Personal hygiene and physical training for women

by Anna M. Galbraith

In gymnastic exercises the work done on each piece of apparatus must be tried repeatedly, in order to be learned, and then must be practised assiduously, in order to be well performed. This is what makes gymnastics so valuable as a means of physical training and development. The first essential is to learn to handle one’s own weight, and to have the muscles of the body under complete control, and much of the interest and fascination found in practising heavy gymnastics come from this acquired power over one’s own body, and the ability to make it do the feats and stunts which one desires it to do. This is one reason why children love to climb fences, trees, etc., and test their ability to handle and master themselves in new and untried situations.

But, in order that good and not actual harm may be done, gymnastics must be carried on under medical supervision. Bodily exercises should, as far as possible, occupy the mind at the same time. The fact that gymnastic training is being taken up in our high-schools and colleges for girls is a great gain, not only to the individual, but to the race as well.

The proper development of the body, the clear skin and eye, the upright and graceful carriage, the free swing of the body and limbs when they move, give happiness to the possessor as well as to the onlookers. The esthetic advantages of health are very considerable.

Among the mental and moral advantages to be derived from the practice of exercises and games are a greater amount of self-control, persistence, regularity, promptness, and of general self-confidence. In the playing of games there is opportunity for originality as well as for observation. The unwritten code of honor, the need of accuracy—all these qualities are essential for a successful and happy issue in the great battle of life.

The ideal physical training requires that systematic gymnastic exercises should be supplemented by outdoor games and sports. Gymnastics are not sufficient for an all-round means of development, because the movements are too regular, too expected, and too deliberate, but they are invaluable for health and physical development, for the correction of physical deformities, as a foundation for many games and sports, and for supplementing the same. Many games are so one-sided that gymnastic exercises are essential to prevent the body from becoming unsymmetrically developed, and, further, gymnastic exercises must invariably be the foundation for all games; no games can do what they are really capable of doing without the firm foundation of the best gymnastic training.

Those exercises and games should be selected which are the most fundamental and the most healthy, which will cause the all-round development of the body, the muscles, heart, lungs, chest, a good condition of the blood, good circulation, breathing, digestion, and the getting rid of the waste-products.

Such exercises should teach obedience to law, self-control, regularity, promptitude, and readiness to meet fresh conditions or emergencies, persistence, pluck, and the ready coöperation of nerves and muscles.

The aim of gymnastic exercises should be to secure a symmetric development of all the muscles the body, to correct one-sidedness, spinal curvatures, and other physical defects, and to strengthen all the muscles of the body. In the gymnasium especial attention must always be given to the development and strengthening of the muscles of the back and chest, as these are the ones that are apt to be the most poorly developed in women, since they are less called into play in walking, which is the only exercise that most women take, and on their good development and strength depend the upright carriage of the body, a good chest capacity, and, hence, good respiratory capacity, a vigorous heart, and good circulation.

Exercise after Eating.—Severe mental and vigorous bodily exercise immediately after a meal retards gastric digestion. The entrance of food into the stomach excites the free flow of gastric juice, which, like all the secreting processes, is dependent upon a flux of blood to the secreting glands. Other parts of the body, notably the brain, suffer from temporary anemia, and hence the great tendency to drowsiness after eating a hearty meal. At such a time severe mental work or vigorous bodily exercise must necessarily cause a corresponding withdrawal of blood from the alimentary canal to the brain, or, in the case of physical labor, to the extremities, in order to furnish the amount of blood necessary for the proper performance of the functions of these parts. The withdrawal of blood from the digestive organs has the effect of inhibiting gastric digestion, since there has been an interruption of a free flow of gastric juice.

We are safe then in believing that digestion is favored by rest of the stomach before eating, by gentle exercise of the mind and body after eating, and by an undisturbed mental condition.