The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-08-03
OUR HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY b. DEAN BRINK, PHYS
ICAL DIRECTOR Y. M. G. A.



The average person does not know
how, and as a result becomes fiat
chested, @nemic and round shoul-
dered, losing that buoyancy and exu-
berance Of spirits that is always iden-
titled with superb God given health.
Any person who through ignorance
OF natures laws, or pure unadulerated
carelessness is not breathing properly
and sufficiently is not enjoying the
health the Creator intended they
should, SO wake up, dust off the cob
webs, shake out the kinks in your
backbone, stand and walk upright,
keep the head up shoulders back and
the back of your neck against your
collar, >and then, breathe. In this
wonderfully constructed human ma
chine, the lungs perform most i'm
portant physiologic duty, that Of col
Letting from the blood, impurities
which if allowed to remain even for a
! few minutes would cause death by
poisoning, and the equally important
offices of supplying to blood and sub
sequently the entire system that vital
essential to life, oxygen. Nature has
provided an organ that is equipped
with a splendid filtration apparatus of
fine hairs through which air oroxygen
is conveyed to the lungs, that organ
of respiration is the nose, and not the
mouth which belongs to the digestive
system, so in the act of breathing, as
in anger. keep your mouth closed. An
old Roman philosopher is responsible
for the following. and it is as true now
sa then, 'He who breathes through his
mouthtakes into his lungs more of death
than of life. When going from a
heated room into the outer air or from
one warm apartment to one in which
the temperature is lower the mouth
should be kept CLOSED so that the cold
air does not reach the delicate mem
brane of the lungs direct and cause a
congestion. A frequent cause of ade-
noids and abnornnalities of the nasal
cavities is largely due to the disuse of
the proper breathing apparatus, it is
well known fact that muscles and
organs atrophy and become useless
when their function ceases.
If you experience difficulty in
breathing go at once to your physi-
clan. One of the greatest evils of to-
day is the sleeping with the bedroom
windows tightly closed. AS the lungs
are continually giving off deadly car
bonic acid, and If there is no ventila-
tion in the sleeping room the supply
Of oxygen or air Is cut off, and dead
air heavily charged with carbon diox-
ide, a deadly gas, is breathed over and
over again, with the result, you wake
in the morning feeling dull and de-
pressed and quite frequently with a
splitting headache, and then wonder,
why? The human system requires
two Thousand cubic feet of air each
hour, so TO avoid the above distressing
condition, sleep with your windows
open and allow the fresh, pure health
giving, disease destroying oxygen to
enter and the foul exhalations of the
body and lungs to escape. A good
plan If the the room is so situated Is
to open opposite windows, or door and
window, but the bed need not be
placed where the current of air strikes
you directly, if there is but one win
dow, open it a few inches top and bot
tom. Another good plan is to take a
board four inches wide and as long as
the width Of the lower window sash,
fit it to bottom of sash, through the
opening of upper and lower windows
at the center there will be a constant
current of air, with no danger of a
draught. On rising in the morning go
to the window, open it to it's fullest
extent, and as one writer has it.,
" through out your chest " and take
several deep full breaths. The apexes
of the lungs are peculiarly susceptible
to disease and they are extremely par
tial to the tubercular bacilli or con-
sumption germ which never neglects
an opportunity afforded it to settle
comfortably in that dark little space
up under the clavich or collar bone,
and if the air cells in the apex or top
of the lungs do not receive the proper
amount of air and exercise they will
harden and make an excellent breed
ing spot for that dreaded little white
plague germ. A. splendid breathing
exercise that will accomplish good re-
suits is to place small tube or piece
of clean clay pipe stem between the
closed lips, take a full deep breath
through the nostrils while counting
ten, hold breath for three counts,
then exhale slowly through tube until
you have forced all the air possible
from the lungs, small quantity will
remain known as residual air which
nature itself will care for. In connec-
tion with the above exercise persis-
tant and consistant following of these
seven breathing exercises will assist
nature in creating not only well de-
veloped chest and powerful lungs, but
will make for complete and perfect
health. O With head erect, chest
out, shoulders and hips we'll back,