TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 June 1935, Page 4

TALKS ON HEALTH

MORE LIGHT IN THE HOME

[BY A FAMILY DOCTOE.]

What 1 want to preach once a week — you are very patient with my sermons (there is no collection) —what I want to preach is the doctrine of selihelp. You and I are not concerned with, our own homes. When Bills are passed we will avail ourselves , of. them. But we shall have to wait some time yet. The old-fashioned principles of light and air are not insisted on in the home. Long before any Act comes in you can make your home healthier. You know as'well as 1 do that in .the same row of houses one is clean and the other not. I want the fathers and mothers Io keep on repeating to themselves, “How can I make my home brighter and healthier?” In these dark days, we want all the light possible. Are, the windows clean, or do they obstruct half the light? Please do away with the heavy dark curtains that keep out the light. Better have no curtains at all. Can you whitewash the area or passageway outside the window? A light room makes everyone more cheerful. Choose a bright wallpaper, not a, funereal one; let your house be a good place to live in, not a good place to die in.

LESSON OF THE FLOWERS

I always recommend flowers as a plan for teaching hygiene as well as a means of ornamentation. Most people know that geraniums in a pot like the light; in fact, if you put the pot a. little way from a window the plant will strain towards it. i Splendid fellows, geraniums. No need for them to read “Talks on Health”; they know it all ready. Straining towards Um light! What profound wisdom! What sound education! So please htiy a pot of flowers this morning, and remember that the same rule that makes the flowers grow towards the light applies to you and your clul J r ? n ’ Y °" must strain towards the brightness and encourage every stray beam of light to enter your room. _ If you know of a lighter house, move into it. Light, light, more light! TAKE YOUR WEIGHT Keep a record of your weight; take the measure every six months and write it in a little book for reference. If vour weight remains the same, an is well. If it is going up, you ought to know it. If the weight is going down, it is not necessarily a bad sign. Loss of suet may be a very good thing. On the other hand, a steady loss oi weight may be significant of many lf the digestion is- upset, the stomach and bowels cannot carry out their proper duty of absorbing food. A nice dinner is served up and is eaten, but it never reaches its proper destination —good sound flesh and blood. The food passes through without strengthening the body. The loss of weight is a warning; if it is allowed to go on a limit may be reached when the unfortunate person breaks down. In the majority of cases the. teeth are at fault. The stomach complains most bitterly that it cannot do its work if the teeth go on strike. The avoidance of indigestible food is a sine qua non. A diet of vinegar and pickles will lower any man’s weight. A diet of strong tea and half-cooked rice will lower any woman’s system. Food that is good in the.shop may be spoilt in the cooking.

TELL THE DOCTOR Loss of weight may be associated with other symptoms. The most important accompaniment of loss of weight is a chronic cough. In a case of suspected consumption the evidence of the weighing-machine. is of high value. A careful examination of the chest qnd a special analysis of the sputum will enable the doctor to clear u,p the diagnosis'and save a valuable life by adopting early treatment. Some forms of tumour are associated with loss of weight. Patients so often make unintentional mistakes in describing changes ’in weight, fancied or real, that it is of great assistance to the doctor to have the actual record; weighing-machines have no prejudices or false sympathies. So when you find you are losing weight, you should take serious notice of it; it may be something or nothing. But tell the doctor, and let him see you in bed so that he can satisfy himself on all points and definitely exclude the possible cause of wasting which arc passing through his mind.

CLEANING THE SICK ROOM AV hen the patient you are nursing has recovered from the worst part of the illness and reaches the stage when all that he is suffering from is exhaustion, you may carefully lift him from his bed into a comfortable chair and carry him into the sunny corner Oi! your, little garden. He will be carefully wrapped up; his face will be protected from glare by a broadbrimmed hat or by a sunshade fixed to the back of the chair. He will be given a nice cup of tea and thin bread and butter and jam. Now, having made the precious patient quite comfy, you will go back to tire sick, room and work at it as you have never worked before. All the doors and windows are thrown open; the bed is to be aired by taking all the clothes off and exposing them to the sun; the mattress is turned; the iron bedstead is washed over with warm water containing a little carbolic. All the mats are shaken in the open air; the flowers are changed; the ornaments are dusted; and this last exercise will remind you that the fewer ornaments there are in the sick room the better. Now go back to your patient in the garden and you will find he is more tired that you expected; it is as well not to overdo it on the first occasion. Carry oi- wheel him back into his nice fresh room. It will please him to see the fresh flowers, and he will appreciate the labour expended on his behalf. He will very likelj r have a doze after the slight exertion of sitting up in Iho garden, and then you. too, can enjoy yourself, feeling that your duty has been done.