The twelve Animal Signs

for Men

Monkey man
His physical background

The Monkey man is probably the one native of the Chinese duodecimal zodiac with such an unmistakable air of benevolence about him, which becomes even more pronounced with age. In spite of his witty intelligence, people find him innocent, well-disposed, highly approachable. He is mostly recognizable by his angelic smile.

There exists certain elegance in this subject's bearing and movements; it is absolutely natural, inborn, for he abhors nothing more than affectation. He has a nervous, somewhat hopping gait. His body is generally slender but not too long.

The Monkey male is by no means an effeminate man as are his Snake and Goat counterparts. However, one cannot help being struck by the softness of his look and the fineness of his features. In fact, his face faithfully reflects his tolerant, sympathetic soul. But as he is an emotional person despite the many indications of his personality to the contrary, this same face swiftly turn pale under the effect of surprise or restrained anger.

His forehead is high, surmounted with fair, light, almost mossy hair. He smiles or laughs mostly with his sparkling eyes which, at other moments, exhale astonishment and naiveté. He likes to say hello to everyone by puckering up his rounded nose in the manner of rabbits, or winking amusingly.

This man shares many health characteristics with the Dragon male. Like his flashy astrological brother, he is subject to insomnia which, if not effectively combated, may become a severe handicap. His sleep tends to deteriorate with the passing of the years, and it is in his interest to learn to make the most of his endless wakeful hours, not by fretting, but by indulging in some useful hobby such as reading, listening to good music, or photographic laboratory work. In any case he seems to need less sleep than the average person.

The mechanism of vision is almost always more or less defective in the Monkey man. This sign supplies a good horde of myopes, astigmats, and individuals suffering from eyesight anomalies of one kind or another.

But unlike the Dragon, who often fall a victim to hypertension, the Monkey man is liable to hypotension, which, among other things, makes him very sensitive to cold. With his faulty, sluggish circulation, he is exposed, on one hand, to giddiness, migraine, feelings of faintness, sudden losses of consciousness, and on the other hand, to varices, varicose ulcers, hemorrhoids, and even arteriosclerosis. His heart may show signs of irregularity because of the weakness of his blood vessels. In addition, anemia frequently comes to complicate his health condition.

This usually soft-spoken and indulgent nature may have sudden fits of anger which are hard to account for and which he will bitterly regret afterwards. Also, it is not impossible for him to display a paranoiac comportment from time to time.

Although a careful, conscientious driver, he may cause a traffic accident every now and then during one of his well-known "attention failures," for he is vulnerable to sudden strokes of absent-mindedness and euphoria.

All told, though not endowed with a robust constitution, the typical Monkey man does enjoy relatively good health. If he is prudent enough, he will rarely be compelled to keep his bed. Unfortunately, he often shows himself impardonably oblivious of the practical side of life, neglecting to take care of himself as he should. Is his chronic absent-mindedness responsible for his carelessness?

The native must above all secure his vital minimum of sleep, for it is through sleep that he can preserve a good part of his physiological equilibrium. In all logic, he must avoid coffee, tea, tense situations, and in general anything which may jeopardize the smooth functioning of his nervous system.

Fatigable because of his shaky cardiovascular apparatus, the Monkey man will find his interest in avoiding to overwork himself. Constant surveillance by a cardiologist is recommended.

Boredom being the worst enemy of his well-being, he will need to change activities frequently or, if this is not possible, to pause at short intervals during his work. In any case, it is preferable that he be his own employer.

To keep himself fit, he can practice some sport that requires adroitness and mental alertness such as skiing, lawn tennis, table tennis, or fencing. But he is advised against more strenuous sport because of his fatigability.

His diet must imperatively be as diversified as possible. This recommendation is of the utmost importance in view not only of his health requirements but also of his inveterate tendency to eat the same things day in and day out - he is always reluctant to devote his time to thinking of changing his menus.

Given his pathological predispositions, the Monkey man should regularly eat foods that are rich in phosphor such as fishes and oysters, in magnesium such as dried vegetables, in iron, and in vitamins. All fruits, fresh or dried, can prove most beneficial to him.