HEALTH NOTES

Hutt News, Volume 15, Issue 40, 25 March 1942, Page 2

HEALTH NOTES

By H. K. & D. W. Adamson, (Osteopaths).

HEALTH HABITS

Have you any genuine health habits at all, or do you just drift along from one day to another, from one year to another in the vain hope that nothing will happen to disturb your physical or mental serenity. Perhaps, like many others, you imagine you believe in the inevitability of bad health and that nothing that you can do will stall off the evil day when sickness strikes you down. You do not really believe in such a doctrine or you would carry such illogical ideas to their illogical conclusion when sickness does come to you, and continue to take your chance with the goddess of luck, but. when this crisis arrives, your confidence in luck disappears and you seek the best medical attention available in order to get well again. Now, it is much easier to prevent ill-health than it is to cure it and furthermore, there is nothing new about the idea that ill-health can be prevented. The very fact that it can be cured ought to be sufficient to suggest that it can be prevented. A fact that was recognised and expounded as far back as nearly two thousand years ago by that old Roman senator and famous philosopher Seneca who said, "Man does not die; he kills himself by his wrong living habits." Wrong living, or riotous living, was recognised by the thinkers as the principal factor in destroying health in the days of Nero as they are today, but the general public do not appear to have acquired much health sense in the long interval of nearly two centuries. We are privileged in being possessors of the life experience of the renowned philosophers of the past and in addition the findings of our scientists of the present, but have we taken advantage of our inheritance? We certainly have not, instead we saturate ourselves with a greater variety of subtle poisons than ever before in the history of mankind. Nicotine, tannin caffine and alcohol to name the most common, completely enslave the world to-day. Tea or coffee drinking, smoking and continuous indulgence in alcoholic beverages lower the efficiency of the human body ks ; thoroughly as any method of organised sabotage could possibly do. They are habits purely and simply and their cumulative effects on the human body are destructive to its normal functioning. It sounds very well to proclaim "There is nothing wrong with me and I have been indulging all my life." The value of a prac : tice or a habit is determined, not by the amount of harm it has not done, but by the amount of good that has accrued. No smoker, drinker or other such habit practitioner is in a position to measure the amount of harm his indulgence has wrought, but the evidence will be produced in the event of a crisis. The smoker will realise the state of his defective respiratory power whenever he has to undertake an extra burst o' speed or other physical effort. In some, the effect of lau'nin or alcohol will be evidenced in conditions as neuritis, rheumatic .disorders and digestive disorders, but in all cases the real damage is found in lowered resistance to disease, especially acute diseases and this damage can only be ascertained when the need for vital resistance arises. Bad habits must give way to good habits. This is the first step towards any form of physical improve ment. and remember, a good habit is no more difficult to acquire than a bad one and, what is more to the point, you will live longer to enjoy it. We made mention of some good habits recently. Here are some more. Hold up your chin; this will stop you from "slouching." It is impossible to breathe properly il l your shoulders droop forward and' thereby cramp the chest and lungs. Futhermore, this position tends towards forcing the contents of the abdominal region downwards far below their normal position. When you stand up like a man —or woman—you not only look the world in the face, but you maintain the spine and all the important organs in their normal positions. It facilitates natural abdominal breathing and thereby helps the development of the whole abdominal region and the organs within. Walk with your chin up and chest out and learn to breathe deeply and fully. Learn to relax. If you cannot relax naturally, it means that your nerves are on edge. Maybe it is due to overwork, but more probably to the effects of one or other of the habits already mentioned. Physical relaxation is just as important a health building measure as physical activity and if you cannot relax naturally, practice the following two or three times a day if need be:—' Lie on a couch or bed curled up.like j a ball with your forearms enclosing your knees or your knees drawn up to your chin. Lie quietly thinking of absolutely nothing for the space of two or three minutes, ff finis too difficult, lie on your back and slowly and methodically take in a dozen or twenty deep inhalations. Shut out all thought from your mind and listen only to the rythmic sounds made by the incoming and outgoing air from your lungs. Try to catch the minute

vibrations of the air upon the bronchioles and air cells in your lungs —the sounds recorded by the stethescope. When you can do this and blot out all exterior disturbances, then you can certainly relax and you will have little to fear from your nerves. Keep yourself as clean inside as out. Most people go to much trouble and pains to maintain their facial appearance and exterior in general free from all evidence oi grime or dirt. This is quite commendable certainly, but how superficial compared to the need for intternal cleanliness. The intestinal tract is the main sewage tract of the body but owing to refined foods lack of exercise and our artificial environment waste matter passe? along too slowly. Drugs and purgatives cannot solve the problem. The tract can only be kept clean and active by proper attention to diet, exercise and general hygiene, as outlined so frequently in this column. " r