[De epidemia et peste]

Chapter Six: On preservation from an epidemic through exercise.

The fourth aid in preservation from an epidemic is taken from exercise. Whence I say that the one preserving himself in operating correctly should not exercise except a little, since labor overheats and makes one breathe frequently and necessitates inhaling corrupt air, which, when frequently attracted, alters and corrupts the humors of the heart and those contained in the spirits.

Let weak exercise be done in a temperate place, not in the hot sun. Beware of dancing, wrestling, jumping, running, and every act in which great and frequent breathing is required. But let him eat and drink temperately so that superfluities are not aggregated in the body, which it is necessary to consume and evacuate through exercise.

Chapter Seven: On preservation from an epidemic through sleep and waking.

The fifth aid is taken from sleep and waking. It is necessary that he sleep at night in a well-closed room, and it should be fumigated in the aforementioned manner.

Too long a sleep is not appropriate, because it humidifies too much, and we ought to decline entirely toward an exsiccative Drying. regimen, except for exercise, as the prince Abohaly says. Daytime sleep should be avoided, especially in winter and in hot weather while the days are long. And if it must be done, let it be in a temperate place, with footwear removed. And let it be done far from eating, because those who sleep immediately after food suffer immediate heaviness in the body, as is written by the prince of physicians Avicenna., in the fourth book of the Aphorisms, comment sixty-seven. "In fevers from sleep, etc." Beware of excessive vigils, because they superfluously dry and cast down the strength.