Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 219, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1918 — Best Time to Take Vacation Is in Extremely Cold Weather of Winter [ARTICLE]

Best Time to Take Vacation Is in Extremely Cold Weather of Winter

By BRICE BELDEN, M. D.

It is customary with us to take vacations in the summer, although we really need them more in winter, when human powers' are limited by low temperature. We are at our physical best in the autumn and spring. So it is not because we have been away in the summer that we feel better in the autumn, but because of the favorable conditions of the autumn season. The best work in factories by operatives who take no summer vacations is done in the autumn. Such workers are most apt to lay off in the very cold months, and many factories shut down the week after Christmas because of the low energy of the operatives. Throughout the spring factory charts show a rise in the efficiency curve until about the middle of June, or when the average temperature is 68 degrees. It then falls as the temperature rises. During the autumn the efficiency curve rises at an increasing rate as the temperature is gradually falling, but when the average temperature falls below 48 degrees the curve turns downward and reaches its lowest point in January. The logic of all this is that we ought to take all our vacations in January. The reasons why we do not are because we prefer fine weather for our outings; because most out-of-door sports can be played to better advantage in the summer, and because sultry summer weather causes much bodily discomfort. Then we have a notion that cold weather is “exhilarating,” and that we don’t need a vacation at such a time because of this “bracing” quality of the season. The fact is that cold weather keeps us moving so as to quicken the circulation, which is depressed by low temperatures, and this activity is erroneously supposed to indicate a maximum of energy.