VARIABLE WEATHER

Evening Star, Issue 22248, 28 January 1936, Page 7

VARIABLE WEATHER

ADVANTAGES TO HEALTH The rapid changes in .weather conditions may seem a little unpleasant to many of us, stales a writer ,in an exchange. One day we are uncomfortably warm, and two .'days' later the temperature may have i fallen . many degrees. Then, just as we have established ourselves , comfortably in warmer clothes,, the sun shines again, and we swelter anew. ; As we cannot alter the climate, surely the wisest thing to do .is to alter ourselves to suit 1 the climate. No doubt at one time during our evolution from primitive man wo certainly did have the faculty- of adjusting our bodies to withstand heat or cold, and of finding discomfort in neither condition. Some of ns remember the case of the doctor whose curiosity: regarding the matter caused him to spend several years in a forest without the protection of his clothes. He found that by degrees he became more and, more impervious to heat and cold alike, adjusting himself automatically to the state of the thermometer. , To most of us the result of such an experiment has but little personal interest. We shall probably feel too hot and too cold in cotton or wool, as the case may bo, to the end of our lives.

But it is hot too late to foster this ability to withstand climatic conditions in our children.

Normal, young growing bodies are quite capable of adapting themselves to many circumstances in a way which fully grown and middle-aged people would find practically impossible.

CONTINUAL SUNSHINE NOT GOOD.

Moreover, medical scientists are now of the opinion that changes of temperatures should be taken full advantage of, for such changes are of far more value to health and strength than is continual sunshine. . Indeed, a variable climate is now thought to be a greater stimulant in the treatment of tuberculosis and similar diseases of children than an even, sunny climate.

Most children nowadays run about during the warm weather very -lightly clad. It would indeed be an excellent plan if beach suits were worn in the garden, and also if winter clothes were not so heavy in weight that they succeed in stifling the small body’s natural resistance to cold.

Naturally you cannot expect the civilised body to create this resistance to weather conditions quite suddenly. If the system is , using all its forces to make up the body heat in cold weather then it will have nothing left with which to resist the germs which make themselves felt in winter.