The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-05-22
MANNERISMS THAT INJURE.
Apparently Harmless Practices That
Grow Into Fixed and In
furious Habits.

Ones health may be seriously i'm
paired, ones life may even be short
ened by permitting little mannerisms
to grow into fixed habits. There are
a score of such mannerisms which
are likely to do one serious injury,
says the New York Herald.
Such apparently harmless practices
as blinking the eyes rapidly, mois-
tening the lips with the tongue, pick
ing the teeth, scratching ones head,
or breathing through the mouth
when carried to excess become very
bad habits.
Take, for instance, the common
"trick" of moistening the lips with
the tongue. If you make habit of
this you will make your lips drier
and drier, and render the nerves of
them extremely sensitive. Eventual
ly you will contract permanently
cracked lips, which besides being
painful and annoying are likely to
produce cancer. If this disease be
hereditary you run good chance of
getting it.
Why any man should blow his nose
when he does not want to is a mys-
terry, but hundreds of people. espe-
cially elderly ones, have the habit.
1t is extremely bad for the nasal
nerves and membranes. If done con-
stantly when in health it will, soon
err or later, produce chronic nasal
catarrh.
If you find yourself blinking your
eyes rapidly without any cause, stop
it at once, or it will grow into an in
durable habit, that will make your
eyesight fail comparatively early in
life.
Natural blinking is necessary to
clear and moisten the eve. The aver
age number of natural blinks is
about 20 per minute. But nervous
blinker will get in something like a
couple of hundred in a minute in bad
cases. The result of this is big de-
velopment of the eyelid muscles. 1t
besides involves counter irritation.
which acts on the optic nerve, and
renders the sight daily more weak
and irritable.
Once contract this habit, and you
will find you cannot bear strong
light or read small type, and the eyes
will get worse and worse. The cure
consists in keeping the eyes shut for
at least ten minutes in every hour, and
bathing the lids in warm water.
II iS 11nviSa n
mouth. If you do you will let the
lower half of your lungs fall almost
entirely into disuse. They are not
filled if you breathe through your
mouth, and the lungs will be weakened
and left an easy prey to maladies of the
chest. The system will besides be fed
by only about half the oxygen it re-
quires. Thousands of people contract
this dangerous habit, which really is
a life shortener.
If you sleep with your mouth open
you will get about half the benefit of al
nights rest. This is frequently the
cause of that tired feeling" on wax
ing in the morning. If there be any en-
idemic floating about you double your
chances of catching it, and halve your
chances of recovering, as you weaken
the lungs.
Never pick the teeth. 1t will make
difference of years in the life of your
teeth, and send you to the dentist be-
fore your time. The habit, even after
meals will sooner or later start the en-
amel of the teeth and cause decay.
Some people contract perpetual habit
of picking the teeth when they have
nothing else to do. This will put
good sound set of teeth on the road to
decay at least six or seven years before
they ought to go. You will lose your
sleep, pay dozen dentists bills and
then wish you had left toothpicks
alone. Brush your teeth, instead, with
a good powder after every meal, if pos
sible.