BATHING FOR HEALTH.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3136, 25 September 1922, Page 7

BATHING FOR HEALTH.

(By Dr. C. W. Saleby, F.11.5.E.) The French, who know how to express themselves, say that "Baths of water are good, baths of air are better, baths of light are best." The most recent discoveries, in the laboratories of Britain and America especially, have proved this to be true. Robert Louis Stevenson remarked upon the contrast between "dabbling with dishes in a bedroom" and bathing in the open air—which, he said, refreshes and cleans the mind as well as the body. Science confirms the essayist. Neither for the body nor the mind is there any comparison between tlie two. Now is the appointed time. In our climate wo have but few months during which to obtain the perfect and inimit-

able combination of baths of water, air, and light. This .summer, as last, is specially fitted for this hygienic and recreative purpose. The sunlight, incomparable food, tonic and antiseptic in one, is available. Domestic supplies of water are running out, thanks to our lack of 'foresight, and it will bo increasingly difficult to maintain ordinary cleanliness of skin and clothes. Hut the seas are still full, and we should use their water around all our shores to the fullest possible extent during the three months. Lakes and rivers, where possible, should be used. There is no definite proof th.at sea-water, as such, is much more valuable than fresh for the unbroken skin, by which its salts are not absorbed. Ihit there is clear proof that, whether for the well or the ill, no indoor bathing establishments, however elaborate, nor any artificial light baths, however expensive, have the same value for the human body as its natural environment out of doors. Unless for special reasons to the contrary, all who bathe should .swim. A very small child, or an invalid with a weak heart, for instance, and others on medical advice, may be content to paddle, and even to lie in the sun and air on the beach. The small child should be undressed as far as possible even though it is only going to paddle, and thus its whole body gets the best kinds of bathing. lint the child is very soon big enough to learn to swim, and of course youth is the time to learn. The exercise of swimming, added to the triple bathing in Mater, air and light, makes an unrivalled combination for the maintenance of health, for convalescence, and, above all, for the normal and ample development of the bodies of young children. Jn order to get the value of the light, the skin should be as little covered a.s need be. A new and exhaustive monograph on rickets confirms the view which 1 have maintained in these columns—that it is a disease of darkness." Even whilst our cities remain shamefully blackened by smoke-clouds during the winter, and even whilst it remains therefore inevitable that the incidence of rickets: rises in the winter accordingly, much can be done by using the'summer. when we have it. Evidence derived from the observation of rickets in the yomi- of wild animals confined in menageries has suggested that lack of exorcise is an important factor as such. The most recent American evidence now before me appears to .show, however, that, in the presence of light, lack of exercise will not produce experimental rickets; but quite apart from any question of rickets, it is, of course, essential to have exercise at all is, of course, essential to have exercise at all a«es, and none exists to compare with swimming for the equal and equable exercise of nil the muscles and joints without undue strain upon any. A child should be taught to swim in still water, and the secret is to obtain, and maintain by deserving, absolute •onfidwice from the first that you will not let the child drown of choke. On these principles I got a tiny boy to swim in the bath on the Olympic last in a few minutes, with whom his Father, acting'on the "sink or swim'' principle, could do nothing. The therapeutic value of sea-water is an adjutant to light has been proved it the Treloar Hospital at Hayling Island by Sir Henry Gauvain, and will ■re long be employed for tuberculosis aid the other "diseases of darkness'' dsewhere. as at the "Royal Sea-Bathing Hospital at Margate. And when we have seen what these >hings mean, we shall all know that irban smoke and slums must go.