WEALTH IN GOOD HEALTH

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1930, Page 6

WEALTH IN GOOD HEALTH

BUILDING A NATION.

SCIENCE OF NOURISHING THE BODY. (Contributed by the Department of Health). A nation’s greatest wealth is in the good health of the people, for if its people enjoy good health they aie p lO ducing, instead of living upon those who are producing. Look at the gica army of workers of various kinds which would be available to-day if all those in hospitals or confined to their own homes" with preventible diseases were fit and well, and able to take their place in industrial and commercial life. The true pauper is the man who is constantly unfit. It appears to be a strong argument for paying the doctors to keep the people well instead of paying them to treat the people who are iU. . It is to wards a millenium of tins kind that the efforts of this Health Week are being devoted; and the citizens of Christchurch are to bo congratulated in their interest in this fine movement on behalf of the people. In years gone by many diseases blighted the human race and men lived to dread of scourges to which today we give little heed. To the progress of medical science is due the comparative comfort, security and happiness in which we now jive. Although great strides have been made, much remains to be done, and this Health Week Campaign is launched with a view to arming our people against the ravages of disease most of which could be prevented by careful attention to the laws of health. The responsibility of entering into the spirit of this campaign rests with you and with all of us. Prominent doctors, business and professional men, public spirited women are all working in the common cause —the public weal. You can help —help your fellows, help . your loved ones, help yourself—for you never can tell when your own neglect may indirectly cause the loss of one of your dear ones. You can help by attending the public lectures, reading the newspaper articles and by learning the rules of health and by practising them in your daily life. In this connection the words of Sir George Newman, Chief Medical Officer of the British Government might well be quoted as stressing the value of such educational movements as this Health Week. NURTURE OF THE BODY.

The fundamental problem of health then, is the wise and scientific nurture of the body. How can we say fin plain and categorical terms in what such nurture consists? Here is your body with its nature, its heredity, its variation, its inborn instincts, impulses and. organic functions, the instrument of emotion, intellect, and will—a living, organism of long biological ancestry, the whole man—can we define the best nurture for it? I think we can,, but only in general terms. Perhaps indeed one term, nutrition, is the answer. Tt is when we attempt to be presriptive and dogmatic in detail that we go astray, for each human body-is individual’in its “preparation” fbr health or disease. Yet some general rules, of nurture mankind has learned through thousands of years of experience. The trouble is that be will not practise them.

The elements of nutrition for the body are six in number: Food, fresh air and sunlight, exercise of the body, warmth, cleanliness, and rest. If these necessities be provided we may have some “approximation” to full. physical (life; but if they are withheld or inadequate we shall have insufficiency, poor physical, disease,. and premature death. Tb’ c knowledge is still only partially applied to the building of men or the rearing of a race. For though 'the general/ proposition is simnle, its ""•'Nation is complex and varm'>i-\ What is the ideal form of nutrition in any given climate or for anv given age of life, and how can we follow it? How can we live in the open air if we also live in houses and in cities? By what means can we secure sufficient exercise, and of what nature should it be? The answer to these questions comes only by education and experience. For given a “living wage,” and given a sufficient yield of the proper food necessary to man’s health, there can he but one answer: People do not live the healthy life because they lack knowledge. STANDARD OF CITIZENSHIP.

No Government is much better < r much worse than the majority of ihe people governed- If we seek to improve the standard of civic rule, we much first improve our standard of citizenship. Tf we are going to have clean streets and a clean city we must have clean homes and clean backyards. Tf we are going to have a sane and a healthy minded community, we must individually have a high moral plane. The problems of sanitation and public health are. such to to impose solemn obligations on every citizen. Tf the atmosphere in which citizens live is to he sanitarily hygienic and therapeutic, much will depend on our women. If it is to he hygienic and therapeutic, morally and socially, a great deal more will depend upon our men. Tt is therefore the solemn duty of every enlightened citizen who has a true sense of the good, and true and the beautiful in civic and social life, energetically ■’and whole-heartedly to support the authorities in their laudable endeavour to render Christchurch a city peopled bv a healthy and therefore a happy race of men and women.