HEALTH NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 4039, 11 August 1931, Page 7

HEALTH NOTES

By

R. J. Terry.

I have been asked by a correspondent to deal with, what he terms the chief cause of ill-health, worry. My correspondent asks what have some people to look forward to, as all scientists agree that this is the end of things. How can it be overcome? I shall answer the latter statement first. My correspondent is altogether wrong when he assumesthat all scientists agree that this is the end of things. When a person gets a smattering of knowledge of Nature he may scoff at a life hereafter, but it will be found, as. he extends his knowledge, that it grows upon him that life, the true life does not cease with this world; —in fact, the deeper one goes into the study of Nature’s laws the more one is convinced that it ■would be quite possible for the Creator to reassemble the component parts of our physical bodies, and the scientist certainly does know that this physical body is not destroyed; it is only disassembled, and returns eventually, purified, to the original, gases, chemicals, moisture, etc., which built it up. The scientist also learns that, apart from this physical body, there is an inner man or force which dwells in the body and yet is not of. the body. He knows, further, that this force can be influenced by similar forces outside of the body. It is a big subject, but I personally know that I obtain a great deal of my knowledge from outside myself. I know this as a positive fact. This outside influence may at times or for lengthy periods be lost, overcome by physical part. PHYSICAL EFFECT OF WORRY. When worry is looked at from the purely physical point of view, or from its effect on the body, small worry or continual worry (not necessarily a big worry, but a small’ constant worry which has become a habit), is more harmful to the average person than an occasional big worry. Its effect is to poison the system with practically the same effect as the poison of fatigue. It may also bring about .what is known as nervous dyspepsia, with resulting malnutrition, neuritis, palpitation of the heart, together with an acid condition of the blood and tissues. On the other hand, worry may be instigated or encouraged by certain physical conditions which bring about acidosis, indigestion, etc. Where it is encouraged by the physical condition it is fairly simple to alleviate it by removing the cause and improving the general bodily health, but when the worry comes from some outside trouble then the trouble has to be removed, and all that can be done is to improve the general health to help to combat the trouble. HELPS TO BANISH WORRY.

Worry is certainly very far reaching in its effects, but here are a few helps which cost nothing. If you are worried, work, stand or walk in the sunshine in preference to the shade. Endeavour to be in rooms or surroundings the colour of which, you find, soothe you. If you give a little thought to this, you will soon find that you are affected by colours and surroundings. Have ae much fresh air as possible, breathe deeply, take exercises which will slacken or loosen your muscles, because the worry or the secretions formed through the worry have a tendency to stiffen and tire your muscles. Lie in a good hot bath with a good handful of soda in the water. This will counteract to some extent the excess of acid. Get a loofah and give your skin a brisk rubbing with it when you are having a cold shower. This helps to tone up the nerves and help you to fight the trouble. But friends and environment can do more to combat worry than anything else, unless it has been brought about by physical conditions. We want that Big Brother movement developed. There are many grown men who want the kind word and guidance quite as much as the youth. HELPFUL EXERCISES. A correspondent who sits over an office desk is developing a stoop. He finds himself walking without any spring and asks for help. Here is an exercise for the shoulders, which will help to broaden and bring forward the cramped and receding chest. During the exercise keep your head well back. Draw your chin in, send your right shoulder first up, and then back, then down. Hold it down. Do a similar exercise with your left shoulder. Then with your two shoulders together. Have your hands either relaxed o r stretched, not gripped Briefly, I want your shoulders for the time being to be directly opposite to what they have been for so many hours during the day. Then practise stretching up. You stretch back and up as if you were looking for an aeroplane above you in the sky. You can often practise these exercises during the day as they attract very little attention and you will soon find they give relief. In your room, night and morning, do this exercise: Stand without gripping your hands, but with you r chin drawn in, and the small of your back hollow. Stand on one leg and send the other leg straight and stiff, and with the knee well braced back in front of you. Send the toes down and away from you, as far as they will' go, so as to stretch the whole front part of the leg. Keep the stretched foot and leg thus for a few moments, and try tc separate the big toe from the other toes. Now, send the right foot out to the right as far as it will go without straining; but still keep the knees braced well back and the toes as far from you as they will go Then send the right foot to the left. Next, still having the leg stiff and straight, send the heel down, and bring the toes towards you so as to stretch the whole back part of the leg. Hold this extreme position for a few moments, as you "would if you had cramp. Then stretch the toce down again so that the foot is pointing straight forward, not to either side. Move the stiff and straight leg about in various directions—forwards, backwards, and to the sides, and in a circle. Then, keeping your toes as far from you as possible, draw up your knee, and clasp it with your hand and bring it up towards your chest. Last of all, shake out your foot, as if is were a heavy weight. Try to shake the stiffness and tension out of it.

These simpje exercises, with deep breathing. which will soon become a habit, will make a vast improvement in your poise and carriage.

LOOFAHS. Some people ask why loofahs are recommended, and state that they are m the habit of taking baths regularly. That may be so, but if one is suffering from nerves I want to feed those nerves, and they can only be fed by good, fresh blood, there are millions of nerves just under the skin. The loofah by its friction brings a glow to the skin; in other words, it brings fresh blood to the skin. In a few days after the use of the loofah- - which, by the way, is the fibre of the melon—one will enjoy a cold sponge after the loofah, even if you never could stand this previously. In S'few weeks, or at most a couple of months, if one cannot take a cold shower after the loofah, one certainly will not mind a sponge being very full of water, cold. Now, the skin is in a glow and the cold water will temporarily drive away the blood from the skin with a rush, and it will fly back again, just as I advocated the squeezing of flesh that a person wishes to develop, rather than just-rubbing it with a little oil. Healthful effects of massage are to give an increased flow’ of blood to build up healthy tissues and increase the number of tissue cells in place of those which are being broken down. So, by feeding, massage, and exercise, the whole body can be renewed in a comparatively short time. It is one’s own fault if one continues to have “ that tired feeling.” TO CORRESPONDENTS.

“ Neuralgic," Otago, has frequent neuralgic pains. His relatives tell him that he is irritable. He knows that his muscles are getting weak and flabby. There is an inclination for some of the joints to swell. He has taken several tonics without any good effect, except at first for a few days. His are quite common symptoms which become more acute after middle age, due to wrong feeding—vegetables soaked in water, then boiled in an abundance of water, and the valuable mineral salts poured down the drain; too much meat with its accumulation of wastes; not sufficient fruit and not sufficient water. Each little muscle is bathed in an acid solution instead of in a neutral bath, as in the case of the healthy, man. This is why “ Neuralgic ” is irritable and why he has the neuralgic pains, why he thinks he has heart disease, when, in all probability, there is nothing yet organically wrong with bis heart. First of all, he must discontinue the strong coffee which, he says, bucks him up. It does not; it simply drives the poisons of the body further into the tissues. The blood may be temporarily washed, as it might be termed. I do not expect him to be able to leave it off altogether at once, but he must have it weaker and less frequently. He should increase the proportion of milk that he takes with it. I want him to drink at least three pints of water a day and get up to three quarts.- He should eat large quantities of green food If he can procure watercress, start with eating a bundle in a day, and then try and eat two bundles per day. He should eat plenty of stewed onions, leek, raw celery, oranges. He should drink the water from the cooked vegetables. He should have some hot baths in which has been dissolved a handful of soda, lie in this for as long a period as is comfortable, and sit in the bath and read a paper if he likes, but I want the soda to counteract some of the acidity he has accumulated. *

“ Thin,” St. Clair, asks if stout has the feeding value that is claimed for it. It is a little bit difficult to answer this question because I don’t know just what feeding value he may have been told that stout has. Further, stouts vary considerably, but if he means, Has it ’ a feeding value commensurate with the money that he pays for it against other food? then decidedly no. Stout in the Old Country before thewar was a very different article from that which in most cases is obtainable here. It might have what might be termed a moral effect in feeding—that is, if a person thought that a small bottle of stout was doing him good, the suggestion might even influence the other foods consumed. “Tomatoes” has been told that the eating to excess of tomatoes is apt to cause appendicitis. No, there is no risk. If there were, it would be the same if gooseberries, blackberries, etc., were eaten. As a matter of fact, tomatoes are a very healthy fruit, especially when they are allowed to be well developed and coloured before being picked. Not only are. they beneficial in certain forme of liver trouble, but they contain vitamins in large quantities.' Eat them raw for preference. If they are cooked, do not cook any longer than necessary. “ Blotches,” Port Chalmers, has had a blotchy, pimply face for the last four years. She is in despair, having .tried several ointments and washes. She need not despair. The ordinary ointments are simply soothing. She needs an ointment, in the first place, which will be a germicide, so that the face will heal. Then simple face ointments may be used, but they are of absolutely* no use for a longstanding case such as hers is without first curing the sores. A course of diet will then keep the face clear. The present treatment is only irritating it. “ Homie ” writes me a very interesting letter. In about five months he hopes to be a father, and he recognises that, in future, life will be very strenuous, and he wishes to give his prospective kiddie a good start in life. His wife, although in apparent good health, comes from a family in which consumption is prevalent. He would be very grateful for advice. He need not trouble because members of his wife’s family died of consumption. If his wife does not suffer from the trouble, and he will see that she diets herself, she never will. Further, every child is born free of consumption, but if it comes from a family of consumptives it is predisposed to the disease. Mineral salts which are contained in food in a form which is easily assimilated practically render -one immune from consumption, provided the system contains sufficient amount of it. - As “ Homie ” is living in the country it should be an easy matter for him to obtain milk from a cow which is not in calf. If he cannot do this, be should procure milk from a cow which is not advanced in calf. Now, this is very important, as I want the mineral salts in the milk, and a cow cannot feed or grow her own calf, make good the waste of her own tissues, and give an abundance of frame-forming material from her milk at the same time.

With the milk that his wife drinks, add lime water. .As he is not near a town ue may make it himself. He cannot go wrong, as water will not take up more than a certain quantity of lime. So, just stir some freshly-burned lime in water, a nd when it is settled and clear pour it ? x with milk. In addition, let her drink bran -water —that is, water in which bran has been soaked for six hours. If she does this, and also eats a fair amount of fresh vegetables which have been steamed or baked, or, if they a re boiled, let her drink the water in which they have been boiled. If he does this, there is a possibility of a Jack Dempsey.