Since the agitation for fresh air has become so extensive and the
knowledge of the dangers of tuberculosis so widespread, much more
attention has been given to the ventilation of bedrooms, and whereas
formerly the night air was religiously excluded from a sleeping room, it
is not at all uncommon now for a window to be kept wide open, even
through the coldest nights of winter. From what has already been said on
the subject of ventilation, it is plain that to breathe over and over
one's expired air is not healthy, and while it is possible that a
bedroom may be so large that the concentration of the organic matter in
the air may not affect an individual sleeping in the room, yet in most
cases it must be admitted that the bedroom is so small or the number of
people in the bedroom so large that this possibility does not exist. It
is, again, possible that the structure of the house may be so poor that
it is not necessary to open a window to get plenty of fresh air; the
writer remembers sleeping in rooms where, with the windows shut, paths
of snow across the floor in the morning showed the intimate connection
between the inside and the outside of the room.
But the tendency nowadays is to build better houses, to cover the walls
with paper, to put on double windows, and even to paste up the cracks to
make the room as air-tight as possible. To sleep in such a room without
a window open may not be committing suicide, but it is a deliberate
method of reducing the vitality, of insuring a headache or a numbed and
stupid mental condition, and of loading up the system with poisons which
ought to be eliminated by the oxygen which fresh air supplies. It would
add many years to the lives of the people of this country if, from
childhood up, the habit was formed of sleeping with the window open. Nor
need one fear that a cold would result from such exposure. A cheesecloth
screen in the window prevents any draft and yet allows perfect
ventilation. The face is trained to all kinds of exposure without any
danger of catching cold, and there is no reason why, if the bed clothing
be sufficient, the night air should not be thoroughly enjoyed without
danger. Of course, the bed clothing must be sufficient; two lightly
woven blankets are always better than one heavy one. Wool is better than
cotton; if a cotton quilt is used, it should be loose and not tied
tightly.
_Bathing._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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