completeconfusion

“A real remedy against the specific corruption [of the body] might be found if a man from his youth would exercise a complete regulation of his health in all matters pertaining to food and drink, sleep and waking, movement and rest, retention, air, and passions of the soul. For if anyone will observe this regimen from his birth, he will live to the utmost that is permitted by the nature which he has inherited from his parents.”

From Bacon's letter “On Art and Nature”, De Mirabile postestate artis et naturae, c. 1250 quoted on page 148-9 of Clegg

Now that's up to date advice - sleep hygiene is now getting much more attention in the headlines as a way of preventing or limiting diabetes and heart problems, for instance.

And if you survived infancy, longevity wasn't nearly as rare then, as we often suppose - although Bacon must be overestimating it in another quote:

“Many of us are well aware in our own times that farmers living without the advice of medical men frequently attain the age of a hundred and sixty or thereabouts.”
From Bacon's letter “On Art and Nature”, De Mirabile postestate artis et naturae, c. 1250 quoted on p 148 of Clegg

I'm using as a reference (and recommend),

The First Scientist; A Life of Roger Bacon
by Brian Clegg
Constable & Robinson Ltd., London, 2003

# posted by Russell @ 11:59 AM