BODY MUSCLES

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 January 1928, Page 10

BODY MUSCLES

USE CAN IMPROVE HEALTH. Most mental workers take but little exercise, but when they do they should make a clear distinction between what is known as general exercise and other forms; one can work the muscles of the arms or legs very consistently without getting any benefit so far as the general health is concerned. The value of exercise is in proportion to the total amount of work done and in the regulation of that amount. The larger the muscles the more work they can do. It is chiefly through using the larger muscles of the abdomen and trunk, correct breathing and body balance movements, that the best results may be secured,, twisting the trunk from side to side,'bending forward and backward, lying on the back, and us l ing 'the large abdominal muscles, are the types of exercises that bring results. All that a brain worker is just sufficient exercise to keep the muscles of the body firm and responsive, the body properly balanced, the

circulation active, hnd the functions in proper working order. For one whosq. chief business in life is head work there is little to be gained in building up muscular tissue beyond this point, but we must have good health and endurance. We are "told that children of the lower classes in foreign countries have sounder teeth chiefly on account of their diet—they eat a coarse rye or

wheat, bread, green salads prepared with plenty of oil belong to the daily fare, and their vegetables are steamed, thus preserving the natural salts so precious to the teeth. All this, no doubt, accounts in great measure for sounder teeth in ■ Continental peoples, but is there a nation which, like ours, teaches its children from.earliest childhood indiscriminately to eat chocolates and other sweets, only too .frequently of inferior quality? Would the more rational diet of the Continental peoples save the children’s teeth if the same amount of sweeteating were indulged in as, say, the amount consumed by a middle-class English family? One does not find in any pool’ quarter of a Continental town that horror which is met with at many a street corner of an English slum—the cheap, grubby little sweet-shop, with its highly-coloured stale goods all jumbled against the dirty window-pane, enticing the little slumites to spend the pennies which ought to be saved. How

distressing t 6 see them emerge hugging their penn’orths, and then suck, suck, suclF all the way home. COLD GERMS. Colds and influenza are the commonest kinds of illness in this country due to infection by bacteria. A cold in the head, with the bronchial catarrh which so frequently follows, is a local infection; —influenza is a more general infection. The bacteria causing,these

isorders are to be found in the noses

and throats of most of us during winter, but do not become active and cause trouble unless the general resistance of the body to the infective agent becomes lowered. The enemy is always at the gate, but the garrison, the defensive forces of the body, must be weakened before the invader can obtain a footing. Once the defence is penetrated the

invader settles down and proceeds to increase in numbers and activity. The final result will depend on the ability of the body to bring up reinforcements to meet the emergency, and when these arrive at a certain strength the invader is destroyed. In the case

if a. common cold we lave evidence of this local warfare in .he constant discharge of dead cells ind bacteria from the site of the trouble. The local inflammation is ;he result of the contest and of the nvasion or infection which gave rise ,o it.

These organisms cannot survive in air and sunlight—they require conditions of warmth, moisture and suitable surroundings, which the human body provides. They are conveyed from one human being to another, and the more people congregate the more abundant the infectious material. They are absent from the air of the mountain top and the ocean wastes. Coughing, sneezing, spitting and talking cause them to be ejected into the air and to be conveyed to other persons. It is very desirable that in all contact with other persons care should be taken not to convey infection in this manner.

The immediate cause of dental decay is the acid decomposition of carbohydrate food stuff adhering to, or packed between, the teeth, or in their pits and crevices. The carbohydrate stuff which adheres and packs most tenaciously is white bread and the other derivatives of extremely white flour, such as white biscuits, cakes, scones, flour puddings, pie-crusts and confectionery This is the kind almost universally supplied at the present day, the finer it is ground, the more it packs.