The Red Cloud chief., 1901-05-24
A Few Thoughts on Breathing.

If | rightly understand the process
OF breathing the nose and not the
mouth, was made for breathing, yet
how few people make general use OF
the nose for breathing.
Perhaps | can best accomplish my
purpose of showing how few people
make proper use of the nose, and some
OF the advantages gained by its proper
use, by relating some OF my own ex-
periences.
When young and strong n vigor-
Gus, | found that at some time and in
some way | had fallen into the habit
of mouth breathing, and for good rea-
sons resolved To break up the habit,
but | had not duly estimated the un-
dortaking. With great care | could
breathe through my nose when sitting
or standing, but when ! began to walk
| found | could not get a sufficient
amount OF breath without opening my
mouth.
had set out to overcome the IN
furious habit at any cost. 81 persisted
in my effor to keep my mouth closed,
walking quite slowly at first. After q
time | found that | could walk a little
farther at a time, and as | continued
found that | could walk faster. ! then
saw that | was turning one flank OF
my foe, and. cheered with the hope
OF success, began to walk faster and
farther, then to run slowly short runs,
till finally ! could run as far as my
strength would permit, and that was
much faster and farther than / could
do when breathing chiefly through my
mouth, and with much less fatigue.
had turned the enemy's right flank
and was driving him before me, but
the left flank was not so quickly
turned; that was keeping the moutf
closed while sleeping. | found 1t diff
ficult to go to sleep keeping guard
over my mouth Ia keep 1t closed. Ut
is generally considered by people who
have not tried il that 1t is harder TO
keep the mouth closed when awake
than when sleeping.) When awaken
ed during the night I invariably found
my mouth open, my tongue dry and D
bad taste in my mouth.
1t took a long time to turn the left
flank and a great deal of hard fight
ing, but finally | succeeded in turning
both TANKS and driving the enemy
from his strong position and became
master OF the situation by day and by
night.
found that when breathing through
my mouth / was using only the upper
part OF my lungs, that respiration was
short and quick and that my body was
not getting its proper amount OF
oxygen and that my blood was not
properly purified and | was inviting
all manner OF illness into my system.
Since | have been breathing through
my mouth l have frequently, by i'm
proper exposure, taken bad colds that
| now feel sure would have developed
into pneumonia had / not, in spite OF
my cold, persisted in breathing as we
all should do. through the nose.
A friend, a young man, strong and
rugged, was taken sick with pneu-
monia. lie was very sick and 1t seem
ed that he must die. The doctor was
visiting him daily. One lung was bad
ly hepatized. l told him to try to
breathe through his nose a little at a
time and as often as he could. Next
time | went to see him, and 1t was
only a short time, he said to me:
You cannot believe what a difference
1t makes when | breathe through my
nose" He soon began to show signs
; OF improvement and fully recovered.
!, once heard a prudent mother say
! she was always careful when her babe
: went to sleep TO close its lips and hold
them closed a minute or so and they
would stay closed till 1t awakened.
: How many mothers are there whC
, do this? How easy thus to form the
: habit! "As the twig is bent the tree
is inclined"
How many pains and ills might b'
Z avoided by proper breathing! How
much clearer, brighter, and stronger
. the mind would be il the blood were
well oxygenized!
II a breathing drill was required b,
our public schools law, how muct
better 1t would be for our children
: But, kind parents, do not wait for thu
public school to do what is you i'm
perative duty.
n A person with properly mixed ant
purified blood is proof against all in
N fictitious diseases. ANY one VIII
wishes to do so can soon prove 10