VALUE OF A CHANGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1920, Page 11 (Supplement)

VALUE OF A CHANGE.

When a doctor recommends "a change," what he usually implies is a change of air (says a medical man, writing in the Weekly Scotsman). That, at any rate, is how the patient interprets it. But, as often as not, the doctor haa more than simply a difference in climate in his mind. Be anticipates that a change of scene will mean a change of outlook and activity, giving the disgruntled system a chance to make a fresh start. We often hear people contrasting the wonderfully "bracing" air of this or that seaside resort with the "relaxing" air of others. They will say, ioo, that such and such a place used to suit them, but seems to have lost its effect. Others, again, declare that a particular holiday hasn't done them a bit of good, and that they wish they had stayed at home. A good many of these people have only themselves to blame for the disappointment over the place or the climate or the holiday. I will tell you why. —Bracing or Relaxing ? In tho first place, those disappointed holiday-nmkei'3 are inclined to leave everything to the air, forgetting that the more violent the change of climate is the greater is the necessity for them to adjust themselves to it. Let us take an exaggerated example. The man who joins a Polar expedition does far more than merely dress for the part. Ho adapts the whole of his life to the new conditions. He eats different food and observes different habits of life. His chief pre-occupation is to conserve his bodily heat. His diet will consist largely of fat; he probably avoids unnecessary and exhausting exercise, and sits tight on all wasteful outlets for energy. The traveller to the tropics, on the other hand, does the reverse of all this. I am not suggesting that the slightest difference in climate to be met with in our temperate islands call for anything like such forethought, but I do believe that the change of occupation and surroundings which a holiday brings need to be met by certain adjustments in the ordinary workday routine if its full benefits arc to be obtained. —How to Take a Change.— It may be remarked that while I. so often advise my correspondents to think* : less about themselves I seem to reverse that advice when I address my readers collectively. This kind of thought I do my utmost to discourage isn't thought at all, but a morbid, involuntary concentration upon real or fancied symptoms, keeping the mind shut in and eiicouraging it to swallow in its unwholesome confinement. When you give your bodies a change, see to it that your minds get a change alto. Ilia etason

for holiday-making ia approaching', and J on all sides one hears complaints against I the difficulty of getting l rooms, the high J' prices of everything, and heartfelt an-1 ticipations of difficulty in getting a holiday at all in those circumstances. I may be prejudiced in the ntatter, but the kind of holiday that involved such anxieties as tiiese would not be a holiday at all to me. Also I am convinced that it is not the kind of "change" any worker should seek. So few people seem to have the faculty for holidaymaking at home or striking out for themselves in this matter. The kind of change I so often recommend to my patients need never take them a day's journey from 3iome. If every popular holiday resort were a kind of Lourdes, where miracles were tn be expected, there might be more -ense than there is in the ovci'H'helnii'ig'anxiety so many people, display over getting them, t agree that nothing is more stimulating than a change of society, seeing fresh people and talking with new friends. That kind of thing is as good for the mind as fresh surroundings and sea breezes are for the body. Those who have a -natural taste for books are seldom at a loss for congenial society, and •hooks should play a large part both in the stay-at-home holiday and in the one taken further afield.