Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Science
Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)
Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Diet; Hygiene
People with serious diseases of the heart, arteries or of the kidneys
should not take protracted or severe baths.
To sum up the use of water on the skin: Use enough to be clean. No more
is necessary. The application of water should be followed by thorough
drying and dry rubbing. If the reaction is poor, do not remain in cold
water long enough to produce chilling. As a rule thin people should use
but little cold water, and they should never remain long in cold water.
Water intelligently applied to the skin in disease is a splendid aid in
cleansing the system. It is surprising what a great amount of impurity
can be drawn from the body by means of wet packs. However, this is a
treatise on health, so we shall not go into details here regarding
hydrotherapy.
No matter what one's ideas may be on the subject of bathing, there can
hardly be more than one opinion regarding the application of dry
friction to the skin. Those who have noted its excellent results feel
that it should be a daily routine. It should be practiced either morning
or evening, or both. From five to ten minutes spent thus daily will pay
high dividends in health. A vigorous rubbing is exercise not only for
the skin, but for nearly every muscle in the body.
The dry rubbing keeps the surface circulation vigorous. The surface
circulation, and especially the circulation in the hands and the feet,
is the first part that begins to stagnate. Blood stagnation means the
beginning of the process which results in old age. In other words, dry
friction to the skin helps to preserve health and youth. Skin that is
not exercised often becomes very hard and scales off particles of
mineral matter.
If women would put less dependence on artificial beautifiers and more on
scientific massage, they would get much better results. They would avoid
many a wrinkle and save their complexions. The neck and the face should
never be massaged downwards. The strokes should be either upwards or
from side to side, the side strokes generally being toward the median
line. Such massaging will prevent the sagging of the face muscles for
years and help to keep the face free from wrinkles and young in
appearance. The massaging should be rather gentle, for if it is too
vigorous the tendency is to remove the normal amount of fat that pads
and rounds out the face. Men can do the same thing, but most men have no
objection to wrinkles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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