Health

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Preface

One of the most important and far-reaching Public Health movements of the present century is the rapid development of a systematic and positive Health Edu¬ cation Program on the part of the public schools. This program as it is understood today involves an organ¬ ized procedure within a school system which develops such habits, attitudes, and knowledge as will best pro¬ mote the physical and mental health of the pupil. Posi¬ tive health is the dominant note. We shall continue to correct the defects in school children and to give in¬ formation as such, but this is not enough. We recog¬ nize the responsibility of the school system, not only to give special consideration to those children who are ill, but also to so organize the whole school program as to prevent well children from becoming ill, and to promote normal, happy, buoyant health among all children.

The general organization of such a program is fairly well agreed upon. It involves the training of children during the first few grades in proper habits of living. This training is based upon the natural interests of the child and it is primarily a process of motivating the child to do the right thing without a conscious attempt to convey knowledge as such. In iii iv PREFACE

the intermediate grades, the first task is to answer the “why” of these health habits and then year by year to expand the knowledge of the child. This informa¬ tional material is in addition to the continuous motiva¬ tion program. It is not a substitute for it. The child’s continued interest in doing is the central theme of the health program throughout all grades. The informa¬ tional material should be expanded with the natural interests of the child, to furnish the reasons which underlie the development of proper habits.

The teacher is the chief stone in the arch of school health. She holds together the work of the various specialists in the health field, interprets the program to the child, and makes it real. Without the teacher’s sympathetic cooperation every phase of a school health program will fail to accomplish what it should. Her task is not merely one of instruction. It means allow¬ ing health to take its proper place throughout the school health program, the development of health atti¬ tudes as a normal interest in life, and the correlation of health with other subjects as these are built into the child’s personality. It means a practical interest in the health improvement of children. To the teacher who loves children, health education appears not as a new task but as an opportunity and an ideal. Al¬ though such a program may involve new activities for the already busy teacher the authors have no hesita¬ tion in recommending it, for it has been proved again and again and again that teaching from this view-

PREFACE

V point is more enjoyable than the mere presentation of subject matter.

This book has been developed from three years of experimental studies in the intermediate and higher grades of the city of Malden, Massachusetts. All of the material and suggested procedures have been found successful in actual practice. Many devices are sug¬ gested in such a way that those which are most prac¬ tical for the individual room may be selected and developed by teacher and pupil. It is not merely a physiology but also a health program for pupils who have reached the point where they wish to know the reason for the health habits they are being taught. It may be used in the grades or in the one-room rural school where the responsibility for the health program is divided among individual pupils according to their age and accomplishments.

The authors desire to express their sincere appre¬ ciation for the assistance of the school people of Mal¬ den. Superintendent F. G. Marshall and the School Board have made possible these studies as a part of their program for developing the best possible health activities for the school children of their city. The late Lewis Wightman of the Faulkner School, Mrs. Cora Dempsey, Principal of the West School and the teachers serving under them have given innumerable helpful suggestions and constructive criticisms and have individually assisted in the development of the work in a most cordial and sympathetic manner. The

VI

PREFACE authors .also express appreciation for the assistance of Miss .Bernice Andrews of the Cutler School, Somer¬ ville, Massachusetts, and Miss May Barry, formerly of the Faulkner School, Malden, Massachusetts, for criticisms and assistance in the final redrafting of the manuscript.

The authors also wish to express grateful appre¬ ciation to the Department of Hygiene of Harvard University for permission to use the posture chart developed in that department, and to Miss Bertha M. Wood for permission to use one of her stories.

C. E. T.

G. B. C

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. What Is Health? . i

II. The Health Game. 6

II The Health Game

Let me tell you another true story—a story of two boys very like any of you. Ted Miller and Jack Brown lived not far apart in a New England village, and were the best of friends. Ted was a year older than Jack and was always larger and stronger. When they were in the fourth grade, Jack was quite frail and sickly. He took such good care of himself, how¬ ever, that by the time they finished grammar school he had gained much in health and strength.

The two boys entered High School together, anxious to do well in their studies and especially anxious to make the football team. Ted still had the advantage, for he was big and athletic in build. He made the team the first year, which is unusual, you know. Can you imagine how proud he was? Jack was proud of him, too. He tried hard to make the team himself, but the best he could do was to get a place on the sec¬ ond team.

After the first football season was over, Ted began to be careless. You see he had always been so well that he thought he always would be. Then because he made the team so easily his first year he felt as though it would be very easy to stay on it. He seemed to think it did not matter whether or not he got to bed on time, and he ate whatever he wanted even when he 6

THE HEALTH GAME knew it was not good for him. Of course no one noticed any change in Ted at first. Even Ted him¬ self did not know that anything was happening.

The second year of football came. Ted played re¬ markably well. He was naturally one of the strongest boys in school, and with a year’s experience he was one of the best men on the team. Jack was still plodding away, although he had improved enough to earn a place as substitute. At the end of that season, Ted was elected captain of the team for the next year.

Perhaps success was too much for him. Perhaps he had never understood that even a splendid body needs the best of care. Anyhow, he became still more careless of his daily habits. He began to walk in a slouchy way because he thought it looked smart and called attention to him. He wasted a lot of his time in the evening at shows and hanging about the streets, smoking cigarettes. This meant that he always came home late. By the time he had half finished his les¬ sons for the next day, it was long past his proper bedtime.

Jack liked to have a good time but he never broke training. He did his home lessons early in the eve¬ ning and got to bed at a regular time. He did not smoke cigarettes with Ted because he knew that while he was growing, cigarettes would keep him from building the best kind of body and from doing his best work in school. He knew also that alcohol, as well as tobacco, is always forbidden to men in training for athletic work, because it keeps a man from playing his best in the game.

Then the third season of football came. At last Jack made the team. Can’t you guess how happy he was? He was really one of the best players on the eleven. Of course Ted was captain, but everybody knew that the success of the team was due almost as much to Jack as to Ted.

Ted worked hard for the good of the team, but all the boys could see that he did not play as well as formerly. In spite of this they elected him again as captain. It seemed only fair to make him captain for his last year in school after he had played on the team all through high school and had been its captain for a year.

In that last year the crash came. Ted had become

THE HEALTH GAME more and more careless about his health. He smoked a great deal. His appetite was so poor that he did not eat the food his body needed. He was always having indigestion. He thought it was smart to be out every evening with some rough fellows. He never had enough sleep and was all the time threatened with failure in his lessons.

During the football season he tried to take good care of himself, but in spite of that he could not play well. He was nervous and disagreeable. Anyone could see that he was a different boy. After the first few minutes of a game, he would get all out of breath and have to be taken out. He found, too, that it was not so easy to shake off his old habits. Every boy on the team soon knew that their captain was not keeping the rules of training which the coach demanded. Ted’s years of bad habits brought their punishment at last. After the third game he lost his place on the team for breaking training.

Who should become captain in his place but Jack! For many years he had taken the best care of his health, and now he had a body of which he could be proud. His muscles were tight and hard; he did not get out of breath easily. No matter how fast and wild the game, he never lost his nerve. With such a captain, every fellow on the team was honor bound to do his best. They won every game in the last half of the season.

Many years have passed since then. Jack is a suecessful business man with two boys of his own. Ted started out in a business house, too, but it seemed that he never had the health and energy to push himself ahead. Whenever I think of these two boys, it makes me realize how easy it is to spoil a splendid body by not taking good care of it. It is quite possible, also, to build a strong, athletic body from a frail one, if a boy is willing to pay the price.

Among the boys you know there are some like Ted and others like Jack. I wonder which one you are like. Are you going to high school or to work with the

THE HEALTH GAME strong, well-trained body of an athlete? Or are you going with a frail body that cannot do the things you long to do, just because you did not train and build that body when you had the chance ?

Perhaps you have never thought much about the importance of taking good care of your health. Per¬ haps you have never thought much about health, any¬ how, except when you were sick. Of course you have always known that some people are strong and healthy and others are not. Do you think health is just an accident?

Baseball players, football men, and all other ath¬ letes must be topnotch in health. Surely everybody who wants to be useful and happy should be equally careful to keep in the best condition. For this reason they, too, are in training, and must follow important rules for healthful living. Training is something more than merely avoiding alcohol and other harmful sub¬ stances —it means keeping every health rule.

Would you like to know the way in which men have made themselves alert, strong, manly, and always ready for a difficult task? Would you like to know the secret by which some women keep well and beau¬ tiful? If so, you will like to study Health. We' are going to find out what soldiers and ball players and other people do to keep fit. We are going to find out also what you yourself can do to build a strong body of which you will be proud, and to become a well and cheerful person with a likable disposition.

Here is another reason why you will like to learn the rules of ‘health and play the Health Game. Every¬ body can succeed at it. Hundreds of boys and girls and men and women have shown that they can im¬ prove their bodies if they pay attention to it.

Even if one’s body is not very strong there is no reason to be discouraged. Charles Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of the world, was never strong enough to work more than a few hours a day. Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote “Treasure Island” and many other delightful books, never be¬ came very robust. Yet he was always cheerful and gave a great deal of pleasure to other people with his stories and poems. That is, of course, the most im¬ portant thing—to make people around us happy and to do things worth while. Sometimes boys and girls who are not strong learn to take such good care of themselves that they live longer and do more for the world than others who began with the best of health.

Health is more than learning something out of a book. It is chiefly doing. Of course it is not always easy to live up to health habits, but who is afraid of a little hard work for something so worth while ?

1. Why does every one desire health?

2. What habits help a school athlete?

3. What is to be learned from the story of Jack and Ted?

4. What do we learn from the lives of Darwin and Steven¬ son?

Ill

GROWTH IS A SIGN OF HEALTH.

ARE YOU GROWING?

Did you ever have a garden? What fun it is to watch the plants grow! If they grow fast, you think it is a pretty good garden. If some of them do not grow as fast as they should, you try to find out why. The farmer judges the success of his crops by the way they are growing. If they stop growing, he tries to find out what is wrong. Growth is natural and you have a right to expect it.

An animal's health, also, is shown in growth. Stock raisers watch the growth rate of their colts and calves. You watch your pets grow, too. Every mother watches the growth of her baby. She knows that a healthy baby grows much faster than a sickly one.

Every boy wants to grow into a strong, husky young man. Every girl is just as anxious to grow into an attractive, healthy young woman. It is not only interesting but perfectly natural to watch your own growth. Children do that in two ways—by see¬ ing how tall they grow, and how much they gain in weight. Do you know your height and weight ? Are you weighed and measured regularly so you can see how fast you are growing?

Many schools have scales of their own so that all 13 the children can be weighed every month. They are measured twice a year—in September and in January or February. If you are not being weighed and meas¬ ured at school, can’t you find a way to do it? The greatest fun of all in playing the Health Game is get¬ ting weighed and seeing how fast you grow.

You would not enjoy putting money in a bank if you did not know how much you put in, would you ? We might make believe there is a health bank where people store up energy instead of money. Gaining weight is putting money in the “health bank.” Health

ARE YOU GROWING?

banking is much more fun if you get weighed every month; then you find out just how much you have put in. You can have a class weight record on the wall. Perhaps you can have weight cards to carry home each month just as you do your report cards.

From your weighing and measuring you can find out also whether you are up to the average weight for your height and age. The tables in the back of this book tell you what is average weight. When you know how tall you are, perhaps your teacher will help you to find out where you stand in relation to the aver¬ age. You may be able to do it yourself.

Do you want to know whether you weigh as much as the average boy or girl of your height and age ? It is difficult for some children to be up to average weight because they are naturally slender. Other children are naturally stocky and are above average weight. Al¬ most every one varies from the average. Very few children are exactly average weight. There is noth¬ ing to worry about even if you are a little below the average if you are gaining regularly each month. If one is unusually thin, he should take special care to do those things which will help him to gain weight.

One of the reasons for being underweight is a short¬ age of muscle and fat. Is there any one in the class who has better muscles than your own ? How do you know? Some children have stronger muscles than others, because they use their muscles more and have in their diet more of the food substances that build muscle. If you are underweight, do you suppose it is because you have not enough weight in your muscles? Are they hard and strong? Or are they small, flabby, and weak? What can you do about it?

The first place where the body stores fat is on the inside. When hunters kill wild animals in the woods, they find that even the leanest ones have a storage of fat within the body. So when you begin to store up fat, it does not show on the outside, but it does show in your weight.

ARE YOU GROWING?

Fat is also stored in a thin layer under the skin. That helps, to keep you warm. You know that thin people usually get chilled much more quickly than others. The little padding of fat under the skin makes you look better, too. It is surprising how much a very thin girl improves in looks when she adds a few extra pounds of weight. Moreover, fat is stored food which the body can dissolve and use when it is needed.

You should understand now why it is important to be somewhere near the average weight for your height. If you are very much underweight, you are quite sure to be short of muscle and lacking in fat. That means that you are not so strong as you ought to be, and that you do not have the little “fat account” which makes the body so much more comfortable and gives you something to draw upon in time of need.

Perhaps you are wondering if there is ever such a thing as being too much overweight. It is usually thought that if a child is more than one-fifth above the average weight for children of his height and age, he is too heavy. For example, suppose the average “weight for your height and age is 80 pounds. One-fifth of 80 pounds is 16 pounds. If you are more than 16 pounds above 8o pounds, you may be too much over¬ weight. That is, a child who weighs 96 pounds or more when the average weight is 80 pounds is usually considered to be overweight.

You do not need to worry unless you are very much overweight, but perhaps you would be more happy and comfortable if you did not weigh so much. \ ou should not try to reduce your weight, however, utiless you do so under the direction of some one who under¬ stands what foods you need to keep you well and what kinds of exercise are safe for you. The best way to lower your weight is under the direction of a doctor or a hospital clinic.

A while ago we said that you would like to study Health because every one can play the Health Game and win. Do you remember the story from “Alice in Wonderland,” where the tortoise and the other ani¬ mals had a race? “When do we start?” they asked. “Any time!” was the answer. “How far do we run?”

ARE YOU GROWING?

“As far as you like!” “Who wins?” “Oh, we all win!” Your race is like that! You begin any time, go as far as you can, and you each win!

Your test in Health comes on weighing day. Your weight card shows your score. When you improve your habits of living, it is sure to show in your weight sooner or later. Perhaps it will not show immediately. So do not be discouraged if you do not gain at once even though you have been trying very hard. You have succeeded when you have improved your habits, and you may be sure that soon your weight card will show a good score.

Look at the tables in the back of the book and see ' what is the average gain per month for boys and girls of your age. Children who live where there are cold winters usually gain most in the fall and early winter months. They do not gain quite so rapidly through the spring and early summer.

Farm animals are often thin in summer, but they fat¬ ten in winter when they are kept inside. Probably they are thin in summer partly because of a change of food and partly because they run their flesh off. It is possible, however, to fatten an animal at any time if you can keep up its appetite and limit its exercise.

Boys and girls are not interested in fattening, but in growing. They want to grow tall as well as to gain weight. Watching your growth is one way of watch : ing your health, for it is just as natural for a husky child to grow rapidly as it is for a sturdy animal.

There are many reasons why children sometimes do not grow as fast as they should. Perhaps, like Roose¬ velt, they had a poor start and must make a long, hard effort to catch up to the average. Some children do not grow as they should because they never get enough sleep in the fresh air. Others do not eat enough of the right kinds of foods. Still others do too many things in addition to school work and never have enough time for rest and play. Boys sometimes injure their growth by the use of tobacco.

If you have not made average growth—that is, if you are not near the average weight for your height and age—what can you do about it ? If you are nearly up to the average, how can you stay there or do even better? In both cases the answer is the same—play the Health Game.

Let us speed up our growth. Play the Game hard. Make every day a Health Day and every boy and girl First Class in Health.

1 . Why is gaining weight each month a sign of health?

2 . How tall are you, how much do you weigh, and how much do you expect to gain this year ?

3 . How much have you gained during the past year ?

4 . Are your muscles large, hard, and strong? How can you make them so and keep them so ?

5 . Where is fat found in the body?

6 . Why can every one play the health game and win ?

ARE YOU GROWING?

Things to Do

1 . Make plans and preparations for a weighing day once each month, and for a measuring day at weighing time in September and January.

2 . Keep a classroom weight record. On this record, show the weights of children in your class each month. Keep the record where it can be seen.

IV What Habits Make You Grow?

Not long ago some college women of the Middle West chose from their number the “most beautiful college girl.” The girl selected was not only beauti¬ ful, but strong and vigorous in body and clever in mind. She was a splendid athlete, led her class in studies for the year, and was popular in college affairs.

Read what she said in a letter to some school girls in Malden, Massachusetts. These girls were about your age and were playing the Health Game.

“When I was twelve years old, no one—not my best friend —would have said I was beautiful, I am sure. I was thin and colorless. But, fortunately, I had an intelligent mother who saw to it that I had plenty of eggs and milk and vegetables and fruit to eat and that I acquired the best ideals of cleanliness and exercise. By the time I was fourteen these efforts were be¬ ginning to show results in a more attractive, healthy body and lots of energy.

“I know it is hard at first to remember always to do this or that, even though you are sure it is going to contribute to making you attractive, but every time you do remember makes the next time much easier.

“Go to it! Remember you all have the opportunity to de¬ velop into splendidly healthy, attractive girls. I wish you the best of luck!”

Here is an example of the importance of right living

habits in developing health and beauty. Can some of

WHAT HABITS MAKE YOU GROW?

you boys suggest ways in which right living helps to develop good athletes?

Perhaps you have read in the papers that when young men come away from the army camps after only a month’s training in summer, they are much im¬ proved in health. They have gained in weight, their posture is better, and many physical defects have been partly or wholly corrected. The reason is just that their daily program has been a health-building program, under the care of men who understand the body, how it works, and how to make the most of it.

Right habits every day are important in keeping grown-up people in the best physical condition. How much more important they are for boys and girls who want, not only to keep fit, but also to grow!

Here are “The Rules of the Game” as issued by the American Child Health Association:

1. A full bath oftener than once a week.

2. Brushing the teeth at least twice every day.

3. Sleeping long hours with windows open.

4. Drinking as much milk as possible, but no coffee or tea.

5. Eating some vegetables every day.

6. Drinking at least four glasses of water a day.

7. Playing part of every day out of doors.

8. A bowel movement every morning.

These eight rules are important, but as you con¬ tinue the study of health you will doubtless make many others. Moreover, you can find many interesting things to do which help you to remember the rules and which make half the fun of playing the Game. How would you like to make some posters illustrating these Rules?

You may find it is easier to keep the rules if you make a record of your habits every day. If you have not made a book for records, you can rule a piece of drawing paper or composition paper. Plan for room to write down every day what fruit you eat, what time you go to bed, how much water you drink, or any other health habits. It is surprising how much more likely you are to remember a habit if you know you are going

WHAT HABITS MAKE YOU GROW? 25

to keep a record. Sometimes it is surprising to see from your record what a poor game you are playing.

Of course health records in themselves are not very important. The place where good habits will really show is in your growth and your general health. Writing them on paper merely helps you to practice them more successfully. It also give your classmates and teacher a chance to look over your record and sug¬ gest what habits need to be improved. You will not want to try all the projects suggested above, but you may like to try some of them.

It is not necessary that the football player should know why he must follow certain rules, but he is much more likely to follow the rules well if he does under¬ stand them. It is not necessary that the boy who plays the Health Game should know all the reasons why he must follow certain rules; but, like the football player, he is much more likely to play a good game if he does understand why.

Wouldn’t you like to know why it is that you need to drink so much water every day? What are the harmful effects of tea and coffee that are so much talked about? Why does being cheerful help us to be healthy ? Why is the right amount of sleep so impor¬ tant ? Why does the use of alcohol and tobacco hinder you in building a strong body? How could eating sweets between meals make you thin? Aren’t there a lot of things that you would like to have explained right now ?