Confidential Chats with Girls

by William Lee Howard

On the other hand, no exercise will also produce some disturbance of the menstrual period. If you do not take some form of useful exercise, poisons accumulate in your system. This causes unnatural fat to pile up around your ovaries and kidneys; in fact, it will bring you to a sad state in middle life if you have neglected to exercise in a careful and regular manner when you are growing.

The girl who works in the shop, the department store, or follows any of the numerous careers which are open to her, as a rule gets plenty of exercise. To be sure it is not the best kind of exercise by any means, but as she has to be on her feet almost all the day, for her to take any gymnasium work at night is harmful. She needs the fresh air, to eat proper food and to obtain plenty of sleep—all she can get or steal. The girl who is so situated that she can walk to and from her place of employment, is fortunate; the girl who cannot, must get walking exercise in the open air some way if she wishes her periods and general health to be perfect.

Profuse menstruation, that is, too much blood flowing and for too long a time, is always a sign that something is wrong with the womb as well as with your general health. It is not a sign that “you have too much blood in your system,” but a symptom that the womb is weak, has lost its tone and does not close up tightly at the finish as it should. The cause is one of the many I have told you about; too long standing on the feet, going to parties or dances when you should have been in bed, improper food or too little of it, undue excitement at a time when you should have been quiet. Search well your own heart, and some of the causes you will be able to discover yourself. In other words, any irregularity or little errors in your conduct will bring about irregularity in your menstrual functions.

No girl should use the sewing machine when she is unwell, or do any work which involves the movement of the thighs and legs.

Food, nourishment and clothing have a lot to do with all the irregularities and disturbances of the sex organs, but we shall have to chat about these important matters when dealing with the skin and complexion, so leave them here. It will save repeating.

One great curse—for that is what it really is—of all American girls and women, is constipation. False modesty, ignorance and not drinking enough water are the principal causes for this injurious state. But never mind the causes, let us get at the effects.

Every portion of your body, including the bones, can be in a state of good health only when constantly supplied with fresh water. Coffee, soda water, chocolate or other makeshifts do not take the place of pure water. You should get the water into you daily, by the quart. I wish I could go into this matter so thoroughly as to make you all see and understand the importance of this fact. However, I can show you in these Chats how necessary it is even to your sex organs and what they throw off, to make you, I hope, drink plenty of water throughout all your lives.

The bowels must be emptied every day. Any keeping of the cast-off material of the intestines in the bowels means an odorous skin, foul breath and other disagreeable odors, no matter how clean you may be OUTWARDLY. Then there is another very important feature of this dried-up state. As you grow older the arteries harden, they cannot expand and contract as the blood pressure demands they should, and when any strain comes upon the heart or blood vessels, these latter burst and apoplexy is the result.

But before this takes place there has been a failing of the memory, perhaps of the intellect, because the proper amount of blood needed to nourish the brain cannot pass through the tiny, but important arteries of the brain. So some kind of softening of the brain follows. “She died from apoplexy” is said. No, she died because, when a young woman, she would not drink water in sufficient quantities to keep her organs flushed and clear of accumulated material. Now, if this absence of water in the system so affects the brain, its arteries and veins, just imagine what trouble the womb will have in getting enough water for all its needed blood.