HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 July 1942, Page 4

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

EMOTIONS AND MEALS DO NOT MIX. PROCESSES OF DIGESTION. (By the Health Department.) Have you ever noticed how a vase of flowers on the table makes • the meal taste a little bit better? And, of course, you have noticed how an untidily served meal takes the edge off your appetite and definitely dulls the digestive processes. An easy mind means an easy stomach; and an easy stomach is one of the most healthful and satisfying things in the world. Any emotional disturbance at meal times is to be avoided. It causes the little gastric juices to misbehave, the stomach plays up, and the result is anything but a happy one. It takes amazingly little to upset the sensitive processes of digestion. The prospect of an appetising meal stimulates the flow of saliva and encourages comforting anticipations, but that flow of saliva may be promptly stopped by strong emotion. You know how the mouth dries up in fright. There you have effect and its cause. Experiments have shown that the movements and secretions of the stomach are stopped by anger, fear, anxiety. Digestive troubles, including gastric ulcer, are common among busy professional men, and among women worried by the cares of the household. And in children, unhappy surroundings at home or in school will nullify the effects of even a perfect diet. Therein lies another danger. The nervous system, which is so dependent on good nourishment, is made more unstable by the disturbed digestion, and matters go from bad to worse. As against all that, the belief that one’s diet is just right has a good influence on digestion. Don’t take your troubles into the dining-room. Cultivate the habit of forgetting all about them when you sit down to a ipieal. Concentrate on the job in hand. Contentment at meal times pays dividends.