HEALTH HABITS 



2742 



HEALTH HABITS 



number of diseases, as Bright 'a disease, neuras- 

 thenia, and apoplexy, may easily result. 



Dr. Crile says, "Because of the relation be- 

 tween the brain and other organs in the kinetic 

 system (organs which stimulate muscular ac- 

 tion), prolonged emotional stimulation results 

 in such a steady activation (stimulating) of 

 these organs especially of the liver, the ad- 

 renals and the thyroid, that one or the other 

 of them yields under the strain, and one or 

 another disease is established." 



Aside from any moral question involved, the 

 control of the emotions is one of the most 

 important matters that can concern us in life, 

 for emotional uncontrol often leads directly to 

 physical injury. Just as some diseases are at 

 present quite out of our own control, so some 

 emotions, such as grief, for example, are often 

 unavoidable, but the greatest amount of con- 

 trol possible is in the highest sense desirable. 



Emotional debauches are just as bad as any 

 other kind of debauches. 



Habits of cheerfulness, punctuality and pru- 

 dence must be formed in early life if they 

 are ever to be of much value to us. Moral 

 habits of every kind formed at this period . 

 nearly always stay with us throughout life. 



Exercise. Habit formation in exercise is fully 

 as important as any other health habit, al- 

 though most people fail to realize it. While it 

 should be fairly evident that exercise increases 

 bodily vigor by stimulating the circulation of 

 blood to the various organs and tissues, remov- 

 ing waste products and repairing waste, it is 

 not ordinarily recognized that physical training 

 is also mental training. 



Physical activity develops and coordinates 

 the brain and muscular system. "In this way 

 the great motor functions are organized in the 

 brain and become a part of the physical basis 

 of mind." Dr. James H. McBride has well 

 expressed the value of physical strength through 

 the exercise of it when he says 



"The strong confident person who has strength 

 to spare, reserves of energy, does his work easily 

 and without friction. Half the timidities and in- 

 decisions of men are chargeable less to lack of 

 ability than to lack of the physical vigor, the 

 quantity of energy, which is the driving power of 

 character. In all the contests of life an important 

 element in success is the ability to endure pro- 

 longed stress, to have the reserve energy that can 

 be drawn upon and utilized as a driving force. 

 This power is not alone necessary in the emergen- 

 cies, the "short hauls" of life, but also in the long 

 hauls that spread the strain through greater 

 periods. Many of the failures of life are due as 

 much to lack of ability to meet prolonged stress 

 as to lack of experience or intelligence. Men of 



moderate ability but with great powers of endur- 

 ance often succeed, while men of greater talent 

 fail for lack of the ability to aodure strain. 



"The man with a weak body and without the 

 self-confidence that surplus energy gives is liable 

 to be of uncertain judgment. Such a man in the 

 presence of a problem requiring quick decision, 

 doubts and hesitates and stands shivering on the 

 brink of action while hastening opportunities pass 

 him by. 



"Much of the loose thinking of our time is un- 

 doubtedly due to poor educational drill. In fact 

 the failure of the schools to teach pupils how to 

 apply the mind and how to think is one of their 

 common reproaches. Inability to use the mind 

 effectively is also frequently due to a lack of 

 vigor and physical stamina. A person with poor 

 digestion, or under-developed body, or weak 

 culation has of necessity a badly nourished brai 

 Such a brain, unless it belongs to a genius, 

 do poor thinking. 



"The mentally trained person who is also phj 

 ically strong has the combination that puts hi 

 powers at easy command. He can be joyously 

 busy doing the impossible because the doing of 

 has been made easy by training. 



"How much native power there is in all of 

 that for want of proper training or sympathy 

 encouragement never comes to maturity ! He 

 many of the finer qualities of character that, 

 want of a kindlier climate of cheerful companic 

 ship and wise direction, failed to mature, 

 now lie dead in us ! Very many people are 

 partly alive. A large part, and, in some, the 

 part, is dead. The capacity they show is pr 

 ably only a small share of a fine inheritar 

 which, not knowing how to use, they allowed 

 die. 



"We have an instinctive liking for people 

 are strong and healthy. They appeal to us 

 their robustness and their confident display 

 energy. We do not now need the big muscles tl 

 were once necessary in wielding spear and batt 

 ax. We need, however, as much as the race 

 needed, well-developed bodies and habits 

 health." 



Exercise to be of much value must be 

 joyed, so every person must select for his 

 ticular exercises those which he likes best 

 which are available. Exercise, in a word, sho 

 be largely a matter of play, but play of 

 organized, purposeful character. Once this con- 

 ception of exercise is understood and put into 

 effect as a habit of life, the individual greatly 

 reenforces his possibilities for health, happii 

 and life expectancy. 



Recreation. Recreation is always play 

 some form, and play continues to perform an j 

 important function in our lives from earliest 

 childhood until old age. When we stop play- I 

 ing we practically stop living. Play is our 

 opportunity for self-expression, and only the f 

 sick or feeble-minded fail to exercise this in- j 

 stinct in one form or another. The better we 

 play, the better we live. 



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