Sleep or not to sleep that is the question
Old people has said to control three desires. Three desires are, the appetite, lust and sleep. It is to bear food and drink, bear lust and sleep less. It should be well known to control your appetite and lust but it is not known that it is the way of taking care of yourself to have less sleep.
They reason why it is better to have less sleep is that the inner power shall circulate better and consequently you will have less chance for illness. You have larger chance to get sick if you sleep too much for your inner power will stagnant.
It is good to go to bed late at night. It is utmost hazardous to take nap during daytime. If you go to bed early in the evening your dinner won't be digested enough. It causes the stagnancy of digestion so that your inner power won't circulate well enough.
It is quite understandable that the old people has defined those desires as the three initial desires that had to be controlled. As you acquire the habit of sleeping long duration, it becomes unbearable not to sleep. The control of your sleep is quite identical with controlling other two desires. The hardship to bear sleep is identical to bear other two desire. You cannot bear unless you are accustom to bear.
It becomes natural to sleep less as you making sleeping less to be your habit. If you make effort to stay within less sleep, then it becomes habit to sleep less.
It is important to make it habit to sleep less.
I am objective with this opinion. Because I need nap frequently as I have passed 60. At the age of Ekken, there were not many people over 60. But mind you, he wrote this book of Yojokun at his age of 83. Probably he had get tired of taking sleep for living too long. Well?
The age was of Confucianism. And its doctrine tells that hard-working is the goodness.
By the way Japan is the only country where Confucianism ever prospered. It was not well accepted in China where the doctrine was born.
The wise person values the honor.
There may be some people who would have such doubt as; a person who takes too much care of keeping own life cannot be considerate to the others.
But wise person values the honor. For this reason, wise person won't care about own life and gives one's life for what is right and die for the crisis of integrity. If one thinks of taking care of oneself and oneself alone, and tries to avoid to hurt a hair or to have scrape, this person would surely try to avoid hurting oneself when this person faces to the crisis of integrity. That is the possibility, but I'd answer to the doubt as followings.
There are status of static and dynamic. In static status you do statically and you act dynamic when you are in dynamic status. You act upon status of the honor. It is the correct behavior to stay in static while the status stays in static and you take good care of your life. It is the behavior of honor not to take care of your life while in the status of dynamic. What is required here is that you respect the honor as the status tells. And you can throw away the doubt brought up.
It is the best to follow the way as the situation or status tell and to be flexible with it. It can be said that you wear thinner in summer and wear thick in winter. The core is that you cannot behave same and you should not cling to the customs.
It is impossible to fight whenever necessary unless you keep your body in good condition and none of the bad health can fight at all. Then it is the best to take good care of yourself while in the status of static so that you can show your courage whenever required.
Know the real meaning of taking care of yourself
A person says that the art of taking care of oneself may be good for the people who has retired or is living detached from the neighboring people.
But it is not that easy for Samurai who has to be loyal to the lord, to be obedient to their parents and to work their body by learning military arts, and for the people who earns for their living by working days and nights. If those people tries to persist the art of taking care of themselves, their body as well as their skill of living may become weak and rust away their dexterity for living . But these are the doubt that people who does not know the way of taking care of themselves has.
Don't take the word wrong. The art of taking care of oneself does not mean that you stay away from the reality and lay sleep all day long. It means that you keep your mind calm and work your body. Relaxing too much of your body may induce the sickness by the stored and non-circulating inner power.
The drifting wood never decay and the axis of a door will stay. Anything that keep taking a certain load will live long and anything that does not take load won't last long. Then it is recommended to work for living. It is wrong to live playfully. This is the art of long life span.
And those are the holistic tip that keep you staying in anti aging healthy life.