Why Hibernate?

Now that we're settling down to the near prospect of hot-water bags, woollies, and winter evenings by the fire, we feel a sluggishness pervading our being. It's not only that bed remains desirable till so late in the morning, or that the family circle provides sufficient entertainment for the evening, but that imperceptibly our mental adventurousness is curtailed. We clutch our habits more closely to us, much as a bear settles himself up in a small, familiar den, in which he will sleep until spring. The warmth of habit!

In this settling-down process most of us feel, with the autumn-stricken trees, a touch of age. It is an annual emotion, but none the less, saddening for that. We are slower, less vital, than in warm summer. The very clothes we are buying are heavy, obstructive.

What to do about it? It's an individual problem and must have an individual remedy. If you like going to sleep for the winter, do so by all means. But if you hate hibernation, decide to benefit from what winter offers you.

With my own winter programme in view, I have some suggestions, obvious ones I admit, to make. The key-word is activity. Take stock, first, of your physical capacity. If you are in teens or twenties this is easy. Perhaps you still take part in organised games— hockey, basketball. You may be a golfer, and think thereby that you are getting sufficient exercise. But enough for a woman of fifty is not enough for you. If golf is your only game, at least make sure that you play it energetically. Walk briskly, and with regard to posture, between shots. You'll probably have to wait at the next tee, but that's better than dragging along like a brokendown cart-horse as I have seen some women do on the links. And when standing, do remember to have the weight evenly on both feet, the “tummy” braced in (not to the disadvantage of the posterior) and the head well up.

If you are near a rink, you no doubt skate—a graceful and exhilarating exercise. If you are beginning, it is well worthwhile to learn the fundamentals from an expert.

Dancing, too, is a useful as well as an enjoyable activity, provided that dances are not crowded too closely together to the detriment of rest. To feel the full physical benefit of the dance, correct posture must again be studied. Sit quietly by and watch your friends on the floor. Even among those you regard as “quite good” dancers, you will see some who hold themselves in ridiculously contorted attitudes. While criticising, you will wonder whether you too lean forward from the hips like a sawdust doll with a torn back, or arch way from your partner as though determined to look him straight in the eye and stand no nonsense. Where is your left elbow? Where is the weight of your body during the various movements? To set your mind at rest, dance beside a large wall mirror, or, better still, take a lesson or two from a highly qualified dancing instructor. The consequent improvement in balance will delight you.

In this activity budget of yours you have no doubt seized all available time at week-ends for sports. Very good!

But remember that a little a day is better than a lot in a lump. Walk when you can, and if possible unburdened. This applies specially to the housewife who makes “shopping” count as exercise. Free arm movement and a free stride go together (and don't forget the necessary width of skirt!). Weather conditions need not interfere with walking, as a hot bath and change of clothes on return avert any possibility of chill. A hot bath, of course, must be followed by a cold shower, or, if that is too drastic, by a gradual addition of cold water to the bath.

Week-end tramping is a splendid form of activity. Any constituted club is ready to welcome new members, to provide walks within their scope, and to give suggestions, or rather orders, concerning attire and weights and quantities of food.

For older people, who feel that a tramping club is a very strenuous institution with a predilection for hill-work, flat walking, in comfortable foot-gear and in warm but light clothing, is of great benefit. Get out of that weekend car habit! When I see fat dowagers sitting in closed saloon cars of a Sunday afternoon I am sorry for their doctors.

With physical activity well-planned and under way, you will be awake mentally, and able to take full advantage of concerts, lectures, discussion groups, art and craft courses, which add so much to the amenities of the winter season—and you'll be almost sorry to change later to summer activities.