Health in the Home

Southland Times, Issue 22348, 13 June 1934, Page 5

Health in the Home

(By a Family Doctor.) Somebody asked me recently whether it was not true that it was bad for one to read in Bed and whether she did right in forbidding her children to do it. Now though reading ,in bed can be extremely bad for one it is not by any means necessarily so. Of course, children and young people should not be encouraged in the matter for the reason that it would be much better for them to get off to sleep. For older people, however, there is no objection at all provided certain precautions are taken. To read lying down is generally bad, because in order to do so you have to strain your eyes into an unnatural position, which may very well result in eye-strain and headache. Again, often the lighting arrangements in a bedroom are all wrong. Generally the book is not directly illuminated while the lamp may be shining straight into your eyes. If you want to read in bed prop yourself up with pillows and arrange for the light to be either directly over your head or slightly behind to one or other side on a table.

When these precautions are taken there is no reason at all why you should not read in bed. For some people, in fact, their bedroom at night is the one place of quiet and gives the only opportunity during the day for reading, while others who sleep badly find reading a light novel is conducive to repose.