Home Health Guide

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 220, 16 September 1944, Page 2

Home Health Guide

MEALS AND EMOTIONS Experiments have shown that food, when taken by a person in a highly emotional condition, will be of little benefit, since normal digestion is upset.

Emotions such as fear, anger, joy, sorrow and so on are not merely mental phenomena. An emotion is a disturbance of mind and body, and is not only reflected in certain external movements such as blinking and starting back when afraid, hanging of the head when ashamed, or by changes in respiration, heart-beat and blood pressure. In addition to these expressive movements, emotional excitement produces important glandular changes. It is becoming more evident * that these masses of tissue which we call glands, exert a great influence on our everyday life, especially with regard to bodily functioning, digestion and general self-con-trol. It has been demonstrated that when under the influence of pain, fear and anger, the secretion of salivary and gastric fluids is prevented. A dog when given fpod will salivate normally, but if a cat appears within his vision salivation ceases immediately. The emotion of anger in a human being prevents the digestive movements of the stomach and intestines. Whereas a person eating agreeable food will produce an active secretion of gastric fluid, the wrong type of food will have little influence.

As part of the routine of a normal healthy life, we must restrict ourselves to healthful foods, and take our meals in a happy frame of mind.