HEALTH NOTES

Hutt News, Volume 19, Issue 22, 31 October 1945, Page 11

HEALTH NOTES

By H. K. and D. W. Adamson, (Osteopaths). ft may truly be said that whereas the promotion ol" good health, or better health, demands but a minimum of our time and attention, a very considerable and sustained effort is invariably required to destroy it or even injure it. If proof were nafeded to sustain this statement, one has only to point to the conduct of the average individual around us and to notice strenuously he strives to upset the natural balance of his body. With the assistance of an unbelievable number of vices, which he mistakenly regards as "aids", aids to appetite, aids to digestion, aids to sleep, aids to soothe his shattered nerves, aids to stimulate his tired system, etc., he outrages pretty well every physiological law upon which his / health depends. And yet, for a period of a few years or more, he may even get away with it, which only goes to prove how really tough the human animal is. An appetite for food is a natural function to induce us to take food to provide for growth, tissue replenishment, heat and energy. If appetite is lacking, it simply indicates that, for the time being, the needs •of the body for food are ample, and under the circumstances, the natural thing to do is to wait for an appetite. The un-natural and generally adopted practice, however, is to force an appetite by the use of socalled appetisers, sauces, spices and the various artificial flavourings. When an appetite is chronically absent it means considerable impairment of function and is symptomatic of various deeply seated disorders which necessarily need proper food and treatment but to impose upon an already overworked system, unwanted food, and particularly wrong food, by the aid of appetisers, is one of the certain methods of bringing about an ultimate breakdown.

"Aids" to digestion. A good appetite is the only liatural aid to digestion and any forcing of the digestion by artificial aids as indigestion pills or powders in another method by which so many try to out-smart a natural function. Simple indigestion is the first sign of revolt of the stomach against too much food or the wrong kind of food, and it only makes matters worse, much worse, by habitually "helping" the stomaclT to pass on its unwanted contents a purgative, or by "neutralising" the products of fermentation by by-carbonates and other ruses. "Aids" to soothe over wrought nerves. Relaxation and rest is the natural procedure as indicated by Nature, but to make the going still harder, the usual practice is to suitdue touchy nerves with narcotics of various sorts and nicotine in particular. Space does not*permit at this juncture to discuss the action of these narcotics, but brief mention of one effect of nicotine may suffice for the moment. Profess'or Raymond Pearl of John Hopkins did some research work on the matter recently. He picked out the records of nearly three thousand heavy smokers, a couple of thousand odd moderate smokers, and another couple of thousand of non-smokers. All whites and over the age of thirty. He found that up to the age of fifty, the death rate amongst the heavy smokers was slightly more than double that of the non-smokers. The fact that after that age, the disparity gradually grows less in no way helps the case of the smoke addict who always insists that smoking doesn't do himi any harm. Some indeed endeavour to claiin that it does a little good, but, you can't fool Nature. Nature provides TSTfe balance, but she leaves it to us to tip tlie scales.