TALKS ON HEALTH.

Putaruru Press, 7 June 1928, Page 6

TALKS ON HEALTH.

MOKE LIGHT IH THE HOME. What I want to preach once a week —you are very patient with my sermons ( there is no collection) —what I want to preach is the doctrine of selfhelp. You and I are not concerned with our homes. When Bills are passed we will avail ourselves of them. But we shall have to wait some time yet. The old-lashioned principles of ugiit and air are not insisted on in the home. Long before any Act comes i-i you can make your homes healthier. I’uu know as well as 1 do that in the same row of houses one is clean and the other not. I want the fathers and mothers to keep on repealing to themselves, “How can I make my home brighter and healthier * 9 Are the windows clean, or do they obstruct half the light? Please do away with liie heavy dark curtains that keep oat • no light. Better have no curtains at all. Can you whitewash the area or passageway outside the window? Can you give the ceiling a coat of white- , wash? A light room makes everyone more cheerful. Choose a bright wallon per, not a funeral one; let your •touse be a good place to live in, not h .rood i»la«.*<* to die in. ; Treatment of Stiff Joints. In the treatment of a stiff joint wh ch has been injured in an accident there are two stages to be followed out, and woe betide the patient who forgets this and mixes up the two stages- The fi.st stege is the stage of rest, absoiute rest. If an arm is injured it must be carried in r sling; if a leg, it must be rested on a couch; if a jqint of th spine is hurt the patient must lie on Lis back in bed. This first stage of rest lasts a variable time, according to the severity of the injury; the object is t > fruit until the active inflammation and swelling have gone down, and soothing, cooling lotions are ordered to further this object. When the inflammation has gone the second stage is begun. This consists in movements of the injured joint. I cannot impress too strongly on you the importance of remembering stage two. I have seen dozens of cases of arms and legs permanently crippled because the , patients had not sufficient sense to move their injured joints. At first it is painful to move, and therefore the patients refuse to carry out the doctor’s orders. They hold the limb stiff, and stiff it remains, and it grows stiffer and stiffer as the weeks go on.

Or if they do move the injured joint it is in a niggling, half-hearted way that does no good. This applies to old people more than to young, as che joints of old people are less supple from the first. Take Your Weight. Keep a record of your weight: take the measure every six months and write it in a little book for reference. If your weight remains the same, all is well. If it is going up, you ought to know it. If the weight is going down, it is not necessarily a lad sign. Loss of suet may bo a very good thing. On the other hand, a steady loss of weight may be significant of many things. If the digestion is upset, the stomach and bowels cannot carry out their proper duty of absorbing food. A nice dinner is served up and is eaten* but it never reaches its proper destina-tion-.-good sound flesh and blood. The food panscs through without strengthening the body. The loss of weight is a warning; if it is allowed to go on a limit, may be reached when the unforI tunate person breaks down. In the majority of cases the teeth are at fault. (The stomach complains most bitterly that it cannot do its work if the teeth igo on strike. The avoidance of in- | digestible food is a sine qua non. A [ diet of vinegar and pickles will lower any man’s weight. A diet of strong tea and half-cooked rice will !ow*er any woman’s system. Food that is good in the shop may be spoilt In the cooking. Tell the Doctor. Loss of weight may be associated with other symptom*. The most important accompaniment of loss of weight is a chronic cough. In a case t of suspected consumption the evidence of the weighing-machine is of 1 igh value. A careful examination of the ".host and a special analysis of the I sputum will enable the doctor to clear up the diagnosis and save a valuable life by adopting early treatment. Some forms of tumour arc associated w r ith loss of weight. Patients so often make unintentional mistakes in describing changes in weight fancied or real, rhnt ; t is of great assistance to the doctor to have the actual record; niacli nos have no prejudices or false sympathies. So when you find you are losing weight, you should take serious notice of it; it may be something or nothing. But tell the doctor a and let him see you in bed so that he can satisfy himself on all points and definitely exclude the possible causes of wmsting which are passing through his mind.