Early to Bed
Early to Bed :
Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. - is one of the most widely quoted proverbs from Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. This proverb is seldom disputed however I fail to see the logic behind it. I think that he who goes to bed early misses out on a lot of things and must be antisocial. Let us just say that everybody in the world sleeps eight hours a day and every one goes to bed at about eleven and gets up around seven but he who wishes to be healthy, wealthy and wise goes to bed around eight and wake up at about four.
He would still get the same amount of sleep as the rest of the world because not only did he go to bed early but he got up early too so that destroys the logic that he would get more sleep and therefore feel healthier. If you were to sleep longer than the average person you might be able to think more clearly which over time might improve one’s physical and mental health which I suppose could be interpreted as wisdom, but as we have established early to bed early to rise does not result in more sleep. Perhaps if one were to wake up before the rest of the world they would have peace and quiet which would give them an opportunity to read which could make one more wise, but who can really learn that early in the morning?
Who exactly is going to become wealthier as a result of going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier? I think that the average business person would become less wealthy as a result of going to bed and getting up early. It would be pointless for a company to open before the average consumer is even awake and it would be foolish to miss out on business due to closing early so one's employees could get to bed early. I suppose that if one were a cat burglar one might become more wealthy by conducting business while most of the world is still in asleep, but I think most of the world would miss out on business by having hours that conflicted with the rest of the world's.
Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise? Well it has yet to be proven. Perhaps early to bed late to rise might improve one's health. It's baffling to determine how one is to obtain wisdom merely by going to bed early and getting up early, unless maybe there are some really good documentaries on P.B.S. really early in the morning. If one enjoys being alone waking up early might be the thing to do but one should not be misled by the proverb. Early to bed early to rise won't make you healthy, wealthy or wise.
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