The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; A Study in HygieneGalbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Science
The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; A Study in Hygiene
Galbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Women -- Health and hygiene
Through lack of exercise, the appetite fails, the liver becomes
torpid, and the muscular and nervous systems lose their tone.
The exercise which the housekeeper gets in going around her house is
not sufficient. Daily exercise in the open air is essential to health;
as this is to supplement the indoor exercise, the amount taken will
vary in proportion to the former. For teachers or those who have a
sedentary occupation an hour's active exercise in the open air-- a
three-mile walk-- should be supplemented by active gymnastic exercise.
For people in good health, a mixed diet-- that is to say, a diet
consisting of meat, vegetables, and fruit-- is the best. If the
individual is not well, then the diet must be adapted to meet the
needs of that particular case.
Hot breads, all articles of food fried in fats, salads, and pastry are
difficult to digest. Tea is very constipating, and when taken in
excessive quantities renders the individual nervous. An excess of
coffee leads to congestion of the liver.
Where indigestion exists, the simplest and most sensible remedies are
to regulate the diet, and avoid eating between meals. By drinking a
glass of water as hot as it can be sipped one hour before each meal,
the mucus is washed out of the stomach, the stomach is empty on coming
to the table, and in the best possible condition for the gastric juice
to act on the food-stuffs.
Constipation.-- Constipation is the rule with the average American
woman; the causes are their corsets, the tight bands of their
clothing, lack of exercise, and the fact that they drink too little
water and too much tea. The most rational means to overcome it is to
drink more water; at least three pints a day should be taken, in
addition to soups, tea and coffee, and so forth; the water must be
taken into the system as such. Then attention must be given to the
diet; plenty of fruit should be eaten, vegetables, and coarse bread.
Regularity in this, as in all other habits of life, is most essential,
and the individual should go to the toilet at the same hour every day,
even if there is no inclination to have a bowel movement, and thus the
habit will be established; the most convenient time is directly after
breakfast.
Medical Treatment.-- But if all these means have failed, medicines
must be resorted to. Cold water is a better laxative than hot; to a
glassful of cold water add from one teaspoonful to one tablespoonful
of the effervescing granules of the phosphate of soda, and take this
the first thing on rising in the morning. This preparation of soda is
particularly useful because it acts slightly on the liver. Other
laxatives are: a seidlitz powder dissolved in a glass of cold water on
rising; a wineglass or more of Hunyadi Janos, also taken on rising.
Any of these may be taken with safety by pregnant women. For children
the simplest laxative is one teaspoonful of Husband's milk of
magnesia, to be taken in one glass of water on rising.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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