BEŞİNCİ BÂB · ÜÇÜNCÜ FASIL · Beşinci Madde
**Article Five**
Concerning the balancing of three of the six obligatory matters.
O esteemed one! Know that physicians have said: Whoever strives to preserve the health of the body should balance the remaining three of the six obligatory matters with precaution and live out their life’s span in health and well-being.
**The Balance of Sleep and Wakefulness**
The best sleep is that which is balanced in duration and time. That is, sleep should be uninterrupted and deep, not exceeding four hours. One should begin sleeping after food has been digested in the stomach. Thus, after two or three hours have passed from eating and drinking, one should sleep during the second digestion. Whoever has a weak stomach, if they desire to aid digestion with sleep, should first lie on their right side for about half an hour. In this way, the food may easily be drawn by the liver from the mouth, and the liver’s heat may warm it. Afterwards, one must sleep on their left side. Thus, the liver will spread like a blanket over the stomach, warming it and aiding digestion. Then, one should again lie on their right side for about two hours. This movement aids in the food's passage to the liver during the second digestion.
Sleep provides more benefit to the body regarding seizing the character of what is eaten than wakefulness does. For when asleep, the body’s internal heat is abundant, so it greatly affects the substance.
Wakefulness provides more benefit to the body regarding transforming what is eaten into a fluid state than sleep does.
For in a state of wakefulness, the body's heat is directed outwards, separating and rendering the substance fluid. Whoever sweats excessively during their sleep is full of food or mixtures. Whoever has heavy and long sleep, that is, more than eight hours, possesses excessive moisture in their brain. They should eat light foods to lighten their sleep and find balance. Whoever is afflicted with sleeplessness, that is, remains awake for more than twenty-four hours, finds relief through bathing. Drinking milk, barley water, and the like will induce sleep.
It is a suffocating nightmare when one imagines a heavy object falling upon them during sleep, restricting their movement and constricting their breath. This suffocating nightmare arises from the lack of wakefulness and movement that separate vapors, causing blood vapor, phlegm vapor, or passion vapor to reach the brain. The remedy for this is cleansing the brain through vomiting (emesis).
**The Balance in Foodstuffs**
To a body desiring to continue in health, one must give it what is similar in quality. If a corrupted health is desired to be transferred to a superior health, one must give it its opposite. Therefore, those who wish to preserve the health of their bodies as it is, should eat, as basic foods, wheat bread cleansed of blemishes like black seeds, moderately sweet things, lamb and poultry. They should take small morsels and chew them thoroughly. From fruits, they should prefer both dried and fresh figs and grapes. They should not turn towards medicated fruits; rather, they should only eat them to regulate temperament or because they are the available food at that moment. Never should one eat with a lack of appetite. One must not delay satisfying their desire for food. In summer days, one should take cold foods; in winter days, warm foods. One should not eat another food upon digested food. The time of eating should not be prolonged, so that the first things eaten are not different from what is eaten afterwards in digestion. It is necessary to avoid increasing variety in meals, lest confusion arise in digestion. Delicious foods are most beneficial if not overindulged; their appetite is swift, unless it is delayed due to its vapor.
Hot foods are harmful to the body, hastening old age and tiring bodily organs. Taking sweet foods relaxes the stomach, protects the body, and stimulates bile. Salty foods dry out the body, expel bile, and weaken limbs and strength. The harms of sweetness are remedied by sourness; the harms of sourness are remedied by sweetness. Bland food balances salty food, and salty food balances bland food. One must refrain from eating when appetite arises for food.
It is certainly necessary to observe established times and requirements for meals. However, those who have become accustomed to unhealthy foods should not continue them, but rather abandon them gradually, reducing their habitual meal times to one meal a day. For eating once during the daylight hours and once at night brings health to the body and lightness to the soul.
The proliferation of various illnesses is from overeating. Therefore, whoever protects themselves from satiety will find well-being throughout their life.
The food of someone whose temperament is sanguine should be cold and stimulating (muharrik); the food of someone whose temperament is phlegmatic should be warm and subtle (latif); the food of someone whose temperament is choleric should be cold and moist, like a pomegranate; the food of someone whose temperament is passionate should be humid.
Eating fish while drinking milk is harmful to the body. It causes chronic diseases such as leprosy and partial paralysis. Taking sourness with milk together is also very dangerous. Eating toasted flour (sevîk) on milk, grapes on paça, nar (herîse) on keşkek, combining rice (erz) with vinegar (hall) is harmful to the body and a detriment to the stomach. The saying, "Whoever eats only bread and dried figs will not need a doctor throughout his life," is never forgotten among physicians.
A person with a weak constitution should take advantage of their food by retaining it in the stomach and intestines, benefiting from those parts that penetrate into the vessels. For example, they should boil almonds, pistachios, walnuts, benni seeds, wheat, rice pilaf, melons, watermelons, and sesame seeds [160/a], taking two measures each morning on an empty stomach for forty days.
Tevakki şurbe’l-mâ’i fî-hamsetin
Fe-innehâ câlibetun li’s-sekâmi
Akîbe hammâmin kezâ bâ’etin
Ve’n-nevmi ve’l-i‘yâ ve ekli’t-ta‘âmi
Beş yerde su içmekten sakın, çünkü onlar hastalık getirir. Banyodan, cimâdan, uykudan, yorgunluktan sonra ve yemek üzerine.
Ger be-bended çunân ki ne-guşâyed
Ger dil ez-omr ber konî şâyed
Bağlanırsa açılmayacak kadar; kalbe elem verir, bedene zarar.
Ger dil ez-omr ber konî şâyed
V’er guşâyed çunân ki ne-tevân best
Gû be-şûy ez-hayât-i dunyâ dest
Bağlanmayacak kadar açılırsa; ölüme götürür, vermesin tasa.
Çâr tab’-i muhâlif u serkeş
Çend rûzî şodend bâ-hem hoş
Dört değişik, serkeş tabiatlar var; buluşmuş insanda ve kaynaşmışlar.
Ger yekî z’în çehâr şod gâlib
Cân-ı şîrîn ber âred ez-kâlib
Gâlip olursa bu dörtten biri; kalıbdan can söker, bırakmaz diri.
Lâ cerem merd-i ârif u kâmil
Ne-nehed ber hayât-i dunyâ dil
İşte ârif, kâmil olan insanlar; bu fânî dünyaya bel bağlamazlar.