Good Health and How We Won It, With an Account of the New Hygiene

by Upton Sinclair; Michael Williams

Here, then, lies perhaps the first hope for supplying new blood to any body which has begun to deteriorate through the accumulation of poisons emanating from the large intestine, or from the other organs. Exercise will supply the blood-producing bone marrow with six times as much raw material to make new blood as a sedentary mode of life would produce, and at the same time this six-times-strengthened flood will wash out of the crevices of the bones and muscles and fibres the stored up poisons. For these purposes, the exercises which move the large muscle masses are the most helpful. Dr. Benton A. Colver, of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, to whom we are indebted for assistance in preparing this chapter, names the following exercises as being beneficial for this purpose:

Low knee bending, stretching and heel sinking, and heel raising; lying on the floor with the weight supported by toes and hands, and lowering and raising the body; raising the body by the arms, holding to a bar above the head; walking with a vigorous stride, and running and swimming.

Of all these exercises, swimming is theoretically the best, for the reason that it exercises equally all the muscle masses in the body, and requires the best balanced of all movements. Walking and running come next in the order of excellence, simply for the reason that they can be carried on best in the open air and without the bother that may accompany the performance of more formal exercises.

EXERCISES WHICH RETARD AUTO-INTOXICATION

Another way in which exercise directly helps the battle of the blood within us, is by assisting such organs of body-poison elimination as the spleen, the liver, and the portal system of veins. It is in these organs that the exhausted blood is broken up and cast off. The blood in these organs is loaded with broken down tissue and other waste material from the body, and is contaminated with gases and poisons. In the body of the person who leads a sedentary life a great volume of blood settles in these organs and is prematurely put out of use.

Proper exercises will empty this great tank of stagnant blood as easily as a sponge is emptied by the pressure of the hand. This passive blood, having access to all the organs of digestion, is largely responsible for the supply of inferior digestive juices, and thus is a leading factor in indigestion, loss of appetite, and such diseases as catarrh of the stomach and bowels. If, however, this blood is pumped on as it should be to the heart and lungs, there to be cleansed, the fresh blood rushes in to fill its place, armed by the activity of the lungs with its life-giving ammunition of oxygen.

By persistently keeping up this emptying and filling of the portal veins, and of the spleen and liver, the old cinders left from the oxidation of food are washed away, new digestive juices are formed, and the whole tone of the body is improved. For such purposes such exercises as the following are extremely valuable:

Stand erect and, with the hands on hips, bend the trunk forward, backward, and sideward, keeping the legs stiff. Trunk rotation, performed by bending forward and then describing as large a circle as possible with the head thrown first to the right and then to the left, and bending the trunk backward as far as possible when that segment of the arc is reached; lying on the back and raising first the head, second the feet, with bent knees, and third, the feet with straight legs. These exercises stretch the diaphragm against the liver and portal vein, and thus squeeze out the blood from these organs and send it back to the heart and lungs.

EXERCISES WHICH PROMOTE DEEP BREATHING

A third manner in which exercise directly assists the battle of the blood is by increasing heart action and deep breathing. Exercises which accomplish these functions insure an abundant supply of oxygen to the blood and the tissues. In this manner, more heat will be produced in the active tissues, and the blood current will carry this beneficial glow of heat to the most distant parts. This toning up of the “heating system” will be evidenced by the appearance of perspiration. When skin and lung activity are thus increased, the accumulated wastes of the body are quickly eliminated.