SAVE YOUR STEP

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 373, 6 June 1928, Page 6

SAVE YOUR STEP

SYSTEM REDUCES FATIGUE To have “a place for everything and everything in its place” is worry-sav-ing as well as labour-saving. In the course of a recent investigation in an up-to-date kitchen, a psychologist watched a housewife make tea —perhaps the most frequent and the least complicated process in the daily routine of the kitchen. The kettle was standing on the cooker. She carried it to the sink, filled it with water, took it back to the cooker, lit the gas, and put the kettle on to boil. Then she went to the cupboard to fetch the teapot, to another shelf to fetch the tea caddy, and to a table drawer to fetch a spoon. Between each movement she hesitated for a second, thinking out the next move. Now the psychologist recognises that this “thinking out” —the mental effort required to make minor decisions —multiplied many times during the day’s work, is one of the principal causes of fatigue. It would, of course, be absurd to suggest that it could produce brain fag, but it certainly induces a tired feeling which, as many housewives are aware, is the first stage toward physical exhaustion. A little worry, a little time, and a little trouble could be saved by keeping the kettle near the sink, ready for filling, and the teapot tea caddy and spoon near the cooker, ready for use when the kettle boils. Similarly, in the preparation of vegetables for cooking a great saving may be effected by a little forethought. • t