FOOTNOTES:
[5] For a knowledge of the structure and function of the mucous lining of the stomach and intestines, and of the tributary glands, such as the liver and pancreas, which is important to a thorough understanding of digestion, the reader is referred to Let’s Be Healthy, of this series. In this will be found a study of the secretion of digestive juices, the conditions favoring normal secretions, etc.
[6] Hereafter, in speaking of sugar, after it has been absorbed into the blood, the reader will bear in mind that the term refers not only to digested sugar, consumed as such, but also to digested starches (maltose).
[7] See Let’s Be Healthy, by Susanna Cocroft.
CHAPTER VI
ORGANS AND CONDITIONS AFFECTING DIGESTION
The purpose of this chapter is to show the work of other than the digestive organs in assimilation, construction, and elimination.
The liver is commonly called the chemical workshop of the body. The digested food is carried by the blood (portal veins) to the liver as soon as it is absorbed from the alimentary canal. As the food materials filter through the blood capillaries, between the liver cells, several substances are absorbed, particularly sugar, which is changed into the animal starch called glycogen. It is held in the liver for a few hours in this form and is then redigested and gradually given to the blood in the form of sugar.
While the conversion of the sugar is one prominent function of the liver, it also acts on the proteins—not as they are first passed through the liver in the blood, but as they are returned to the liver from the muscle tissue, partly oxidized and broken up into simpler products. The liver cells absorb and further oxidize and combine them into nitrogenous waste, which the kidneys throw off in urea.
The liver and the spleen also dissolve the pigment or coloring matter out of the red blood corpuscles. As these become useless, they are broken up in the liver and the spleen. The iron is retained by the liver cells and the remainder is thrown off in the bile.
The liver is on guard for all poisons which pass through it in the blood. The large part of these toxic substances are absorbed through the alimentary canal with the foodstuffs. Many of them are the result of the fermentation of foods which are not digested so promptly or so thoroughly as they should be, on account of an insufficient secretion of digestive juices, or on account of a failure to secrete them in normal proportions, due to inactivity of the stomach and intestines.
Nature thus supplies a guard to oxidize, or break down these poisons and make them harmless, so that normally they do not affect the nerves and the blood stream, and, through these, the entire system.
The necessity of correct habits of deep breathing will be readily seen here, because oxygen is required to break down the poisons as well as to oxidize the worn-out tissues.
One example of the action of the liver in rendering substances harmless, is its oxidation of alcohol. From one to three ounces of alcohol a day may be oxidized and made harmless in the liver, varying according to the individual and to the condition, at different times, in the same person. If the limit of one to three ounces is exceeded, the excess is not oxidized and intoxication results. This is the reason one may become intoxicated at one time when the same amount of liquor would not appreciably affect one at another.
The muscles play an important part in the use of foods. Most of the heat is generated in them by the action of the oxygen in the blood upon the sugar and fats, liberating their latent heat. This heat is liberated during every moment of the twenty-four hours whether one is asleep or awake. Of course, more is liberated during exercise, since the movement of the muscles sets all tissues into activity and the blood circulates more strongly, bringing a greater supply of oxygen to them.
It is always well during active exercise to stop frequently and fully inflate the lungs, not only to bring more oxygen to the blood, but to change the residual air and in the inflation to exercise the lung tissue more freely, bringing a better supply of nourishment to it. We forget that the lung tissue as well as every other tissue of the body needs exercise and a full supply of nourishment.
One should form the habit of breathing fully and deeply—otherwise the liberated carbon dioxid will cause an increased pressure throughout the blood stream, particularly about the heart and in the head. This pressure is relieved when the excess of carbon dioxid has been thrown off by the lungs. Much dull headache is due to the retention of carbon dioxid resulting from shallow breathing.
Nature makes the effort to throw off this excess of carbon dioxid by forcing one to breathe more rapidly while running or taking unusual exercise.
A certain amount of protein is constantly oxidized in muscular action also, being broken down into carbon dioxid, water, and a number of nitrogenous mid-products. The carbon dioxid and water are thrown off by the lungs, and the partially oxidized nitrogenous waste is carried to the liver, where it is further oxidized and prepared for excretion through the kidneys, lungs, skin, and intestines.
Through their stimulant action, the nerves aid in oxidizing food materials. During periods of rest, food materials are also stored in the nerve cells. During nervous activity they are oxidized and carried away through the blood and the lymph. This oxidation of the food, stored in the nerves, creates nervous energy and heat.
The energy liberated by the nerves resembles electrical energy.
When one is continuously using an excess of nerve activity, all reserve food material, stored in the nerve cells, is used and the nerves become undernourished. The result is seen in neurasthenic conditions of various kinds.
The nerves as well as other tissues require protein to renew their substance as well as fats and carbohydrates for their energy.
The vasomotor nerves influence digestion to a marked extent by regulating the blood pressure in the digestive organs and the consequent rate of speed with which digestion and absorption take place. They speed up or slow down the movements of the alimentary canal, thus aiding and preventing the admixture of the food with the digestive juices. By acting on the glands, they aid or prevent the secretions from being formed and poured out. They thus materially affect digestion.
The vasomotor nerve centers are in the medulla oblongata.
The lungs absorb oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxid. They occasionally throw off a very little organic material.
The carbon dioxid is carried to the lungs from the tissues through the venous stream and diffused through the walls of capillaries in the lungs. The oxygen is absorbed in the thin air sacs in the capillary walls.
If the lungs are cramped by a faulty position of the body, by excess of fat, or by tight clothing, they cannot expand to their fullest extent. The blood is thus imperfectly aërated and oxygenized and is not freed of its waste. The lung tissue is imperfectly exercised, sufficient blood not being brought to the lung cells to insure their strength.
The cramping of the lungs is due largely to incorrect habits of standing and sitting.
The kidneys do not absorb as do the lungs, neither do they perform any anabolic work as does the liver, nor catabolic work as the muscles, nerves, and the liver. They simply throw off waste matter.
As the blood passes through them urea, uric acid, urates, sulphates, and sodium phosphates pass from it and with the water are thrown from the system; hence the kidneys are purifying organs, as are the lungs. The blood returning from the kidneys through the veins is pure, just as the blood in the pulmonary vein is pure, while that in the arteries to the kidneys is impure.
Interference with the action of the kidneys results in an excess of these substances in the blood and may produce a condition of intoxication known as uremic poisoning.
The skin, by pressure on the capillaries, controls, to some extent, their dilatation, and thus prevents an excessive loss of fluid. When a portion of the skin is removed by accident, as after burns, drops of moisture may be seen gathering on the denuded surface and may result in considerable loss if the denuded surface is large.
The skin is a protective covering. We are constantly surrounded with bacteria, dirt, etc., and the skin prevents their absorption.
It contains glands which secrete a fluid fat. This keeps the skin soft and flexible, preventing it from becoming too dry. The skin also prevents the underlying tissues from injury through abrasions or contact with foreign substances, as in various industries.
It also contains sweat glands, which throw off body waste in the form of salts and moisture in the perspiration; this helps to regulate the body heat and to aid in keeping the skin soft.
The kidneys and the skin are interdependent; if the kidneys are inactive the skin must throw off a larger quantity of waste and if the skin is inactive, or if for any reason its pores are closed, the kidneys become more active.
The skin also throws off carbon dioxid and, to a slight extent, it absorbs oxygen.
Besides digesting and absorbing food, the intestines eliminate waste.
In their work of elimination, they pass off all undigested matter. They also carry off bile pigment, bile salts, mucus, other decomposition products—also a little unabsorbed fat.
Coarse articles of food containing fibers which do not digest, such as the bran of grains and the coarser fibers of fruits and vegetables (much of their substances are not food in the strictest sense), are valuable, as they increase the peristaltic movements of the intestines and assist in carrying the waste excretions along their course.
The intestines also carry off the organic refuse which is produced by the chemical action of oxygen. This refuse consists of carbon dioxid and the nitrogenous waste.
Combustion, or burning of fuel in any form (oxidation to release latent heat and energy), always leaves a residue, and it is the work of the intestines to eliminate much of this refuse. When coal is burned, gas, smoke, ashes, and cinders constitute the waste; if these were not allowed to escape or were not removed from a stove the fire would soon go out—the smoke and gas would smother it and the accumulation of ashes would prevent the circulation of oxygen.
This is true in the body—the carbon dioxid not being allowed to pass off would soon put out the fires of life; it would poison the body and inhibit the action of the nerves. If the waste is not thrown from the system we notice it in a feeling of lassitude, both mental and physical. If the nitrogenous waste (like ashes and cinders) is not eliminated, one will die in convulsions in a few days.
The absolute necessity of a free elimination of waste will be readily seen. If the engine is to do its work, the engineer sees that it is kept perfectly clean—otherwise it becomes clogged, works inefficiently, and soon wears out. The same is true in the body—clogging in any part overworks and wears out other parts dependent on the work of the defective one.
Constipation, or a failure of the intestines to eliminate the waste is a grave menace to the system. The poisonous gases accumulating are absorbed by the system.
The blood carries the digested food and the oxygen to the various tissues and organs, which select from among the nutrients offered to them the ones suited to their growth and repair.
It is the universal medium of exchange.
It carries carbon dioxid to the lungs and the wastes of the tissues to the other eliminative organs.
It carries impure material to the purifying organs, and pure material away from them.
When it is lacking in quality or quantity the body suffers and if the lack continues the body dies.
Every organ contributes its share to the work of the blood and every organ takes from the blood some of its elements. If the blood pressure is too low, stagnation may occur. If it is too high an abnormal condition of the system results.
In fact, on the condition of the blood depends the effective working of the entire organism.
Constant effort then should be intelligently exerted to eat the proper foods, to exercise judiciously, to think healthful thoughts, to secure thorough elimination of waste in order that the whole body shall be fit for the work which its owner desires it to do.
SUMMARY
The processes which the food undergoes in digestion—conversion into condition to be absorbed by the body; in absorption through the walls of the intestines and stomach, and the metabolic processes which it undergoes in being converted into heat and energy and again broken down and eliminated as waste, are, in brief, as follows:
The Saliva begins the digestion of starches and sugars in the mouth, and continues this digestion for a time in the stomach.
The Stomach, when in normal condition, digests the proteins. If any proteins fail of digestion in the stomach the process is completed in the intestines. It has little absorptive power.
The Small Intestine digests and absorbs the fats and continues the digestion of starches, sugars, fats, and proteins, when this digestion is not completed in the stomach.
The large part of the food is absorbed through the small intestine, though a small part is absorbed through the walls of the stomach and through the large intestine.
Fats are almost entirely absorbed in the small intestine. They are absorbed through the lacteals and are carried into the blood-stream.
The intestines, aside from their work of digestion and absorption, excrete bile pigment, bile salts, mucus, and other decomposition products, also such food materials as are not digested.
The Liver. The proteins, the starches (converted into maltose), and sugars pass into the liver. The sugar (including the sugar in vegetables, milk, fruits and that used for sweetening as well as the carbohydrates which have been changed into maltose) is converted into glycogen in the liver, stored for a time, and again broken down into a condition in which it may be absorbed into the blood.
The proteins pass through the liver but are not acted on by this organ until they again return to the liver through the blood stream, after they have been partly oxidized in the tissues. The liver further oxidizes them, putting them into condition to be excreted by the kidneys and intestines.
The liver also breaks up the worn-out red corpuscles putting them into condition to be eliminated in the bile.
It oxidizes and renders harmless poisonous substances absorbed in the food, such as fermented food products and alcohol.
The Muscles oxidize the fats and sugars liberating the latent heat and energy. They partly oxidize proteins which are further broken up in the liver.
The Nerves oxidize food materials stored in the nerve cells, providing nervous energy.
The Lungs absorb oxygen and throw off carbon dioxid, watery vapor, and some organic substances.
The Kidneys and the Skin excrete water, carbon dioxid, and nitrogenous waste.
The Blood carries the vital elements derived from the food to all the organs and tissues, keeping them alive and actively functioning. It also carries waste products to the skin, lungs, kidneys, and intestines for elimination.
FACTORS INFLUENCING DIGESTION
As before stated, it is not the food eaten, but that which the body digests and assimilates, or appropriates to its needs, which counts. Many factors influence such nourishment. The principal aids are a forceful circulation, the plentiful breathing of oxygen, and free elimination.
The Appetite
If one has no appetite, we have been told in the past to abstain from food until the system calls for it, or to eat but a very little of the lightest food at regular meal times. This is right, but it deals with the effect and not the cause of the lack of appetite.
The chances are that this lack is due to retained waste. Whenever there is too much waste in the system, the chances are that the digestive organs will not call for more food, and when the appetite is lacking the effort should be made to see that the system is thoroughly clean. Every muscle and tissue must be relieved of the excess of waste. The correction of the lack of appetite, then, is not only abstinence from food, but brisk exercise, plenty of fresh air in the lungs, free drinking of water, and the elimination of the waste through the intestines, skin, lungs, and kidneys.
One should not be led into forming the habit of irregular eating, however. The stomach forms habits and the supply of food must be regular, just as the nursing child must be fed regularly, or digestive disturbance is sure to result.
Care should be taken not to eat between meals nor to eat candy or indigestible foods.
The lack of appetite may be due to mental preoccupation which does not let the brain relax long enough for the physical needs to assert themselves. One should relax the brain in pleasant thought during the meal.
But the chief thing to bear in mind is to create the demand for food by relieving the system of its waste, by calling for more supply to the muscles through exercise, and by giving the system plenty of oxygen through deep breathing.
The appetite is partly under control of the will and may be trained. It is more or less capricious and may be satisfied with little, or it may demand large amounts of food. Grief or worry will destroy it, as will foul air, and overfatigue.
A voracious appetite may be due to an irritation of the nerves of the stomach or to a disturbance of digestion of one kind or another. This is shown by the fact that sometimes those with abnormal appetites are thin and undernourished because of non-digestion of the food. If the food is eaten slowly and well chewed, the desire for too great an amount will be lessened. The food will also be better digested.
The chalk-eating, clay-eating, salt-eating habits are well known. The desire is largely mental and may be treated by substituting healthful thoughts for morbid longings, and changing the monotonous or restricted diet for one more liberal.
If the appetite is lacking because of physical exhaustion, it is unwise to eat, because the digestive organs are tired, and to load a tired stomach with food, still further weakens it and results in indigestion. The better plan is to drink two glasses of cold water and lie down for an hour.
Lack of appetite and the taste for highly seasoned food may come from a monotonous diet or one that does not contain sufficient coarse food or sufficient water to stimulate peristalsis; the result is stagnation and constipation, with the disorders that follow in its train. The monotonous diet, from its effect on the mind, results in lack of desire for food. Both the condition and the appetite are often stimulated and changed by a greater variety in the kinds of food.
Care should be taken not to form the habit of using stimulants too freely, particularly with children.
Condiments and stimulants, used to make the food “appetizing,” unduly stimulate the nerves, and pervert the natural taste, and foods containing their natural amount of spices or extractives no longer tempt one. Those whose nerves are highly keyed, form the habit of seasoning the food too highly. This undue stimulation calls for more food at the time of eating than a normal appetite would demand. The taste being cultivated for the stimulant, the habit of eating too much food is formed.
A wise provision of Nature makes the system, in a normal condition, its own regulator, protesting against food when it has not assimilated or eliminated that consumed. One should learn to obey such protests and cut down the quantity when Nature calls “enough,” and exercise to eliminate waste, thus creating a better assimilation. Nature does not call for more food until she has eliminated the excess of waste.
There are exceptions, however. Some phases of indigestion cause a gnawing sensation in the stomach which is often mistaken for a desire for food. This is not a normal appetite. Water will usually relieve it.
Often loss of appetite is the result of a clogging of the intestines or liver, or is due to an excess of bile, which, not having been properly discharged into the intestines, has entered the blood stream or regurgitated into the stomach. A torpid liver often expresses itself in a dull mental force, the toxins deadening the nerve cells.
The lack of desire for exercise of those living in warm climates results in a sluggish activity of the system. As a result it demands less food, and habits of excessive seasoning to stimulate the appetite have been formed.
The desire for excessive stimulants, such as salt, may be a cultivated taste and the habit should be corrected.
There is a difference between the cultivated and the normal appetite. A child rarely shows a desire for stimulants such as tea or coffee, excessive salt, pepper, pickles, catsups, etc., unless unwisely encouraged by an adult, who does it, not because it is food for the child, but because the individual himself has cultivated a taste for it.
It is as easy to form healthful tastes and habits of eating as unhealthful ones, and care should especially be exercised over the formation of healthful habits in the growing child.
One should not allow himself to become “finicky” or no food will give him its best service.
Time, energy, muscular activity, nerve force, and money are spent in combining, seasoning, and cooking foods in such a manner as often to render them difficult of digestion.
Let me repeat for emphasis—when the appetite wanes, deep breathing of fresh air to supply an abundance of oxygen to oxidize the waste, thus putting it in condition to be expelled from the system, brisk exercise to accelerate the circulation, that the blood may carry the oxygen freely and that the tissues may liberate the carbon dioxid and other waste, and a copious drinking of water, are the best tonics for loss of appetite or for a lack of vitality.
Season and Climate
The food required by the body varies according to the season of the year and the temperature. Thus, during cold weather, the body craves hot foods and drinks, and the heavier foods which furnish more heat-producing elements. In summer, the lighter foods, fruits, and the proteins supplied in green vegetables instead of in meats, are relished, and cold foods and drinks are desired as aids in equalizing the heat of the body. The total amount of food taken in summer may be lessened because so much food is not required to maintain the body heat and energy. The lessened amount puts less strain on the digestive system.
Owing to the increased perspiration, the desire for water is greater in summer, while in winter or in cool weather, from the opposite condition, the quantity of water taken is usually insufficient.
In travel, when one shifts with more or less rapidity from one temperature to another, the diet should not be altered too greatly or too suddenly; the system must be allowed time to accommodate itself to the change.
The occupation must be taken into consideration. Great muscular activity requires a more liberal diet than a sedentary habit, no matter what the climate may be.
Certain tribes that inhabit the tropics subsist almost entirely on meat, while many of the inhabitants of Russia and Norway live on breadstuffs almost to the exclusion of meat.
Age
It is quite obvious that the food should vary according to the body needs. The needs of the adult, the child, and the infant vary. The baby may not take the food which is required by the child from the age of three to ten, and the aged, not exercising vigorously, does not need the hearty food of the growing child or the active adult. The need for food depends, however, on activity more than on years.
It is more difficult to make those in middle and old age, who are not active, realize that the body no longer needs so much food, due to the fact that it is not so actively building tissue, and that an oversupply causes a serious tax on the digestive system. It brings in its train ills which might easily be avoided by simpler habits and a little study of the actual needs of the body.
More food than the activity of the system demands, taken in later or middle life, causes most of the diseases which afflict this period. Obesity, arteriosclerosis, liver disease, gastro-intestinal diseases, biliousness, kidney diseases, gout, and allied conditions, can all be traced to an overtaxed digestive system, with faulty elimination and weakened organs. These show the rebellion of Nature at being compelled to work overtime.
While these diseases are most frequent after forty, the condition of the system which designates age is not always measured by years.
In the ordinary individual who has allowed himself to sit and become lazy in his habit of life, certain changes in the system occur and the body needs less food than is required in more active life. There are not such heavy calls on reserves for repair, either of nerve force or of material.
Unless active exercises and interests have been kept up, the muscular system begins to deteriorate, the heart action is slower, and there is a lessening of nerve tone. Relaxation of the digestive and intestinal organs occurs, peristalsis is less vigorous, and the glands become less active, owing to the lessened call for energy. From this cause, unless the amount of food is reduced in proportion to the body needs, constipation and other digestive derangements may result.
If one stops physical and mental activity at any age, the vital forces recede, muscles and vital organs become weak and inactive, and the waste of the system is not fully eliminated. Such a man at thirty or forty is physically and mentally older than the man who is in active business or is taking daily vigorous exercise, at seventy or eighty. The latter may follow the same diet which he followed at fifty, while the former should follow the diet of the old man who has stopped active work.
Young men who through excessive drafts on their vitality have exhausted their forces often act and look twice their years. For these the diet should be simple, easily digested, and nutritious, and often reduced in quantity.
Formerly it was thought that at fifty years of age a man or a woman was on the down-hill slope; they were considered “aged.” Owing to the discoveries of scientific tests of the condition of arteries and vital organs, it is now known that years do not play so large a part in the matter of age.
A man or a woman at fifty, who is in vigorous mental and physical health, is in the prime of life, while many from twenty-five to thirty, who have dissipated their vital forces, may be said to have entered the age of decrepitude. The saying, “Man is as old as his arteries,” should be expanded to “Man is as old as his tissues.”
People have thought too long that age is a matter of years. They need to be aroused to recognize the fact that the condition of age is a matter of health of body and mind; that the spirit, which sees to it that the body which it inhabits is kept vigorous and strong by healthful and happy thoughts and an active interest in the world’s affairs, is “young,” no matter what the years number. Optimism and cheer keep one young; pessimism and habits of mental depression age one.
One of the encouraging signs of the times is that more and more people are learning to know that their activities need not be given up because they have reached a certain age. If the children which formerly needed care, have grown and gone to homes of their own, the activities of the mother and father are freed to find vent in other directions. If children no longer need immediate care, the parents have time to make better conditions for the children of others less fortunate. They should interest themselves in public questions that affect these children and their own, indirectly if not directly. New life and strength have been found by many by changing their activities and keeping the thoughts young and the interest vivid. The body will respond marvelously to the mandates of the inner self.
Habit and Regularity of Eating
There is no doubt that the habit of eating governs one’s convictions of what the system requires. One is inclined to think that a desire for a food is a requirement of Nature; yet it may simply be the continuation of a habit due to indigestion.
Chronic abnormal functioning of the organs, such as is seen in indigestion, constipation, sluggish liver, etc., are physical habits.
If a mother feeds her babe every three hours the child will usually wake and call for food about this period. If she has formed the habit of nursing the child every two hours, it will call for food in about two hours, even though all symptoms indicate that the child is overfed.
It is important that both child and adult establish regular and hygienic habits because the digestive juices secrete themselves at the regular periods established. A right habit is as easily formed, and as difficult to change, as a wrong one.
If one forms the habit of eating a certain amount of food, the stomach calls for about the same amount, and when one first begins to change the quantity it protests, whether the change be to eat more or less.
Few people form the habit of drinking sufficient water, particularly if they have been taught that water at meals is injurious. In this busy life, few remember to stop work and drink water between meals, and if not consumed at the meal time the system suffers. Many people look “dried up.”
The habit of drinking two glasses of water on first arising, and six or eight more during the day is an important one.
There is no doubt that a large number of people constantly overload the digestive organs. This, as well as the bolting of food, insufficiently masticated, cannot be too strongly denounced. All food should be chewed to a pulp before being swallowed.
Frequency of Meals
To avoid overeating, many theorists are advocating two meals a day.
When two meals a day are eaten, the first meal should be at nine or ten o’clock in the morning and the second meal at five or six o’clock in the afternoon; whereas, for the average person who eats two meals a day, this custom means that he goes without food until the midday meal and then eats two meals within six hours, with nothing more for eighteen hours.
The argument in favor of two meals a day has been that the digestive system is inactive during sleep, and, therefore, it is not ready for a meal on arising. Pawlow’s experiments, however, show that digestion continues during sleep, though less actively; and it must be borne in mind that the average evening meal is eaten about six o’clock and that there are about four waking hours between this meal and the sleep period; also, that the average individual is awake and moderately active an hour before the morning meal. This gives five waking hours between the evening and the morning meal. About the same time, five hours, elapses between the morning and the midday meal, and between the midday and the evening meal, so that three meals a day divide the digestion periods about evenly. If the amount of food supplied by two meals seems to be sufficient for the needs of the individual, and it is not practical to eat at the hours stated, then omit the midday meal.
In the strain of business life, returning at once to work, after the eating of a heavy meal in the middle of the day, calls all of the surplus blood to the brain; this, in many cases, results disastrously. For this reason, the taking of the heavy meal at night, when the system may relax and time be given to proper digestion, has come to be an institution of city life.
More frequent meals, served in lighter quantity with greater regularity, so that the system is not overloaded at any one meal, is rational for delicate or undernourished nerves and tissues.
The reason invalids or those whose digestive organs are delicate should have the heaviest meal at midday, is because the vigor of the system is greater at this time than later in the day; the increased temperature in fever in the late afternoon retards assimilation. Those whose digestive organs are delicate should not be confined to three meals a day if less food taken oftener is better borne and assimilated, but the meals should be at regular times.
Effect of Exercise and Breathing on Digestion
Food is stored in the muscles for immediate use when needed. If all of the food supplied to the muscles is not used for their daily needs, an excess accumulates unless the muscles are exercised sufficiently to use up the supply. A constant accumulation results in obesity. This condition, by overlaying the organs with fat, compresses them and hampers their activity. If the accumulation continues it ultimately causes a degeneration of the tissues. Apoplexy occurs in those carrying an excess of fat due to a weakening of the walls of the arteries of the brain.
The blood, owing to variations in the external temperature, has a tendency to retreat from the skin through contraction of the capillaries and to engorge the internal organs. Exercise brings the blood to the skin and muscles, causing the waste, broken down by the chemical activity going on every instant of life, to be picked up by the blood and carried to the eliminating organs. Therefore, since the blood is needed in the digestive organs during digestion, active exercise should not be taken immediately after meals.
Exercise taken in the proper amount and at proper times uses up the excess of material, benefits digestion, aids the work of the liver and intestines, keeps the circulation active, the waste eliminated, and results in a feeling of vigor and fitness for one’s work whether physical or mental.
Exercise should be counted as a necessary part of one’s daily activities—as necessary as eating one’s meals. If faithfully done the habit will be formed and the system will soon call for exercise as it does for food.
The young child’s blood circulates freely, his breathing is unrestricted, the waste of the system is fully burned up, potential energy is released, and the result is, he must be active. The effort of the teacher, or of those having the care of children should be, not to restrain the child but rather to direct his activity in advantageous and effective use of his energy.
A little child is an object lesson in alternating exercise, sleep, and food. Almost every waking moment a child is squirming, twisting, and turning, using every muscle of his little body, particularly every vital organ. No excess of waste accumulates in his tissues. The adult does not, as a rule, twist or turn or freely stretch the muscles of the vital organs. The child and the animal stretch and yawn to start the circulation whenever they awaken from sleep. This is instinct—Nature’s law. Man jumps out of bed and begins dressing with mind bent on the business of the day.
The necessity of oxygen is evident. The body will subsist about forty days on the food stored within it without resupply, but it can endure only a few seconds without oxygen, because heat, occasioned by the chemical action of oxygen, is necessary to keep up the physical activity termed “life.” Carbon dioxid (carbonic acid gas) accumulates and poisons the system.
The necessity of habits of full, correct breathing cannot be too fully emphasized.
The quantity of oxygen daily consumed should equal the sum of all other food elements.[8]
Oxygen is necessary in the combustion of fats, starches, and sugars, as it is necessary in the combustion of carbon in wood or coal, and, as explained on pages [123] and [124], oxygen is necessary to keep the body warm.
Deep breathing aids digestion and assimilation, not only because of the regular exercise given to the pancreas, the spleen, the stomach, and the liver by the correct movement of the diaphragm, but also because of the latent heat which the oxygen liberates within the digestive organs and out among the tissues.
While the chemical action of food creates activity within, this activity is materially aided by exercise. Exercise and oxygen are also necessary for chemical action in tearing down waste and in putting raw material into condition to be appropriated to the body needs.
Two glasses of water in the morning and fifteen minutes of brisk exercise in well-selected movements, to start a forceful circulation and to surge the water through the digestive organs, are a daily necessity if one is to keep clean and strong within.
Exercises should be interspersed with deep breathing of pure air.
In breathing guard against drawing up the chest; make the muscular effort, while practicing full breathing, to expand the entire rib cage, back, front, and side.
It is as important to cleanse the body within as without. It is the method employed by all men and women who would retain strong vital forces to a ripe old age. They fully enjoy the mere LIVING.
Ventilation
It is of the utmost importance that one not only forms the habit of correct, full breathing, but also sees to it that the air in the home, or in the place of business, is pure. A window opened at the top and bottom is essential in any place of business—or at least a draft through the room.
There should be plenty of circulating air in the sleeping room. Many restless nights are due to stagnant air.
Teachers find that when they keep their schoolrooms well ventilated the children are less restless, their minds are more alert, they more quickly comprehend what is said to them, and that both they and the children are much less fatigued at the end of the day.
Proper ventilation, and proper exercise have so definite a bearing on the condition of the body which we term “tired” that this subject properly follows.
Fatigue, Disturbed Balance
Since the condition of the body in fatigue so materially affects the digestion, absorption, and assimilation of food, as well as the elimination of waste, it is not amiss to discuss it here.
The habit of eating when overfatigued is almost sure to result in indigestion. Muscular or mental activity has called the blood away from the digestive organs and enough time has not elapsed to restore the equilibrium. The digestive organs are not in condition to take care of the food promptly and fermentation begins.
A few minutes of active exercise and deep breathing for the brain worker, or a half-hour of rest after muscular activity, will equalize the circulation and restore the blood to the stomach and intestines.
People fail to remember that the amount of blood in the body is a fixed quantity, and if an excess of it is called to one portion, the supply is lessened to other portions.
The regular work of the body in keeping up the heart action and the circulation requires a certain amount of energy produced by a certain amount of oxidized foodstuffs. The system in normal condition, with normal breathing, readily furnishes this energy. If more than the normal amount is used in increased work, greater combustion is necessary. The extra amount of waste which has been liberated by this extra work must also be carried away. If combustion does not take place, the extra energy is not supplied, and that required for the constant bodily needs is called on.
If the waste is not removed from the system and the energy not resupplied to the parts doing the extra work, the muscles, nerves, and tissues are then in the state termed “tired.” They remain so until the circulation has carried the waste to the eliminating organs and has brought more foodstuffs to the tissues, thus restoring more energy than is needed for the work constantly going on in the body.
It must be remembered that for combustion oxygen is required and if undue energy is necessary deep breathing is imperative.
The relief, then, from the state of the body we call fatigue is in equalizing the circulation through exercise or rest, according to the occupation, and supplying oxygen through full breathing. This more forceful circulation calls the blood from the unduly distended capillaries, removes the waste, and brings a new supply of energy-building foodstuffs.
In mental work, the nerves and the brain call for the surplus energy, while in muscular work the tissues require it, hence undue work, either mental or physical, expresses itself in bodily fatigue, until the demand in all parts of the body is equalized.
When equilibrium is restored, the body is “rested.”
The relief from fatigue due to mental activity is in exercise and deep breathing.
Carbon dioxid dulls the nerves of sensation and the brain action and may produce more or less stupor. It may be because the circulation in some part of the body is sluggish (most often the portal circulation through the liver), so that sufficient oxygen is not carried to that part.
Relief from this “inertness” is experienced most quickly by exercise to quicken the circulation and supply the oxygen. Exercise in one’s room by the open window, or at least with the air in the room pure, is often preferable to outdoor exercise, because the body can be nude, or so loosely clothed that the oxygen may not only enter the lungs but also circulate about the skin.
Fifteen minutes of brisk exercise in one’s room is better than a five-mile walk, because if the exercises are intelligently selected, every organ and tissue is used, while walking exercises only about one-fourth of the muscles.
After sleeping in a room in which the air is impure, one arises fatigued, because the supply of oxygen is insufficient to liberate the energy required for circulation and catabolism.
Harmony, either mental or physical, is rest.
With a little more intelligence in keeping up the supply of oxygen, in establishing correct breathing habits, and in understanding the law of distribution of circulation, which means the harmony of forces, this tired world could not only draw a deep, restful breath, but would be invigorated to enjoy life to the full.
Sleep
During sleep all the processes of the body are retarded.
Blood flow and breathing become slower and the digestive processes slacken. For this reason, if one goes to bed immediately after eating a heavy meal, digestion is retarded. This may react on the nerves, producing fitful or unrestful sleep. Fever or nightmare may result. The annoying, sleepy feeling which often comes on after a meal indicates a lack of balance in the system—usually that more food has been eaten than the body requires. Lessening the amount of food and increasing the exercise and the oxygen, and cleansing the intestinal tract will prevent it.
On the other hand, if the alimentary tract is entirely empty, sleep may not come because there is too much blood in the brain. A glass of hot milk or cocoa, or a couple of crackers, will call the blood to the stomach and will often aid sleep.
After eating a heavy meal, from three to three and a half hours should elapse before retiring for sleep.
Influence of the Mind
The state of mind has much to do with regulating the digestive system. Cheerful thoughts keep the nerves of the entire organism in a normal state, while disagreeable thoughts cause a tense, unnatural condition.
The nerves of the digestive organs are affected by the tenseness of the mind, just as are the nerves to any other part of the body. As an illustration, if one continuously thinks ugly, disagreeable thoughts, these thoughts affect the chemical activities of digestion and assimilation, resulting in an excess of acid in the blood, and actual illness results. Digestion and assimilation being impaired, the tissues become weakened, they lose their resistance, and, as a result, the organs may prolapse. We then have what is called a “vicious circle”—the mind affects the body unpleasantly and the body the mind.
We are learning to consider many factors in looking for the causes of disease, particularly those due to general weakness, or a disturbed mental state. Even the temper shown in a crying babe may affect its digestion by disturbing the normal chemical activity.
Among the blood and digestive disturbances which may result from anxiety, worry, fear, or disagreeable thoughts, are anemia, neurasthenia, indigestion, constipation, prolapsed viscera, and, in fact, all diseases which result from faulty nutrition and resultant weakened tissues.
Disagreeable thoughts affect the appetite, in fact they sometimes cause it to be entirely lost.
All so-called “new thought,” “ologies,” or “isms,” conducive to the formation of the habit of looking on the bright side of life, or of looking for good and joy in life, of kindness, love, and helpfulness, favorably affect the digestion and consequently the health. The practice is Christian Sense.
The nerves control the peristaltic movements of the stomach and the action of the absorptive cells, as well as the cells which secrete the digestive juices. Thus it is that a food which one likes is not only more palatable, but it will also digest more readily, the digestive juices flowing more freely because of the mental stimulus.
It is well, therefore, to begin the meal with something especially appetizing, that the flow of the digestive juices may be incited. For this reason, if one cares for fruit, it is an excellent custom to begin the meal with fruit, or with a well-made soup, containing protein extractives, which will stimulate the flow of digestive juices.
The habit of finishing a meal with some tasty dessert is based on the scientific principle that its palatability will cause the gastric juices to flow more freely after the meal, thus aiding in its digestion.
Dainty service in a sick-room, because of the psychic effect of a meal daintily served, is of utmost importance. Because of the effect on the mind, the sight of a meal served on soiled linen will almost stop the flow of gastric juice and will destroy the desire for food, while a meal well served on dainty linen, with garnishings and tasteful table decorations, incites the flow of gastric juices.
The careful wife and mother, who notes any failure of appetite in members of her family, should attend carefully to the garnishing of her dishes and to serving them in a neat, attractive manner; also to changing her table decorations, so far as may be consistent that the eye as well as the sense of smell and taste may be pleased and the effect of the mind on digestion be exerted.
It is strange, but it is true, that a fresh flower, or a new table decoration, may so pleasantly affect one afflicted with nervous indigestion that the meal more readily digests, while an untidy table, or a lot of food served untidily will retard digestion.
The custom, among hearty eaters, of serving a plate too plentifully, destroys the appetite of one whose digestion is not so active. Our grandmother’s overloaded table, with sufficient food of various kinds to serve many times the number of participants, might stimulate the appetite of hearty, strong men, but the very sight of so much might turn the appetite of one more delicate.
The mind must be relaxed and directed to pleasant themes during a meal or the condition of the nerves of the digestive organs will not permit a free secretion of digestive juices. Chronic indigestion is sure to result from this practice. Dinner, or the hearty meal at night, rather than at noon, is preferable for the business or professional man or woman, because the cares of the day are over and the brain force relaxes. The vital forces are not detracted from the work of digestion.
Foods which are forced down, with a mind arrayed against them, do not digest so readily, because the dislike hinders the flow of the gastric juices. Any food fails of prompt digestion when the nerves controlling the stomach are acting feebly; however, while they digest more slowly during mental protest, they do nourish the system.
Likes and dislikes are largely mental. Certain foods continuously disagree and they should be avoided; but many abstain from wholesome food because it has disagreed a few times. It may be that it was not the particular food but the weakness of the stomach at the time.
Many foods disagree at certain times because of the particular conditions regulating the secretion of digestive juices. When this condition has continued for some time it becomes chronic and a special diet is required, together with special exercises, to bring a better blood supply to stomach and intestines and to regulate the nerves controlling them, in order to correct the abnormality.
One may so form the habit of criticism or of being disgruntled or thinking he cannot eat this food and that, that his entire system suffers. Much indigestion is more mental than physical.
Effect of the Circulation
It can be readily seen that any tissue, playing so important a part in digestion as the blood, needs to be kept in as nearly perfect condition as possible. A vigorous circulation stimulates digestion; a poor circulation retards it.
If the blood is poor in quality the digestive organs are not nourished and the digestive secretions are lessened in quantity and quality.
If the blood is imperfectly aërated it carries an insufficient supply of oxygen, combustion is lessened, and the waste, not being in a condition to be removed, remains in the tissues, stagnation results, and a slow poisoning process goes on which gradually causes the system to fail to meet the demands made on it.
The blood tissue can only be kept in condition by an adequate but not excessive amount of good food taken at the proper time, and such active exercise as will thoroughly aërate the blood by bringing the air to the smallest air cells in the lungs.
If one would fight to prevent the money used in daily exchange from being debased, he ought to be much more ready to use every means in his power to prevent a deterioration of the blood, that medium of exchange in his body on which such vital issues depend.
Tobacco and Alcohol
Tobacco and alcohol are two substances which, in excess, materially retard digestion.
The effect tobacco on the stomach is shown by its action on the small boy with his first cigar. Habituated to its use, the nerves become blunted and the nicotin narcotizes them. The use of tobacco renders the sense of taste less delicate, due to the action of the nicotin on the nerves of the taste buds. Men who use tobacco in excess miss the pleasures of taste; all food tastes much alike to them.
Tobacco, due to its action on the vagus nerve, many times causes disorders both of circulation and digestion. The starches are usually not well digested by those who are habitual users of tobacco.
Smoking before meals or when the stomach is empty often occasions nausea.
Because of its narcotic action it often exerts a soothing influence particularly in men of highly nervous temperament who are unwilling to take the necessary exercise to equalize nerve activity.
It was formerly held by physiologists that alcohol was a food, because its oxidation liberates heat, and it was assumed that this liberation of heat was the same as that freed by the combustion of fats, starches, and sugars uniting with oxygen. More recent knowledge, however, has unquestionably determined that the body decomposes alcohol into carbon dioxid and water, thus liberating heat, yet the reaction produces cold and the body requires more heat to warm it.
The blood-vessels of the skin dilate from overstimulation, and heat is radiated faster than it is generated, so that the temperature of the body is really lowered though alcohol gives a sensation of heat. The body, therefore, loses the power to resist cold.
It was formerly used by physicians for its supposed stimulant action, but it has been determined that the apparent stimulant effect is due to irritation of the nerves, particularly of the nerves of the stomach; the temporary spur to activity is followed, however, by depression of the body forces.
The habitual use of alcohol, from overstimulation of the nervous system, affects this system, deranging it permanently, gradually lowering both mental and physical ability, and causing a catarrhal condition of the stomach and intestines.
Alcohol, therefore, even in small quantities, is a poison, and not a food.
In certain conditions it may be used in emergency to spur a flagging or failing organism to action, but owing to the facility with which the alcohol habit is acquired its use should not be continued beyond the period when its immediate action is deemed necessary.
Because tobacco and alcohol are both poisons, the healthy organism has no need of them. The diseased or deranged organism can often find greater benefit from natural remedies than from the artificial stimuli of these substances.
It is a known fact that far more men than women suffer from dyspepsia. One reason for this may be found in the prevalent habit of spitting. Smokers, in whom the irritation of the nicotin causes an excess of saliva, often suffer from gastric troubles, because they expectorate, thus wasting this valuable digestive juice.
Aside from the filthiness of the habit, which has caused laws to be enacted against it, one would think that a little reflection would cause those addicted to it to consider what it means to their health. Overstimulation means weakened salivary glands, impaired secretion, and consequent lessened digestive power. For the sake of their own health if not from motives of decency, men should abandon the habit of expectorating.