Personal hygiene and physical training for women

by Anna M. Galbraith

While membership in a well-appointed gymnasium and athletic association offers the most favorable conditions for the symmetric and fullest development of the body, and when possible it is advised always to take at least a short course in physical training under the direction of a competent instructor, yet every woman has it in her power to very greatly improve her physical condition without these aids.

Systematic physical training should be begun in childhood and continued all through life.

Before twelve years of age physical training should be the same for both sexes, and girls and boys should have their sports and games together. The beneficial influence of this will be manifest for both—girls will grow stronger, less timid, and more resourceful, and boys will grow more refined and thoughtful.

But even the case of the adult woman, where not only physical training but most of the laws of health have been neglected, is far from hopeless. A poorly developed chest, round shoulders, a beginning spinal curvature, a poor carriage, bad skin, poor circulation, indigestion, constipation, and low vitality, with poor powers of resistance to changes in the weather and environment, are not insurmountable obstacles. But a woman in this condition cannot manage her own case. She must consult and place herself under the care of a competent physician.

Two charts should be made out; the first should be a detailed outline of her present condition; to the Vassar chart already given should be added the physical defects needing correction, as round shoulders, poor chest development, palpitation of the heart on exertion, length of walk that can be taken comfortably, also the time required per mile. As the strength of the heart and lungs increases, as shown not only by the actual tests, but also by the increased powers of endurance, this first chart will be a matter of great encouragement to the woman and a great incentive to further effort. In a parallel column to the defects should be written the corrective measure for those defects. The second chart should contain the ideal measurements and strength tests for a woman of her height and weight.

Rules for Taking Exercise.—The first things to be aimed at are the proper ventilation of the lungs, together with their development, and the strengthening of the heart. During the exercise the windows must be thrown wide open, or the very object of the exercise is defeated.

Always begin with the simplest exercises and stop at the first sign of fatigue. The very first exercise will, therefore, be the simple respiratory exercises, taken in bed until one acquires some control of the muscles; they are then taken standing before a mirror, to insure the exercises being taken correctly, and after this they should be taken before an open window. The respiratory should be alternated with the abdominal exercises, and all of these should be taken for twenty minutes at a time, at least twice a day, on rising and immediately before retiring.

Two hours should be spent out-of-doors every day. If the woman is weak and unused to taking exercise, she should walk until she feels the first signs of fatigue, rest, and then continue her walk. If the weather is too cold for sitting out-of-doors the woman should preferably take two short walks each day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. For invalids about ten in the morning and two in the afternoon are the best hours in winter, because of the greater warmth of the sun at those times. To be effective, exercise out-of-doors must be taken every day without regard to the weather, since the system, when in a state of activity, is less susceptible to sudden changes of temperature than when at rest.

Exercise should not be taken after long fasting; hence, never before breakfast, nor immediately after a hearty meal. An hour after breakfast or a light lunch, or two hours after dinner, is the best time for regular exercise.

A certain amount of daily exercise is essential for the preservation of the health. A healthy woman should be able to walk five miles a day, at the rate of three miles an hour, without feeling any sense of fatigue.