“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” — Benjamin Franklin
In the quote found, the famous American statesman and writer addresses the concept of biological factors, linking them to health. As we know, health is a complex, multidimensional system consisting of six dimensions. When Franklin writes about the need for early falling asleep and early waking, he is addressing only the physical and social aspects of health because it is directly related to circadian rhythms, the body’s need for sleep, and the body’s functional recovery. However, the contradiction is that an individual can sleep the correct number of hours during the day, and this will also contribute to the well-being of the body if the individual’s waking and sleeping patterns are different. Therefore, I am convinced that in this quote, Franklin is also addressing the social characteristic of health since human interaction, work, learning, and meetings traditionally take place during daylight hours, but not at night. In other words, it is as if Franklin is saying that if an individual wants to be wise and healthy, he must sleep at night in order to be socially active in the morning.
I cannot say that I agree entirely with Franklin’s saying, for I do not support the idea of one-sided propaganda. In my opinion, a person can maintain their health and wisdom even when they do not go to bed early and wake up late; it is optional. Having a critical mindset, paying attention to one’s own body, and preventing illness are what make a person healthy at all hours of the day. Based on the above, I would like to propose two questions for further discussion:
- What exactly is the biological mechanism behind Franklin’s chosen strategy of going to bed early and getting up early? That is, why is it good for the body?
- Have there been times in your life when you felt awake and healthy after sleeping during the day?