Good Health and How We Won It, With an Account of the New HygieneSinclair, Upton
Science
Good Health and How We Won It, With an Account of the New Hygiene
Sinclair, Upton
Hygiene
To return for a moment to the processes of breathing, we find that
the act of inflating the lungs is a blood-pumping process as well.
This blood-pumping process has a great effect upon the struggle of the
white soldiers of the blood to maintain the body against the inroads
of disease. Each time that the wall of the chest is elevated after the
lungs have been emptied, a suction force is exerted upon the large
veins which enter the chest, especially those which come in through
the abdominal cavity. “At the same moment,” to quote Dr. Kellogg again,
“the downward pressure of the diaphragm by which the liver, stomach,
and other abdominal organs are compressed against the muscular walls
of the abdomen, serves to force the blood from below upward, emptying
the venous blood of the abdominal cavity into the chest, thus helping
it toward the heart. The more tense and well developed the muscles of
the abdominal wall and the stronger the muscles of respiration, the
stronger will be this upward movement of the blood. When the abdominal
muscles are weakened by improper dress, by corsets, tight lacing, or by
wearing of belts or bands or by sedentary habits, especially sitting in
a stooped position, the weakened muscles yield to the downward pressure
of the diaphragm, thus neutralizing to a large degree the beneficial
influence of this action. This condition is unquestionably a cause of
chronic disease of the liver and stomach, inactive bowels, and possibly
lays the foundation of cirrhosis of the liver, spleen, and other grave
disorders of the abdominal region.”
It is very obvious how deep breathing will thus influence the vigor
of the blood’s army of cells. Deep breathing forces the blood to rush
into the lungs, there to be charged with oxygen. Without this oxygen
the white cells die. Vigorous breathing also directly aids digestion,
and promotes the absorption of food materials. Those who have slow
digestion will find that breathing exercises will be of especial
benefit. In ordinary breathing of a quiet person, the movements of the
chest are so slight as to be scarcely noticeable, but when vigorous
breathing is indulged in, the diaphragm as it moves up and down
kneads the stomach and its contents and, very materially, assists the
digestive organs.
HAVE FRESH AIR AT NIGHT
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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