Health in the Home

Southland Times, Issue 22202, 20 December 1933, Page 5

Health in the Home

Yesterday rather a stout old lady came to get some advice about her indigestion. She was very liable, she told me, to have a vague pain with a feeling of fullness and wind soon after a meal, and the tendency in this direction had been growing for the last year or more.

On inquiry it turned out that in addition she had been growing somewhat short of breath, so that going upstairs in her house made her have to stop and pant. This' sort of story—the combination of indigestion with shortness of breath on going upstairs and some swelling of the ankles towards evening—is very frequent. It usually means that the indigestion is largely due to overdoing things, to putting rather too much strain upon the heart which is getting a little overworked for its age. The indigestion in these cases often clears up with a little care in the matter of diet and by trying to take things generally more quietly. The points in the diet are these: First of all, give up eating stodgy foods which fill one up but do not give much nourishment. Secondly, try to take your meals dry and drink water, tea, or whatever it is between your meals, about 1J hours after eating. And, lastly, after you have eaten sit still and rest for about an hour to give your digestion a chance.