General Hygiene
85
and he is in constant danger of exaggerating his difficulties. If invalids
would engage in some well-directed physical exercise, using their
strength but not abusing it, they would find it an effective agent in their
recovery.
When the weather will permit, those who are engaged in sedentary
occupations, should, if possible, walk out in the open air every day,
[101]
summer and winter. The clothing should be suitable, and the feet
well protected. Walking is often more beneficial to health than all the
medicine that can be prescribed. For those who can endure it, walking
is preferable to riding; for it brings all the muscles into exercise. The
lungs also are forced into healthy action, since it is impossible to walk
in the bracing air of a winter morning without inflating them.
Exercise aids the dyspeptic by giving the digestive organs a healthy
tone. To engage in deep study or violent exercise immediately after
eating, hinders the digestive process; for the vitality of the system,
which is needed to carry on the work of digestion, is called away to
other parts. But a short walk after a meal, with the head erect and the
shoulders back, exercising moderately, is a great benefit. The mind is
diverted from self to the beauties of nature. The less the attention is
called to the stomach, the better. If you are in constant fear that your
food will hurt you, it most assuredly will. Forget your troubles; think
of something cheerful.
More people die for want of exercise than from overwork; very
many more rust out than wear out. In idleness the blood does not
circulate freely, and the changes in the vital fluid, so necessary to
health and life, do not take place. The little mouths in the skin, through
which the body breathes, become clogged, thus making it impossible to
eliminate impurities through that channel. This throws a double burden
upon the other excretory organs, and disease is soon produced. Those
who accustom themselves to exercising in the open air, generally have
a vigorous circulation. Men and women, young or old, who desire
health and who would enjoy life, should remember that they cannot
have these without a good circulation. Whatever their business or
inclinations, they should feel it a religious duty to make wise efforts to
overcome the conditions of disease which have kept them in-doors.
[102]