WHAT DOCTORS ARE SAYING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 10

WHAT DOCTORS ARE SAYING.

BAD EFFECTS OF TEMPER. TUBERCULOSIS AMONG PRINTERS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 27. , Dr A. Bradford Hill, in a report issued by the Industrial Fatigue Research Board discusses the problem: “‘Why should printers have death rates'from all other causes definitely lower, as a whole, than the rates for all occupied and retired males and yet die from tubreculosis at a rate that may not be excessively high, but undoubtedly is significantly higher than that for all males? " Over 250,000 people are employed under the Joint Industrial Council for the Printing and Allied Trades and of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association of London. Various reasons for the higher mortality rate are discussed. For example, it hag been stated that the printer's liability to tuberculosis is due to his contact with lead; or, again, that he works in close, cramped quarters with insufficient ventilation, and is therefore easily exposed to infection; or, thirdly, that the industry, being one which needs no great physical exertion, may attract persons of poor physjque who are already phthisically inclined. None of these explanations', however, is based upon adequate proofs, and the question still remains unanswered. Discussing the excessive liability of compositors to incapacity in the first years of their employment followed by a relatively low incidence for nearly all the rest of their lives, the report suggests that such ,an effect might be introduced by the assumption that the occupation attracts the physically weak, and that the environment is not suited to such a class. The evidence produced by the incidence of various types of sickness suggests that tpe environment with regard to the factor of massive infection does not play a predominating part; for the compositors of ages 16-19 are not only greater suffers from infectious diseases (such as those of the respiratory system), but also from such cases as rheumatism, diseases of the digestive system and of the nervous system. This 1 suggests a rather generally low physique, though, of course, it does not preclude the operation of other environmental factors, or the factor of massive infection in cramped quarters as well. Dr Hill suggests that apprentices should be medically examined at their entry into the trade. PETTY ANNOYANCES AND PIN- ' PRICKS. Dr Bernard Hollander addressed a meeting of the Ethical Society on Sunday, giving hints on health and happiness. In a list of influences producing ills, he gave the nagging wife or husband a prominent place, and suggested mental discipline and training as the highway to health. “ Often it is not real misfortune which disturbs the health,” 'he said, “but the trifling nothings, the petty annoyances,’ and the pinpricks of life which cause emotional reactions and, by their constant repetition, produce nervous exhaustion. The general nutritnion of the body is influenced by our emotions. Anxiety emaciates its victims; faith, hope, and courage assist in. strengthening the body. “The man of violent temper gives himself a dose of poison, just as if he had swallowed it. Similarly the toxin produced by fear acting on the brain and sympathetic system is one of the most powerful poisons introduced into the blood. The miraculous cures sometimes reported as having taken place without any medical help are generally those of people free from fear, worry, or doubt, Such sudden cures are presumed to apply only to imaginary ailments; but, strictly speaking, there are no imaginary ailments. There are only physical and mental ills, and the mental ills arc as real as the physical ills. “ Granted that some of the cures at holy shrines are genuine, their effect in restoring health is produced by the inspiring ceremony and surroundings Vhich fill the patient’s mind with wonder, awe, and hope, in place of injurious thoughts and emotions. If people were to have the same faith in the skill of their physician, they would get well the same without increasing their superstititions‘ Digestion, observed Dr Hollander, was dependent on the mental state almost as much as on any other factor. “ But,” he added, “indigestion, when due to ah normal mental states, is not always of our own doing. One is just as likely to have dyspepsia from a nagging wife or husband as from a gastric ulcer.” DEFICIENT SELF-CONTROL, To sufferers from sleeplessness he said: “ Dont’ carry the worries of the day to bed and review them there, .. People should keep their bedrooms ‘ holy.’ All business of the day and all disturbing elements should be settled before entering the bedroom, where the mind should be turned to pleasant- thoughts. Sleep comes when one is not looking for it; it flies away when one tries to catch it.” Ad\ ising restraint iq order to avoid temperamental explosions or nervous breakdowns, Dr Hollander said: “Many a man or woman who would look with horror upon going on an alcoholic spree does not hesitate to indulge in. frequent ‘ emotional sprees ’ or nervous ‘ blow ups.' Botli sprees are due to deficient self-con-trol.”