STORING UP DISEASE.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIX, Issue 89, 24 June 1913, Page 8

STORING UP DISEASE.

CARELESS HABITS.

THAT LEAD TO ILLNESS.

Notwithstanding that the thoughtless man or woman is generally the happiest, this way of taking life often brings heavy penalties, sooner or later (writes T.F.M. in a Loudon journal). Of all the middle-aged and elderly persons who crowd the ,doctors' waitingrooms, probably one-half are there through their own negloet. Rheumatism, gout, chronic indigestion, heart troubles and nerve troubles are created very largely by our own indiscretions. Middle-Age Ills.

The inaciimery of the body gives very utile trouble in the urst nan of life, aim hence wo treat it with, iiulu consiUeratioii. Vuien middle-age amies, ( with tiie natural degeneration of an pans of the bouy, our early ill-treat-ment shows itseli in clilateu stomachs, fatty degeneration of the heart, shaky nerves, hardened livfsrs, or stiff joints, tliere is scarcely any part which one person or another does not abuse, and scarcely any organic trouble which is not in that way produced. Take the stomach, for instance. In countless ways we ill-treat this patient organ. Some bolt their food, some eat 100 large meals, some go too long without eating. Most people take tea and other liquids so hot that even tho tough skin of the linger could not bear tlicm. think what mischief these must do down below to the delicate lining and glands of the stomach. These indiscretions have many evil consequences. Tliey weaken the digestive glands, produce inflammation and catarrh. Kood then remains too long .a the injured stomach, where it ferments and gives rise to great quantities of gas. The catarrh, after coming and going a few times, becomes chronic. Tho gas and the mass of stagnant food dilates the stomach, and once this condition is established it is almost incurable.

Indigestion at 40. At first' people make little of an attack of indigestion; but by the age or ij or -10 the great majority have permanently damaged the stomach, and it remains a source of trouble for the remainder of their life, causing drowsiicss, giddiness, noises in tile ears, sleeplessness, and a dozen more unpleasant symptoms. Ihen there is the liver. Who does' ,iot suiter from some atl'eeiion of the liver? lie eats rich food day after day ,ie drinks alcohol beyond the daily physiological allowance (a wineglass of .vhisky or its equivalent in wine or )eer). He takes the alcohol not at the proper time, which is during or immediately after a substantial meal. Or a .voman may squeeze her figure out oi all shape. The result of this and other forms oi ill-treatment is a congested or fatty or aardened liver, and perhaps gall-stones and colic. This damage also is generally permanent. The kidneys, likewise, .tie abominably treated, .Nearly every .veil-to-%0 person eats so much meal chat, working at full pressure night and day, the kidneys cannot always get /id of the waste. A great number ol people do even more harm by urinking oo much beer or spirits. And probably uo one ever considers ■ hat these organs are frequently damaged by Uiills. It is therefore no wonder that in middle life so many suffer from Blight's disease, dropsies, am. winer affections oi the kidneys.

jne heart, probably more than any ither organ, is taxed beyond its power of endurance. Young men undertake great muscular'feats, even men getting <.m in age climb mountains, cycle long distances, and in other ways put a strain upon the heart that dilates it and makes it incompetent to the end of life.

In the same manne'r diabetes is also sometiui -s caused. But the chief factor in this case i, a sedentary life with prolonged intellectual work. Diabetes lias oeen called the ••lawyers', disease," being so c.fcen seen in .solicitors because .if Jieir combination of brain work and inaction of the muscles. Anyone wlio leads a sedentary life may be storing ;;p this disease for his later years. v)f gout we all know the reputed iause—too much meat, combined with .do much alcohol. And of rheumatism .he cause is no less well known—exposure to cold, wet aim fatigue. But who ever thinks in tin. of what he is preparing for himself by these habits? Manufacturing llinsss.

Corpulence we bring on by a sluggish, rest-loving life, with too much rood for the amount of work done. We weaken the arteries of our brain and make ourselves liable to apoplexy by giving way to passion and other forms of mental excitement.

We strain our eyes reading in bad iight, in shaking vehicles, in bed, and bring on blindness, or an approach to it, in our old age. We neglect our leeth, which become carious and poison ihe stomach or drop out and leave us chronic dyspeptics. We expose ourselves to the risk of colds, which, repeated often enough, develop into chronic bronchitis, the commonest and most crippling trouble of .he latter end of life.

In many other ways oven the most sensible persons actually manufacture their own diseases. And this is certainly not sensible.