Health: How to get it and keep it. / The hygiene of dress, food, exercise, rest, bathing, breathing, and ventilation.

by Walter V. Woods

Rest.—For every disease of every organ the first condition is rest. Broken bones and lacerated muscles must have release from active duty or there can be no cure. The vital organs, when diseased, must have all the repose consistent with the operations of life. For affections of the heart, the circulation should be reduced, and all excitement and stimulation to over-action be removed.

Excessive physical or mental exertion, whether immediately before or after meals, interferes with digestion. If before, the energies of the blood will be directed to the part of the body in most active exercise, and cannot suddenly be withdrawn. If after, they will be diverted before having performed their legitimate part in the process of digestion. A short period of relaxation before, and of absolute repose after meals, is most favorable to the proper action of the stomach. The repose should not be carried to the extent of sleeping, for in sleep the stomach, as well as the rest of the body, seeks release from duty.

Drink.—Thirst warns us that the blood is too thick, or that it contains some acrid matter which should be eliminated. Free perspiration makes large demands upon the fluids of the body, and copious draughts of water are required to supply the lack. In this way the system is flushed, the clogged pipes and pores are opened, the waste matter removed, and the system made healthy. In cities the water is usually introduced into houses through lead pipes. Herein lies a danger, and the purer the water and the newer the pipe, the greater the danger. The water gradually corrodes the metal and holds a small quantity of it in solution. After a few months of service, an insoluble coating forms upon the inner surface of the pipe, and protects it from further corrosion. It is a wise precaution to run off the water that has lain in the pipes over night, or during the temporary absence of the family, before using.

Coffee and Tea.—The Americans drink more coffee and the English more tea, per capita, than any other nation. As to the wholesomeness of these beverages opinions are greatly at variance. Used in moderate quantities, and especially by persons who lead an active out-door life, no harm is likely to ensue. Many persons drink them for the taste, which is often heightened by the use of cream and sugar, and never stop to question whether they are injurious or otherwise. Such persons usually drink too much. If either produces wakefulness, it should not be used before retiring at night, and if the nerves are unduly stimulated, at any time, its use should be discontinued. Tea should be steeped, not boiled. It contains a certain proportion of tannic acid which is dissolved by boiling, and when drunk, produces a deleterious effect upon the mucous membrane of the stomach, causing dyspepsia with its attendant evils. Children should not be permitted to drink either tea or coffee.

Intoxicants.—While alcoholic preparations may, in rare cases, be prescribed by the physician, their use as a beverage finds no support in science or in experience. There are many who use liquors and tobacco and who yet live to an old age. It is also true that many reach old age without their use. Comparing the lives of a thousand persons who drink and smoke, with a thousand others under the same conditions who do not use liquors or tobacco, it will be found that the latter are not only longer-lived, but are also more healthy. Probably no better test of the question of health and longevity can be found than the experience of the life insurance companies. By them, all intoxicants and tobacco are looked upon with disfavor.

Circulation.—The blood is the most important and the most abundant fluid of the body. It constitutes about one-twelfth of the entire weight of the person. To the eye it appears as a simple fluid, varying in color from a bright scarlet to a dark purple. Under the microscope, it is seen to consist of a clear, colorless fluid in which float a multitude of corpuscles, or solid discs. These corpuscles are so minute that thirty-five hundred, arranged side by side, will extend only one inch, and fourteen thousand, placed one upon the other, would not exceed one inch in height. There are also white corpuscles which are fewer in number, larger, and globular in form.

The size and shape of the blood corpuscles in man differ from those in animals. So important and well-defined is this difference in point of law that the guilt or innocence of criminals has often hung upon the results of a scientific examination of the blood found upon the garments of the suspected person.

Coagulation.—The coagulation, or thickening of the blood, when it leaves the living tissues, is a principle of the greatest importance to life. Without it, the slightest injury might prove fatal. In minor injuries, the blood coagulates, thus closing the mouths of the injured blood vessels, and bleeding ceases spontaneously.

The Heart.—The great center of the circulatory system is the heart. With ceaseless energy it drives the blood through the arteries to every part of the body, laden with the life-giving elements absorbed from the food and vitalized by the oxygen in the lungs. In the outward flow of the blood each part of the body appropriates the particular elements which it requires. The return of the blood through the veins brings with it the waste and cast-off particles of the bones, muscles, and tissues, to be expelled through the lungs, except such elements as exude through the pores of the skin. By this unceasing round of waste and repair, the entire body, it is believed, is renewed every seven years, and some parts are replaced several times within that period. From the moment a human being begins to live, he begins to die.