The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-02
Home Nursing
Summer Colds

.<<THE greatest crimes in the "S world" says a noted health spe-
 cialist, "are the crimes perpe- trated against ones own body. The crimes of carelessness and neglect through which we catch cold and de velop serious diseases, such as pneu- monia. and even tuberculosis"
 One can't shelve the possibility of catching cold, just as one. puts. the heavy wraps and blankets away in the cedar chest when winter ends.
 Very often one deserves little sym pathy when feeling acutely miserable, because the fault is ones own. The shifting "aching-all-over" kind of cold makes one feel just as friendless and unhappy in the summer as the winter, but there is even less excuse for catch ing cold in the summer than in the winter. In winter time one can almost always blame the weather for over heated and Abadly ventilated rooms.
 One catches cold from exposure to bad air more often than from exposure to inclement weather. This is why ones place of business should be as well aired, lighted and ventilated (by a constant stream of moving air) as ones owH bedroom.
 So much for temperature as a cause of colds-at any time of year. One cannot unfortunately, regulate the heat of trains, hotel dining rooms and crowd ed %ublic auditoriums where so often one "catches cold" and experiences that first shivery feeling.
 But one can take care of ones body elimination. !.
 This means the skin as well as the kidneys and the intestinal tract.
 The woman who admits Gin her late eighties) that as a girl she took ire quent doses of magnesium sdlphate ito make her look pale and lily white" was merely a victim of environment. A part of the great eternal scheme of a time when babies were jolted and jerked to sleep in cradles, given bacon rinds to suck and feathers and mOlasses to play with to keep them interested
 There is no excuse for belle of to- day being ignorant of the fact that true skin beauty depends upon per feet cleanliness, vigorous activity of the skin glands and frequent perspira- tion. It is Natures way of clearing the system of certain toxins which are only eliminated in the form of perspira- tion-through the skin.
 Various injurious substances adver- tised to remove the annoyance of perspi- ration may be satisfactory at the mo- ment. But don't be surprised if the skin at some other part of the body registers prOtestatiOn at their use by breaking into little eruptiOns It is better to perspire freely than to have harsh. dry skin.
 Drinking pints of water every day is one of the simplest ways of keeping the skin active and clear.
 OverwOrk and wOrry-it sounds ab- surd, of course, but it's perfectly true are two of the best known causes of colds. Loss of sleep, improper food, lack of exercise, in short just wrong living, ends too often in sneezes, red dened eyes and summer cold" If your body is very warm from exercise, don't sit down in a draught to cool off You'll cool Off-and start to sneeze Next day you'll be saying. Il can't imagine how I caught it These sum mer colds seem to be going around " Which, like all poor excuses, is no ex- cuse at all. You sat in a draught when you were Overwarm. Don't do it. Give Nature q chance and you 5On't catch cold so often this summer.