Health Secrets!

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 5, Issue 3, 1 September 1926, Page 58

Health Secrets!

‘By A Physician

Diphtheria ‘Prevalent There is still a great deal of diphtheria about. Every sore throat, especially in a child, should he viewed with suspicion. In the case of this disease, the sooner treatment is begun the better. Every day, every hour of delay is dangerous. Save The Tonsils T am glad to sec that the tendency -*■ to remove the tonsils in every case in which these useful structures arc even slightly enlarged is growing less. I remember, in this connection, hearing a famous physician say once to a young surgeon who was advocating operation on every enlarged tonsil; “My dear sir, if you arc right

the Lord God, who made the brain and the heart so perfectly, was quite incapable of making a pair of tonsils." 1 here is no doubt that these humble structures perform a useful function in the body. Their absence cannot be an advantage except in those instances in which they have become through severe disease an active source of poisoning. Such instances are certainly not so common as was believed a few years ago. Rest lifter (Meals TVd people should be careful not to engage in strenuous exercise just after a meal. I have lately heard of a number of cases in which collapse, and of one or two cases in which death, followed the disregard of this salutary rule. It does not seem to be known that while a meal is being digested the heart’s activity is “damped down” naturally. The organ is unable to respond easily to calls for effort. To force it to make responses at such a time is to tempt Providence, and if any weakness happens to exist it is likely to reveal its presence. The old rule to take half an hour’s rest after eating is a good one, which wise folk over the age of fifty never neglect or forget.

Sating z/ind ‘Drinking T o gather A nd not less important is the rule to abstain from eating and drinking at the same time. The “washing down” of food with draughts of cold water or tea or even beer is a very bad habit indeed. The digestive juices are greatly weakened and indigestion and flatulence almost always result sooner or later. This evil is usually attended by another of the very existence of which most folk arc unaware. I refer to the habit of “air-swallowing.” Indigestion and air-swallowing are very frequently cause and effect. The person who unconsciously swallows air soon becomes distended and profoundly uncomfortable. Faint attacks may occur, or even an actual

fainting fit. Those who take their meals "dry,” or nearly so, arc hut rarely troubled in this way. Cinnamon For Colds '-There arc very good reports conA corning cinnamon as a means of warding off colds. A few drops of the oil of cinnamon on a handkerchief sniffed occasionally can herelied on to act in this matter "like a charm.” Some prefer to chew pieces of cinnamon stick or to take pinches of powdered cinnamon, or, again, to put a drop of the oil of cinnamon on a piece of sugar and swallow it. 1 he method does not seem to matter much. The advantage is in the cinnamon itself. Perhaps a few of the cinnamon lozenges sold by most chemists offer the easiest and best way of taking the medicine. “Bar Strain* It is probable that there. is a form - of "car-strain ’ which corresponds to eye-strain, but which has not yet been clearly realised by doctors. I am convinced that some people “hear too loud” just as others are deaf. I think, too, that “loud hearing” is a serious handicap on health.

I once had a patient whose powers in this direction were absolutely amazing. She seemed able to detect the footfalls of a cat separated from her by the. whole length of a room. She suffered dreadfully from sleeplessness and had tried many remedies in vain. One night she had toothache and went to sleep with a shawl wrapped about her head. To her amazement, she slept like a top. Since then she has always used cottonwool to deaden sound and is sleepless no longer.

offer Or Qhocolcites? A/Todcrn girls seem to prefer tofIVI fee to chocolates —or so at least, many patients tell me. It is, I think, a good sign, because it means preference for a simpler form of sweetmeat. Moreover, toffee lasts longer than chocolate, and so less of it is eaten in a given time. But toffee, especially the soft variety, is somewhat "hard on” the teeth. Consequently, greater care than ever will have to he exercised in keeping these clean and free from acid. I am often surprised that so few women and girls—and men too omit the simple precaution of washing out their mouths the last thing at night, with a little water in which a pinch of baking soda (bi-carbon-ate of soda) has been dissolved.

i-carbonatc of soda is an antiacid. It kills “acidity” in all its forms, and so removes from the mouth those juices which, if left there, dissolve the enamel on the teeth. Every dentist knows that it is this enamel which protects the tooth from decay, and which serves as a rampart against germs. So long as there are no holes or weaknesses in the enamel the tooth is safe. In other words, an acid-free mouth is likely to be a healthy mouth. Un-

happily the victims of rheumatism and some other diseases never have acid-free mouths. Unless they take very great care their teeth "go" with terrible rapidity. For t/f naemia ID lack pudding sold at the pork butcher's is a splendid article of diet for anaemic people. It is made of blood, and the pieces of fat it contains are also very good. From three to four ounces can he eaten at a meal with vegetables or anything else for adults or growing boys and girls, and if preferred hot, it can be fried. If it is eaten in this way, two meals weekly will work wonders. If not. a thin slice eaten after every meal or with it will be very satisfactory. Beetroot is also another excellent thing for the same complaint.