TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 December 1935, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

ABOUT BREATHING > (By a Family Doctor.) You may ba surprised to know that a great many people do not know the right way to breathe. The nose is not’ only meant for smelling, but also for breathing through. We are meant to breathe through our noses so that tire air may be warmed by the passage through the nose, and special bones covered with bloodvessels are arranged in the cavity of the nose to carry out this purpose. The blood is warm, and the air is warmed by passing over the blood vessels, just as the air entering a building can be warmed by passing over hot water pipes. Take a. quick, short breath through the mouth at an open window dnd you will find that the air strikes cold at the back of the throat; now take a similar breath through, the nose, and you will not experience that cold feeling—the air has been warmed. Th'e‘throat is very sensitive to cold, and troubles like tonsilitis, quinsy, and rough throats with hacking cough may arise from the bad habit of breathing through the mouth.

ADENOIDS AND POLYPUS In children adenoids are the chief cause of mouth-breathing; they consist of a growth of the same natureas the tonsils at the back of the nose, and block up, more or less completely, the airway through the nose. Adenoids cause snoring at night, and the child keeps his mouth open all the time. Many troubles follow in the train of this growth, but fortunately, tho adenoids can be removed by a simple operation. In older people obstruction in the nose is the result of some injury; boxing men frequently suffer from inability to breathe through the nose, and an operation is sometimes necessary to rectify the deformity of the bones inside the nasal cavity. Polypus of the nose can only be detected by a competent medical man examining the nose with special apparatus. There are- often more than one polypus. The growths can be removed, but it is never safe to promise that they will never come back, SINGING LESSONS. I recommended singing as good for the chest some time ago, and someone wrote to say she had'no voice. But that does, not matter. What I want is to see the girl standing up straight, with her head back, her chest thrown out, and then, after a deep breath, sing a long note, i.e., make a noise. I am quite indifferent to the opinions of the neighbours. Fill out the lungs, develop the chest muscles; let the blood coursing through the lungs be purified down to tlie smallest and most distant corner by the fresh air breathed in—that’s what I want. Breathing lessons alone are rather dull —like plum-pudding without the plums. But if you buy a nice little song all about the springtime and laughter, or the boys of the bull-dog breed, it arouses your interest, and you are much more likely to keep up your exercises.

JOIN A CHOIR ' If you. get a headache the first and second times you try your deep-breath

ing, it is a sign that you need singing, exercises, and that you are deriving • benefit. The headache will disappear after a few lessons. Take a tape meas-j ure and measure your chest. At thOj end of six weeks or two months the measurement will have increased. It ( is a good plan to join a choir or a; choral society, because you can make a bawling noise in a chorus without; being conspicuous. Also, if you have) neglected your teeth and have unpleasant breath, you will be told about it, and that will be all to the good. No more objections, please. If anyone else writes a complaint about my advice I shall write another paragraph about the benefit of singing. I was always obstinate. A HOPELESS TASK Make no attempt to reason with the man with bronchitis whose teeth are rotten and decayed. It is hopeless from the first. There never has been and there never Avill be anyone outside the medical profession who can believe that an impure mouth may lead to inflammation of the lungs. 1 have given up long ago trying to teach this simple precept. But some day in the dim future, there will rise up some great- teacher who will once again apply himself to the task. If he spends his whole life at it, Ire may persuade one man to go to the dentist to have his cough alleviated. Then he will sink down into his grave expressing his gratitude for the comforting thought that he had done his duty. The poor fellow will be mysel£ in a second incarnation. But that is looking ahead some tens of thousands of years; meanwhile all good citizens and true will continue to retain in their mouths teeth that ought to be piled into a couple of hundred barges and taken out to sea to be sunk.

WITH INFLUENZA PATIENTS I have been treating a number of influenza cases, and I have been watching myself with some interest to see if I should fall a victim and become a patient as well as a doctor. As I write this I am touching wood and crossing my fingers and doing everything else that modern science teaches us. will ward off attacks by germs. I am sure when an influenza germ sees me touching wood he will pass me by. However, not trusting entirely to that, I always washed my mouth out with very weak carbolic lotion aftei’ I had been in the influenza ward. I insist on vigorous ventilation; the patients have plenty of warm blankets, and fresh air blows right through; the air is not allowed to be stagnant with breath from influenza patients. In the sick-room of a private house it is a good plan to cover the patient up with extra clothing for ten minutes, and then open every door and window, and get a good supply of new air. As far as my duties allow me, I try to get in the air for daily exercises.