CORRECT BREATHING

Otago Witness, Issue 3511, 28 June 1921, Page 26

CORRECT BREATHING

WHAT IT MEAN'S TO THE CHILD. GROWTH AND INTELLECT. At the annual meeting of the Royal New Zealand Society for ihe Health of Women and Children, held on the 23rd inst., Dr D. W. Carmalt Jones delivered a lecture on “ Mouth breathing,” and its result on the health and proper development of the child. Dr Jones pointed out that the society existed for the purpose of disseminating information as to the proper and rational feeding of children. Physicians grouped disease under various classes, the main one relating to troubles arising from the stomach, but there was another class to which he wished to refer and speak for a time—diseases arising from respiratory causes, a class very common among children—covering coughs, colds, whooping cough, bronchitis, bronchial pneumonia, etc. —and a class well worth taking trouble to prevent. It was too big a , subject to give any complete account of in an afternoon, and he would content himself with the A B C of it. As with many other things, Dr Jones said, there was a correct method of breathing and a incorrect method. To use Biblical phraseology, he might say that “ straight is the gate and narrow the way of correct breathing, and wide the gate and broad the way of incorrect breathing.” It was a case of breathing through the nose or breathing through the mouth. During ordinary quiet breathing only the nose should be used, but when exercise was being taken or exertion put forth the mouth was always ready as an emergency exit, Proceeding, Dr Jones said that particularly during sleep should the nose only be used. The nose of a child was not a very big affair, but it was lined with a museous membrane which was very liable to a condition of catarrh, and when this occurred it was impossible for the child to breathe. That condition, of course, was not limited to childhood. Unfortunately. it easily occurred when breathing through the mouth became chronic or permanent, and the reason was not far to seek. If a finger were put into a child’s mouth it w'ould lie found that at the back there was a soft tissue, cut into clefts and crevasses, and if the child caught cold the infection was liable to bo retained in these clefts and crevasses, and it was difficult to clear it. If the trouble continued for any considerable length of time the membrane thickened and eventually formed adenoids. These, once formed, would obstruct the upper ends of the nostrils and the child could not breathe properly through the nose. When the child lay in bed the drainage could not be easily carried out, the adenoids would swell, and the child would become fidgety and lose its proper night’s rest. _ He did not know it everyone realised the full importance of sleep. A great American authority stated, and the statement seemed to be correct, that the work of repairing the ordinary wear and tear of the day was carried on only during sleep, and that being so, it was extremely probable that the major portion of growth also took place during sleep. It- would bo quite evident from wliat ho had said that the matter of unbroken sleep for the child was one of first importance in regard to iis health, and if the child did not enjoy proper sleep then, it could not be a very good subject for the school teacher the following day. Dr Jones went on to assign to this simple cause much of the stupid, appearance carried by some children, and it. was not difficult to understand how such a child soon got the reputation of being of inferior intellect. A large number of children suffering from adenoids, and who were mouth-breathers, he added, were intellectually inferior. The child that was n mouth-breather started life intellectually handicapped. Proceeding, l)r Jones quoted from his experience after examining 10,000 children in London schools. Mouth breathing led to dry mouths and dry gums, these leading

to sore mouths and inflamed gums. In one school, he said, 80 per cent, of the pupils showed some degree of inflammation of the gums. Such a condition of inflammation of the gums meant, at the best, an early loss of teeth, and sometimes it led to a condition of infection, carried to the stomach, and in some instances even being associated eventually with heart disease. Dr Jones drew attention to the amount of pressure exerted by the tong.no of any child between seven and 14 years of age. He went on to say that during these years the child's face began to change to the adult form, meaning that there was a considerable widening of the base of tile skull, and a good many surgeons of eminence stated that this widening out of the base of the skull was considerably assisted by the pressure of the tongue against the palate. When breathing was carried on through the ir.outn that pressure was not exercised. A bad case of adenoids might go on to an actual case of narrow palate and contracted teeth. If a collection of epileptics were taken it would be found that probably 50 per cent, had narrow palates. He did not wish himself to be quoted as saying that e verybody who suffered from adenoids got epilepsy, but, at, the same time there was un association of (ho (wo. It. was possibly a pretty severe condemnation of mouth breathing, but it was. an extreme case. He vent on to trace ear troubles to the same cause, dwelling on the fact that children frequently suffered from earache which, he assured his hearers, was just about as bad as toothache. It made life a burden to the child while it was going on, and sometimes did not stop merely at pain, but in burst car-drums -yid worse Dr Jones went on to say that if taken early adenoids were not diffic lit to deal with. If there weie no symptoms arising he indicated that breathing exercises would prove sufficient, and even in cases where there wore slight symptoms the same preventive measures could he used. He gave a practical demonstration cf what he meant, and showed further hew a little forceable in-breathing (through the nose) could be brought about. Dr Jones did not advocate operation except in cases where there were actual symptoms, but if there was real obstruction so that the child could not breathe properly through the nose then surgery should be undertaken, and undertaken at cn early age. Dr Jones was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks, his lecture being obviously highly appreciated by all present.