Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-08-29
MORRY A DISEASE.

days that it is impossible to treat
the mind and the body as if they
were really distinct They have dis
covered that the two are SO closely
bound up together that nothing can
effect one without effecting the other
in a greater or less degree. Our
feelings, our emotional experiences.
used to be treated as mental pheno-
mena." We still keep the phrase.
states Of mind" But we might
just as accurately say states of
body" There is no such thing as an
emotion without its bodily express
sion.
A man thinks of running. The
nerve centers send more blood to
his legs; all the muscles used in run
ming get an increased supply of it,
A man is hungry He thinks of a
good juicy beefsteak. Immediately
more blood is sent to the muscles of
mastication and 10 the salivary
glands. Saliva is poured into the
mouth, and even the walls of the
stomach begin to secrete gastric
juise, and to prepare themselves for
the digestion of the hypothetical din
ner.
Now this fact has tremendously
practical application. Suppose that
| man has an uneasy sensation in
the locality of the heart which is due,
let us say, to overeating or TO gas in
| the stomach. But he begins to think
that he has heart disease. He reads
the advertisements in the newspa-
pers to learn about his SYMPTOMS,
and he learns about them.
"A sense of construction about the
chest" Yes, that is the difficulty ey
actly, Slight pain on deep breat..-
ing, palpitation of the heart after
vigorous exercise"-it is evidently a
serious case! He begins to worry
about it. Worry interferes with his
sleep. 1t interferes also with his di-
gestion; he does not get well nour-
ished
Bad sleep and bad digestion make
him worse and worse. Each one ag-
grayates the other And ali the time
he keeps thinking about his heart
In the end, until he succeeds in fast
| ening on himself a functional diff
Guilty which may be a really serious
and permanent trouble-and the
whole of it can be traced back to
his croofed thinking about that lit
! tie pain in his chest.
| This is no parable 1t is the rec
ords of hundreds of actual cases.
Every physician comes into contact
with them.
A man who keeps worrying about
| the state of his liver will be sure 10
have trouble with it eventually. In
digestion can be brought on in the
same way, and long list of other
ailments.
The nervous system has adapted
| itself to the increasing colnr!cAity
! of modern life 1t has grown more
| sensitive. 1t has become more deli
cate in its adjustments. This let's
us do a higher grade of work when
we are at our best; but the machin-
cry gets out of order more easily.
| The role that the psychic part of us
plays in the government of the rest
is increasing all the time in impor-
| lance.
That is why worry is such ire.
mendously expensive Indulgence.
Worry is nothing but diluted, drib-
bling fear, long drawnout; and it's
effects ON the org nism are of the
same kind, only hot so sudden
| To resolve to play the game, and
! 20 play for all it is worth, is the
best start a man can take toward
| setting himself right. l know peo-
pie who are really out of order,
whose heart or lungs are really Grip
| pied, but who make the best of it,
who have learned just what they can
do and what they cannot do. They
| don't think about their troubles, and
no one would even know that any
! thing was wrong with them. They
accomplish more than most people
| in perfect health.-Extracted from
an article in Worlds Work by Luth-
er H. Gullick, NJ. d. director of phySi-
cal training in the public schools,
! New York city