HEALTH NOTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5180, 19 September 1927, Page 3

HEALTH NOTES.

THE MATTER OF CLOTHING. WHAT TO WEAR, (Contributed by the Department of Health.) The natural covering of the body is the. skin, with its subcutaneous fat. Women having more abundant layers ' of fat are relatively more protected than men. The amount of heat lost a from the bare skin depends on two 1 qualities—its dryness and its oily secretion. In warm conditions sweat tends to appear on the skin, and this moisture by evaporation, aids cooling. Similarly, if the skin glands secrete more or less of this oily sepretion cooling is controlled accordingly. Thus long-distance swimmers are in ’ the habit of coating their skin with a good layer of fatty substance in order to prevent undue loss of body heat attendant on prolonged immersion in cold water.

Civilised people, however, no longer depend entirely on the activity of the unprotected skin as one of the means of regulating bodily heat, but use as a further protection different varieties of clothes. The use o‘f clothing dates from a very early period in the history of man, especially in the temperate or colder zones of the earth. At first the skins of various animals were used, although garments made of wool and camel hair were used in ancient times. The Chinese probably used silk as long ago as 2000 years B.C. Linen is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and cotton was used in India before the advent of the Christian era. So that we see clothing is no modern .conception, although it is only comparatively recently that any scientific study has been given to the ' matter. ACCESS OF AIR. The chief fact to bear in mind is that it is not so much the material from which clothing is manufactured that is important, but it is the method of manufacture of the material. It is the quantity of air enclosed within the meshee of the clothing that is important. If the clothing allows free change of air, then cooling is increased. If, on the other hand, the air n«xt the skin and within the meshes of the clothing is imprisoned, then cooling is retarded. Thus in warm weather we sjee the obvious advantages of openings at the neck and wrist that are so characteristic of women’s attire, and the obvious disadvantages to the mere man of his more cumbersome and almost her-metically-sealed clothing. Air, when warmed, tends to rise, so that the air next the body rises and escapes round the neck and wrists. If the openings here are free and sufficient, then the cooling of the body in hot weather occurs more readily. As during hot weather the skin is more or less moist through perspiration, the movement of air over moist'skin is very gratifying. It also is a great adjuvant to imparting “tone” to the muscles and blood-vessels. . MODERN CLOTHING In colder weather, on the contrary, the exits at the neck and wrists closed the warmed air cannot escape so readily, and therefor© cooling occurs to a less degree and our bodies are kept warmer. The closing of the neck and wrist openings can easily be accomplished by wearing a necklet and gauntlet gloves. Modern clothing (this again applies especially to women’s attire) is usually very loose, and there is consequently always a “cushion” of air surrounding our bodies. So that fashion and hygiene are apparently progressing hand in hand. Then again the materials of which modern clothes are constructed allow a certain amount of sunlight to penetrate to the skin. This is especially true of the new “artificial silk,” and here fashion, for once, got slightly ahead of science, foi artificial silk clothing was in vogue before its permeability to sunlight was recognised.

comfortable and hygienic. How long will it be before th© male sex will shake off the shackles of tradition- and begin to imitate the cocalled’’weaker sex,” and demand that

his clothing should be made, more comI fortable and more hygienic ? Mention has been made of the methods of manufacture of new material. The main essential is that the material should be woven so that as great a quantity of air is entangled in the meshes as is possible. Woollen materials will contain and entangle more air than cotton material. Hence woollen clothes are Wahner than cotton ones. Also the wpoollen fibres are rough and the cotton fibres are smooth, lienee air “slides” over cotton material more readily than over woollen. This “roughness” of the woollen fibre is the cause of the slight irritation, or tickling, that is felt on first donning new woollen clothing. Another great advantage of the modern loose clothing lies in the fact that the blood circulating through the superficial vessels is'not in any way impeded, and free, unhampered movement is allowed to our muscles. Possibly the part, of our body that, in is the least considered is the foot. We can still see ridiculously shaped and ridiculously tight shoes. Here, again, fashion is showing a tendency to keep in step with common sense. The necssity of making a shoe to fit the foot and giving up our struggles of trying to make the foot to fit the shoe iS/Slowly but sure-, ly being realised. IN A VARIABLE CLIMATE. Of course, in a variable climate like ours it is; impossible to start the day clothed so suitably that we may with comfort await all the changes in temperature and. air velocity that can in one day. Hence the necessity of overcoats. If we were clothed so that office work may be done in comfort, then on going out into open air additional garments should be put on. Similarly, if our work is of a kind that involves some physical action, then ip order to prevent too great a loss of body heat we require additional garments when work is over and until a state of balance is arrived at between heat produced and heat lost. Of course, if we persist in doing sedentary work in clothing that Is adapted to open 1 -air, ■ then we

must be prepared to put up with discomfort and consequent loss of efficiency. For instance, a motor mechanic would be very foolish to do his inside work clothed in a leather coat he wears. While motoring. In one case his activities produce heat which must be got rid of, and in the other case the rapid movement through the air tends to dissipate his bodily heat faster than his body can produce it. Hence in one case he does his work lightly clad in order to allow free change of air, and in the other wears a leather coat in order to prevent excessive change of air and consequent heat loss.