wakeful enough, suggests Dr. Purpura, try to think of one or two pleasurable things to be done during the coming day. That should erase any possible grouchiness. Mold your mood, develop the techniques which help you best, and you can always expect to rise and shine. Good morning! Family Weelkcly/April 12, 1965 Volatile actor Albert Finney, favored to win an Oscar for his performance in “Tom Jones,” is caught in a rare moment of composure. See his story on page 14. LEONARD $. DAVIDOW President and Publisher WALTER C. DREYFUS Associate Publisher PATRICK E. O'ROURKE Ezecutive Vice President and Advertising Director WILLIAM V. HUSSEY Adrertising Manager MORTON FRANK Vice President, Publisher Relations Advertising office: 179 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago,III. 60601 Editorial office: 60 E. 56th St., New York, N.Y. 10022 Business office: 1727 S. Indiana Ave., Chicago,III, 60616 ERNEST V. HEYN Editor-in-Chief BEN KARTMAN Executive Editor ROBERT FITZGIBBON Managing Editor PHILLIP DYKSTRA Art Director MELANIE DE PROFT Food Editor Rosalyn Abrevaya, Arden Eidell, Hal Landon, Jack Ryan; Peer J. Oppenheimer, Hollywood. © 1964, PROCESSING AND BOOKS, INC., Chicago, lil, All rights reserved. |