wly
and the patient is kept out of doors from three to four hours. But the
fast driving that is generally done is bad for these people. They come
back from a ride worse than when they started.

It may be set down as a general rule that any form of outdoor exercise
or play is good for the nervous person if it is not violent.

Nervous people should, if possible, take a vacation once a year and get
into new surroundings. I am certain, however, that it does not make any
difference where one lives. A man is just as likely to have a breakdown
in one part of the world as another. While on these vacations he should
stick to his rules just as rigidly as when he is at home.

I have had letters from people in Canada and from others in Florida who
have suffered nervous breakdowns. In California some go to pieces. I
have had many letters from people living there who have broken down.
People also break down in Colorado and in New York; in fact, in every
state in the Union. Climate does not seem to make any difference so far
as this trouble is concerned, with the exception that in high altitudes
I have observed nervous people are inclined to be more restless than
elsewhere. Some years ago I went up Pike's Peak, to the Summit House. I
went to bed and spent the night there, but I do not say I slept, for in
reality I slept only about half an hour. I was not at all sick at the
stomach, as so many are who climb up there; I had prevented this by
eating a very light breakfast and chewing my food to a cream. But I was
extremely nervous. I have found a great many other nervous people who do
not feel quite right when in a high altitude. As a general rule, sea
level is as good a place as a nervous individual can find to live. But
people break down there, too. The diet, you see, is the big thing. And
when I say "diet" I mean the way food is eaten and the amount eaten
quite as much as I do the kind of food eaten.

And once more let me say, systematic outdoor exercise also counts, and
you can't keep fit if you exercise only one, two, or three days a week.
Some people who take long walks in the country on Sunday think that will
suffice. But it will not. You must have exercise every day and must have
some play along with it. Gymnasium work is of very little value as
compared to outdoor exercise.

In the summertime, gardening is a splendid form of exercise. And so is
the care of a small flock of chickens, which is possible for those
living in the