How to keep well : a common sense hygiene

Front matter

SUN HANI

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

SURGEON GENERAL’S OFFICE

Foreword

I have no apologies to make for this little book. Having a message to give, I have taken this means of giving it. While it is for men and boys as well as for women and girls to read, it was written with women and girls principally in mind.

My twenty years’ experience in treating women’s diseases has convinced me that the cause of the prevalence of their diseases, is their lack of knowledge of the care of the body. Mothers, who are ailing, can not raise girls to healthy womanhood because, not knowing how to keep themselves well, they can not teach their daughters the rules of health.

Where are the rosy-cheeked, healthy girls we used to hear about and see and admire so much? They have given place to pale-cheeked, sallow-complexioned girls with dark circles under their eyes; girls who become nervous wrecks i by the time they are twenty and, later, when they are unable to make a living because they are physically and mentally unfit—they marry. The men they marry soon find they have burdens instead of helpmates.

They are physically unfit for motherhood and become panic-stricken at the mere thought of it. They take treatments and undergo operations, which leave them worse instead of better, and by the time they are forty-five years old all symptoms are aggravated. Some go imsane, many die, and others become invalids and continue to be burdens for the rest of their lives. All because they did not know how to care for their bodies. What a price to pay for their ignorance!

Nine-tenths of all women are leading just such lives. What good can come from treatments and operations so long as women abuse their bodies? Without the knowledge of the proper care of their bodies, women can never have health.

How different it would be if all women understood and properly cared for their bodies!

li

We would again have rosy-cheeked, capable girls. They would be fit subjects for marriage because they would be helpmates instead of burdens, and would expect and desire motherhood. They would know how to raise their children and teach them how to keep well. Their principal topics of conversation in their homes would not be aches and pains and doctor bills, but they would have time and inclination to talk on the topics of the day. They could make plans weeks and months ahead and know that their plans would not be frustrated by headache or backache. At the age of forty-five they would be in good physical condition and would be as well as when they, as healthy girls, entered womanhood, and would go on to a healthy and enjoyable old age.

Does this sound too good to be true? It can be and will be true when women wake up to the fact that they, alone, are to blame for their ailments. Women know so little of the care of their bodies and need to know so much.

The object of this book is to give some common sense ideas on the care of the body. If my ideas of hygiene appeal to your judgment, put iil, them into practice—not because they are mine, but because they appeal to your judgment.

No system of exercise, bathing, diet or special line of thinking is advocated here, for I believe that the body should be cared for much as you would care for a machine to keep it in good order. The body requires food, water, fresh air and protection, and their supply in the right quantities will insure health.

This book is not a studied literary effort but is a Message for men and women and boys and girls.

Washington, Iowa May 1, 1916

Iv.

CHAPTER I ‘*Know Thyself.’’

It is said that every year over three hundred thousand people die of preventable diseases. Just think! Yearly, three hundred thousand people lose years of usefulness and happiness beeause they do not know how to care for their bodies—they do not know how to live. Disease can be prevented by right living, by knowing how to properly care for the body.

The human body is like a fine watch, which will run a century with the right care, but if neglected will fail to give good service or stop altogether. The body will give us excellent service if we treat it right. We get what we give.

To have health the body must be supplied with what the different organs and tissues require for good work. It must have the materials necessary to keep them in repair and good working order. These materials are good wholesome food, plenty of water, fresh air, rest and protection. .

a ce

The Art of Right Living.

The food is for the purpose of nourishing broken down tissues which use their messenger, the appetite, to let us know the kind of food required.

Water keeps the blood pure and of the right specific gravity and prevents the system from being clogged by aiding in the elimination of waste matter from the body.

Fresh air also aids in purifying the blood and furnishes oxygen to burn the waste from the worn out tissues.

Rest gives Nature time and opportunity to rebuild what has been torn down by work and exercise. We must pay back to Nature what we borrow.

Protection is to insure safety to the organs and tissues from outside forees such as exposure and accidents.

Nature sends out calls for the needs of the body, but to meet them we must learn to interpret her language. All aches, pains, or feelings of discomfort are Nature’s warnings or calls for help. Certain feelings mean that the body needs more water; others, that there are tissues pees i

The Causes of Disease.

not receiving the kind of nourishment they require; other symptoms, that the body has been deprived of the amount of rest, fresh air or protection needed.

The dyspeptic has denied his body the water it needed to keep it from being clogged. He has tried to substitute physic for water with disastrous results. He has over-worked his stomach by too frequent eating, not giving it time to expel one meal before another was given it for digestion, allowing it no intervals for rest. He has failed to supply the kind of food the hungry tissues demanded. When they called loudly for meat, he gave them peanut butter or some breakfast food. When they called for cabbage, he gave them dry toast. The stomach will readily digest food which is called for by the appetite, but becomes discouraged trying to digest food not demanded.

The paralytic is helpless for the reason that he has denied his body the water it required. And by not taking a sufficient amount of rest, he has failed to pay back to Nature the strength he has borrowed.

bse

We Are Punished by Our Sins; Not for Them.

The rheumatic would have saved himself years of suffering had he properly protected his body and drank plenty of water. Protection would have prevented the inflammation and the water would have kept his blood pure. ‘‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’’

Had the nervous woman protected her feet in wet weather and supplied her body with the rest and water it required, she would have saved herself and friends much distress and her husband unnecessary expense.

Bright’s disease is the penalty for depriving the body of the water it needed. Inflammation of the kidneys being caused by the passing of irritating solids which water would have dissolved.

Chronic appendicitis is caused by a clogged condition of the bowels due to the lack of water in the system. Physic can not take the place of water. Why give it? Why operate?

The tubercular has failed to respond to his body’s demand for water and fresh air. Even inherited tendencies can be overcome by right living. When people learn to study their bodies a Wi

Health, the Greatest of All Possessions.

and recognize and supply their needs, not only ean tuberculosis but also all chronic diseases be prevented. ‘‘We are punished by our sins, and not for them.’’

‘‘Oh! oh! ah!’ exclaimed Franklin; ‘‘What have I done to merit these cruel sufferings?’’ ‘‘Many things,’’ replied the Gout; ‘‘you have eaten and drunk too freely, and too much indulged thase legs of yours in your indolence.”’

Perfect health is a super-abundance of energy. It is the greatest of all possessions; it means wealth and happiness; it is the stepping stone to everything desirable in life; it takes all drudgery out of work and makes it a pleasure. With health it is a joy just to be alive. Health, alone, enables one to live each day to his fullest and best. There are many who merely exist, it is only with health that one can really live. It is the foundation of all success in life.

Health enables one to be masterful in whatever is undertaken. Nothing is too much for a healthy person to tackle. ‘‘ Without health, one cannot grow into that bigness of manhood ee

Health Makes Happier Homes.

and grandeur of womanhood that God intended for them.’’ ‘‘In order to be the highest, the most efficient type of man or woman, it is just as necessary to cultivate the body, to develop its greatest possible strength and beauty, as it is to cultivate the mind to raise it to its highest power.”’

Health enables one to keep in tune. It is the solution of many of the perplexing problems of the day, such as divorce, crime, and vice.

With healthy men and women in our homes, there would not be so many occasions for divorcee. It is only with health that people of different dispositions and view points of life can live peaceably together. Can you imagine an unhappy home where all the inmates have health? The principal causes for divorce are irritability, fear and worry, all of which are the result of ill health; a failure to give Nature the material necessary to use in her work of physical repair.

Irritability cannot be present in a perfectly healthy body. Healthy babies are always good natured, so are healthy people. An irritable res AA

Health Means a Cheerful Mind.

person may have the appearance of health but his irritability, alone, shows that there is something wrong with his physical machinery. Itritability indicates a dyspeptic condition, a clogged alimentary canal, or over-worked and weakened nerves resulting from lack of water and rest.

The cause of irritability and despondency can be found within the body; it is due to a diseased condition and not to natural disposition.

Someone has said that if a person can be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning, he ean be pleasant all day. This implies that there are people who are not good natured until ten o’clock in the morning. If they are not, it is because the body is calling for better attention to be given it. A bad taste in the mouth and a bad breath is sufficient to make anyone ill natured. It means that there is decayed food in the stomach that needs to be washed out. Only hot water will do this, medicine can not. By drinking two pints of hot water before breakfast each morning, one would have no difficulty in being cheerful the rest of the day.

pO:

Health Brings Happiness.

The hot water cleans out the stomach, warms up the digestive apparatus, and thus increases its activity.

Women often have ‘‘blue’’ days which mean discomfort for themselves and those about them. They think the cause of their depression is in their surroundings, but if they would drink a few pints of hot water at short intervals, and take an hour’s rest, their outlook on life would be much brighter. The ‘‘blues’’ is an indication of a clogged system and over-taxed nerves, both of which can be dispelled by water and rest. When things go wrong and their minds seem to be enveloped in a cloud, they will find that the cause is within themselves, for those who take the right care of their bodies never have the ‘‘blues.’’

Fear and worry are the causes of much unhappiness in the homes and, like irritability, are the results of an uneared for body. No home can be happy where fear and worry govern the thoughts of any of its inmates.

Some women make themselves miserable and those of their household because of their fear

Pe Be

A Sound Body, a Sound Mind.

and worry. They borrow trouble by fearing sickness, accident or death for their children, or by regretting the past and dreading the future.

A sound body is necessary for a sound mind. Good thoughts are natural to the mind of a well kept body. If the food, water, rest, fresh air and protection required, are given to the body, the thoughts are easily controlled.

Healthy people do not worry although they have their troubles. Good health enables them to make the most of life and to meet reverses and disappointments philosophically. They live one day at a time, forgetting the past and leaving the worry of the future out of their calculations entirely. Health does not eliminate trouble from their lives, but it helps them to meet it. Life does not run smoothly for anyone and whether one’s troubles are met with a smile or a tear depends upon his bodily condition. It is not trouble that brings unhappiness and premature old age, it is the manner in which it is met.

Health is the first step toward happiness.

Cig)

Prepare for Motherhood.

When mothers learn to properly care for their own bodies, they will know how to keep their families in health. Their daughters will become healthy women instead of semi-invalids. Marriage will no longer be considered a failure when a knowledge of the body and its care is a part of every girl’s education. Marriage cannot bring health to a sickly girl, it can bring only trouble to herself and husband.

If a girl expects to be a stenographer or teacher, she prepares herself by taking a special training. But if she contemplates becoming a home-maker and mother, she makes no preparation whatever, although she is about to take part in the most important work of all—that of making and influencing future generations. Ignorance of the laws of health, as of the laws of the land, is not excusable.

To learn to care for the body is well worth one’s while as, to know how to keep well means a saving of both suffering and expense. A mother, who understands the rules for supplying what the body demands, can raise a family eat

Learn to Interpret Nature’s Language.

into healthy men and women without a single doctor bill.

To learn how to keep well, the warnings or calls of Nature must be understood. All feelings of discomfort mean that Nature is trying to tell you something. Her communications are too often misunderstood and instead of supplying the natural remedy called for, some drug for relief is substituted. A headache tablet is taken when Nature is calling loudly for water. Those who drink plenty of water never have headache. Headaches mean that the body is rebelling against neglect. Headache tablets, besides being a poor substitute for water, do the nerves great injury. Women would be so much better off today had ‘‘drugs for relief’’ never been known. |

A healthy person is one who is well balanced in both mind and body. When people learn how to keep well there will be less crime and vice, as both are caused by unbalanced conditions. Health gives control of all passions. Vice and erime are caused by lack of control. I do not

Ria jy ae

Health Means a Well Balanced Body.

believe that a healthy woman could be found among those who live lives of shame.

No set rule for health can be given as each person must learn to understand his own body. The amount of water and rest a body needs varies in different individuals according to the occupation and the amount of waste in the tissues. More repair material is needed some days than on others and we must learn to recognize and heed Nature’s call for supplies. This knowledge can be obtained by all.

All ean have health. If suffering from some chronic disease, it may be necessary to take a treatment to aid Nature, by applying a healing remedy and massage; but whether or not it is necessary to take a treatment, the body must have what it requires to carry on its work of repair. Treatments can not take the place of food, water, and rest, but may aid them in their work.

Health is within the reach of all. It requires no extra expense, time or education. All that is necessary is a general idea of the mechanism of the body and its needs.

meee | We

We Are Wonderfully Made.

We are wonderfully made. Each organ has its own work to do. The heart is the pump which sends the blood to all parts of the body. The stomach separates the nutritive part of the food eaten and, by assimilation, it prepares it for the nourishment of the worn out muscle, nerve, bone and other tissues. The kidneys, howels, skin and lungs throw off the waste and impurities. The brain and nerves form a wonderful system of communication between the organs and different parts of the body. They are like a great telegraph system, sending and receiving messages.

While the different organs seem to work independently, yet there is a sympathy existing between them and all are kept in activity and repair by the circulation of the blood. Anything interfering with the consistency of the blood or its circulation, affects every organ of the body.

pay) sani

CHAPTER II. _ The Blood, the Life-giving Fluid

The blood is the life-giving fluid of the body. All the organs of the body depend upon it. It keeps them in action and supplies the tissues with the nourishment, oxygen and water they require. When the circulation stops, all organs stop. If the circulation be interfered with or the blood becomes impure, every organ in the body is affected more or less. It is because of this relation between the blood and the different organs that, in preventing as well as curing disease, the principal attention must be given to the circulation and purity of the blood.

Because the blood is of such importance to the body, it is necessary for one to have some knowledge of its consistency and function in order to give the body the right care, as there can be no disease so long as the blood is pure and there is a good circulation.

The blood, in health, contains 90 per cent water and 10 per cent solids. The solids con-

Eh Fe

Heed Nature’s Calls.

sist mainly of red and white corpuscles. The red corpuscles are little messengers that carry nourishment to the worn out tissues. They also carry oxygen which gives heat to the body and aids in extracting the waste from broken down tissues.

The mission of the white corpuscles, known as phagocytes, is to destroy the deadly germs and impurities which are a menace to life and health. They are scavengers which clear the blood of disease germs. A battle is constantly going on within us between these little life preservers and the impurities and poisons from the waste products. The dumping places of these corpuscles are the lungs, kidneys and skin. To aid the phagocytes in their journey to these dumping places, the right proportion of water must be maintained.

The organs through which the blood passes in its mission to the different parts of the body, are the heart, arteries, capillaries and veins.

The heart is the pump which sends the blood coursing through its vessels, the arteries, capillaries and veins. It is pear-shaped and situps | AN

Organs of the Cireulation.

ated behind the sternum or breast-bone. It is tipped a little to the left so that the apex is situated between the fifth and sixth ribs. It is because of this, that many suppose the heart is on the left side.

It is a hollow organ and contains four chambers, two on each side. The two sides, right and left, have no communication after birth.

The left side of the heart sends, what in health, is pure blood to the different parts of the body. Each beat drives the blood into the arteries, which divide and subdivide, beginning with large vessels and ending with very small ones. When the blood vessels become so small they are hair-like, they are called capillaries, the walls of which are very thin and permit the passage of nourishment, oxygen and water from the blood into the tissues, and of the impurities and waste matters from the tissues into the blood. This process is called osmosis and it changes the color of the blood from a bright red to a dark blue.

After receiving the impurities, the blood passes from the capillaries into the veins, which pees, | | eR

How to Keep the Blood Pure.

earry it to the right side of the heart, which, in turn, send it to the lungs for its oxygen supply.

To keep the blood and circulation in good condition, the body must have the right kind of food, plenty of water and a sufficient amount of exercise.

The little messengers, the red corpuscles, must be provided with the kind of food called for by the appetite which is the monitor of the hungry tissues. There are twelve different kinds of tissue in the body and each requires the material contained in a certain food. The appetite sends in a call for the nourishment required, and, unless that particular kind is given, the tissues cannot be rebuilt, for they will not accept a substitute.

Since, in health, 90 per cent of the blood is water, which is constantly. given off to the different parts of the body, there must be a daily supply of water to maintain the right specific gravity. If the daily supply does not equal the amount given off, the blood becomes thicker and its specific gravity is increased. If this lack of supply continues, disease will surely re-

Bh HO

The Repair of the Tissues.

sult. There must be the right proportion of water to the solids, not only for the purpose of supplying the worn out tissues with the water they require, but also to enable the red and white corpuscles to pass quickly and smoothly through the blood vessels. This is the reason that water is the chief requisite to health.

The circulation and the exchange through the capillary walls of nutriment and waste matters are aided by work and exercise. Work and exercise makes one hungry and thirsty because there is an increased demand by the tissues for both food and water and they send in a Special call for supplies. Exercise increases the heart beats and the action of muscles increases the waste and takes up a greater amount of water. To keep the body supple and in good working order, one must drink plenty of water, for water is to the body what oil is to a machine.

Drinking plenty of water and eating the good, wholesome food called for, and taking a reasonable amount of exercise alternating with the rest the tissues need for the rebuilding proae

Water Necessary for Pure Blood.

cess, will keep the blood pure and the circulation good. We have a wonderful body and it will give us good service if we treat it right by doing all we can to help our servants, the organs, to do their work well. Most of the water we drink passes into the blood, dilutes it and hastens the removal of the impurities and waste matters which are thrown off the body through the lungs, skin and kidneys. If the removal of these impurities is not aided by water some of them remain in the blood and make the circuit of the body again and again, and the tissues cannot build up on impure blood.

To keep the blood in good condition is one of the essentials in the care of the body. Pure blood means healthy blood cells, good cireulation, and the right proportion of water and solids.

ey Cs

CHAPTER III. The Organs of Elimination

As the impurities and waste products are carried out of the body by the lungs, skin and kidneys those organs _ should be kept in good condition to aid in this elimination. Upon its return to the right side of the heart, the venous blood, loaded with impurities and waste products, is sent to the lungs to be purified. The principal impurity is carbon dioxide gas, which has been given off by the worn out tissues, and the exchange of this gas for oxygen is the process of purification which takes place in the lungs.

The lungs are composed of millions of air cells which are connected with the wind pipe by the bronchial tubes. In the walls of these cells is spread a network of capillary blood vessels.

When the impure blood, loaded with earbon dioxide gas, is brought to the lungs, this impure gas passes out of the blood into the aint Viesis

Purification of the Blood.

cells at the same time the oxygen passes from the air cells into the blood. This is the process of purifying the blood and it changes the color from a dark blue to a bright red. The carbon dioxide gas passes out through the wind pipe, and it is the exhalation of this impure gas which soon makes the air of a closed room unfit to breathe. This is the reason our rooms, and especially our bed-rooms should be well ventilated. Health cannot be retained by breathing impure air. Carbon dioxide gas is poisonous and one would soon die in a closed room after he had exhausted the oxygen.

Health depends upon the perfection with which the change of gases is made in the lungs. Deep breathing is one of the requisites of health, for, unless all the air cells are used, some will collapse and become useless. All the cells are necessary in the process of purification, and if there are cells not in use, some of the blood returns to the heart not purified.

The kidneys, too, perform an important part in the purification of the blood. They receive and eliminate from the system much of the waste ies

Function of Skin.

matter which the blood has taken up from the broken down tissues. Drinking plenty of water is an important factor in maintaining healthy kidneys as it aids in the passage of the waste matter through them, by dissolving ir- _ ritating solids. The cause of diseased kidneys is lack of water in the system.

The skin must also receive its portion of care for through it the perspiration aids in this process of purification. Waste matter and impurities retained in the body are soon manifested by the skin, which is a tell-tale of what is going on in the different parts of the body. It gives important indications of the bodily condition and not only does it indicate the condition of different parts of the body, but also of the mind. The blush of modesty and pallor of pain or fright are as easily interpreted as the sallowness of retained excretions, the cachexia of tuberculosis and cancer or the blueness of a ehill.

The freer the perspiration, the better will be the elimination of impurities through the skin. The activity of the glands can be greatly in-

A: Mae

How to Have a Good Complexion.

creased by drinking plenty of water, and bathing will keep the openings of the glands from becoming clogged.

The frequency of bathing depends upon the occupation and the demands of the body. No system of bathing is necessary as cleanliness is the only object to be considered. The time, frequency, temperature and manner of bathing should be decided by the individual himself and he is to be guided by what makes him feel most comfortable. In cases of poor circulation rubbing the body with a dry salted towel will be found more beneficial than the use of either hot or cold water.

The complexion, more than anything else, shows abuse of the body and especially in regard to the supply of water. A glance at the faces of those about us tells us the story of abuse or care. No woman can retain a good complexion and deny her body the water it requires. Without health, cold creams and facial preparations can not give one a good complexion.

You see, then, that unless the organs of elimeen Sie

The Business of Keeping Well. | ination are given the right care, impurities are retained in the system which will interfere with the work of other organs engaged in the building and repair processes. The care of these organs (the lungs, kidneys and skin) is very important in the business of keeping well, and this care consists of deep breathing, drinking plenty of water and taking the right amount of rest.

CHAPTER IV. The Stomach

As before stated, there is a process of waste and repair constantly going on in our bodies, and for health, the repair must equal the waste. The organ that furnishes most of the material for replacing the waste is the stomach. By the assimilation of the nutritive portion of the food eaten, it prepares the nourishment which is carried by the blood to the different worn out tissues. For good service, the stomach must be provided with food called for by the appetite; it must be cleaned out before each meal, and it must be given intervals of rest.