HEALTH NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 604, 1 February 1921, Page 5

HEALTH NOTES.

SOME SOUND ADVICE. RAPID EATING. There is a very prevarent Mea that slow eating is very favourable to digestion, but we have it on the authority of a journal devoted to mental and nervous diseases that this is largely fallacious. The important point is not that we eat slowly or fast, but thai when we do eat we chew with energy. Of course, where the haste is due t{* some mental anxiety, this may injuriously inhibit the secretions. Slow eating may beget a habit of simply mumbling the food without really masticating it, while the hurried eater is inclined to swallow his food before proper mastication. Hence, hurried eating is bad, but rapid mastication ii advantageous. It concentrates our en* efgies on the act in question, iind hence more thoroughly accomplishes it. Moreover, energetic chewing stimulates the secretion of saliva in 'the most favourable manner. These various points are so commonly misunderstood, at least by the laity, that they demand our frequent attention. SHORTNESS OF BPvEATH. This may be due to serious diseas®, or to sources of mod trivial import. Most of us get it a little as w * grow' older ; then mcrclv from the deposit of fat, which makes us look comfortabfes and cheery, even if we do not always feel so. Then the best remedy, of all is daily practice on die horizontal bar; or if that be not available, plenty of outdoor exercise. Horse exercise is good, but can seldom be indulged in except by the rich . Was it not Lord Palmerston who remarked. “The/outside of a horse is the best thifig on earth for the inside of a man.”* If there be actual disease of vital organs, it is best to consult a doctor at once, and be girded steadily by his injunctions; otherwise aiming at s wholesome hygienic diet, and regular habits in every direction. Persons with bronchitis or bronchial asthma derive great benefit from cod liver oil, one or two teaspoonfnls twice a day, after meals—continued for about six weeks. They should do this at the beginning of every winter. FATTY DEGENERATION OF THE HEART.

This is a complaint not aiways easy to detect, aud it is seldom met with until age is far advanced. Then you find that the victim lias been a drinker —not necessarily a drunkard; for drinking a large quantity of gin or whisky every day without getting drunk, is far more injurious. in this way than any occasional bout of intoxication with complete abstinence between. The first thing, anyone who suspects the above has to do is to stop all alcoholic stimulants; the second to lead, as far aa may be possible, a healthy, regular tifc —with daily out-of-door exercises in all weathers, good food, and early hours. Any form of gymnastic exercise that can be indulged in is particularly useful; cycling, rowing, skating, the horizontal bar, &c. ; even lawa tennis and golf are not to be despised.

The best tonic medicine anyone who has (or thinks he or she has) a weak heart is 5 drops of liquor strichnioe in water twice a day after meals. For this, in a mixture of th? orthodox fashion, in a bottle having the dosea accurately marked on it, apply to your chemist.