Prevention is better than cure, you will all agree, and the great elements of prevention are, knowledge of self, cleanliness, physical, mental and moral; hygiene and sanitation. I contend that physiology is the most important subject that can engage the attention of the individual. Nothing is so essential as a knowledge of the functioning of the body in which he dwells, for it is the vehicle through which the real self is to find expression; through which he is to achieve success or failure, according to the condition of its mechanism.
No engineer can obtain from the machine under his control the highest results, unless every part of the mechanism is in perfect working order. How much more important, then, that the human organism should be in perfect adjustment, since through it the mentality is to find its highest expression? Without a knowledge of its construction and its working principles, how is the individual to raise the human machine to the highest plane of excellence and maintain it there? No one is allowed to run an engine without first passing an examination, which necessitates a certain amount of study and knowledge of the laws of mechanics; yet men undertake to run that complex machine, the human body, in utter ignorance of physiological law! Is it any wonder that there are so many breakdowns? What I contend for is the study of the fundamental facts concerning the ordinary functions of the body: of diet, dress and exercise in their relation to health, and the relative effects of good and bad air upon the system. It is of infinitely more consequence to understand the basic principles of digestion and the proper combination of foods, or to understand thoroughly the baneful effects of sleeping in a badly ventilated room, than to be the greatest living expert in conic sections. Practical physiology is the crying need of the times, especially for our children, if we expect them to be well developed—mentally, morally and physically.
With such an equipment of knowledge the individual is prepared to withstand the wear and tear of life, and I may remark here that it is the tear more than the wear that figures in physical breakdown. All human beings are not endowed alike with nervous force; it is largely a matter of heredity, but what we have may be cultivated and developed. Failure to do so renders the individual liable to nervous breakdown, or neurasthenia, as it is popularly termed, a widespread disease, especially in America, where the strain of life is greater than elsewhere. Competition, a desire to go beyond one’s fellows in achievement, working beyond the strength, together with lack of care of the physical system, all conspire to keep constant the undue excitement of the nerves that ends in exhaustion. Children born of nervous parents, with weak nervous systems, should be fortified against the risks of inheritance by hygienic measures, during their developmental period, strengthening in every way their physical and mental endowments. Even those well developed in this respect should husband his or her resources—always keeping a reserve fund by avoiding undue fatigue, spending plenty of time in sleep, taking care of the body, and arranging for intervals of rest that shall include change of scene and environment.
Remember that mind and thought have their effect on the bodily health, no less than material and physical conditions; and that although a healthy body needs a sane mind, it is none the less true that a sane mind needs a healthy body; therefore maintain perfect equilibrium between the two. It may surprise you to hear your body compared to a bank; but the analogy is perfect, as I shall proceed to show. No living organism is precisely the same for sixty consecutive minutes. There are perpetually losses from within and gains from without; losses in the form of broken down tissue, gains in the form of food or air, which is the most essential form of food. So, in a bank, there is a constant interchange of deposits and withdrawals. No bank could exist if the depositors insisted upon their money being hoarded up there. It is the money, and not the bank, that is the fixed consideration, money being the medium of exchange. In the human system, food is the medium, and for the same reason that a bank cannot exist by hoarding up money, it is impossible for a living organism to exist by simply storing up food. There must be a continual interchange, otherwise the human bank cannot pay dividends in the form of health and energy.
And even as some banks, that appear solid and substantial from the outside, may be on the verge of ruin, owing to the lack of supervision over income and expenditure; so many an apparently robust body may be on the verge of physical collapse, owing to the mistaken belief that the body is simply a depository for food. Energy may be stored up in the system for future use, that being the dividend resulting from judicious interchange; but to force the system to receive more food than it can use and assimilate, is to invite disaster and pave the way to physical bankruptcy. A knowledge of banking is valuable in any walk of life, and I feel that the most valuable advice I can give my readers is to study Nature’s bookkeeping, as manifested in the human bank, and to see that the balance is strictly drawn between income and expenditure. The world will yet see the day when it will be considered a disgrace to be sick; but in the meantime, humanity suffers for lack of that important knowledge—knowledge of self.
Above all, cultivate the habit of happiness. Whatever else you may neglect, do not neglect that, for the happy habit is the greatest treasure that any individual can possess. Happiness depends largely upon physical conditions. With poor health, perfect happiness rarely exists; therefore it is your duty to be healthy, and the possession of health is in the majority of cases a matter of personal endeavor. But although the physical is important in health, yet the physical is dominated by the mental, and if you resolve to be happy, you can succeed. Commence this day, by saying to yourself, I am happy; I will be happy. Start out with the resolve that you will at least do some one thing to-day that will bring happiness to another, in the form of some simple service. Even if no such opportunity presents itself (although opportunities are never lacking), you can at least bestow cordial and cheerful greetings on those with whom you come in contact.