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A Few Hygienic “Do’s”

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1903

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 80, No. 24.

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A Few Hygienic “Do’s”

By L. Ruth Merritt, M. D.

L. RUTH MERRITT, M. D.
1. REMEMBER that every organ, every fiber of your being, was made for a purpose. Then guard them all from harmful practices, and use them all as God intended.
2. Breathe pure air. Use all your lungs in breathing. Practice deep breathing daily. Many of us go about half dead, because we are not getting our share of the breath of life. We cram our living engine full of fuel, shut off the draft, and wonder why we lack energy.
3. Drink pure water. Soft water is preferable. Hard water is as injurious to mucous membrane as it is to the skin. Boiling will improve hard water, and will destroy bacteria. This takes a little time and trouble, but so does typhoid fever, which often takes away a life. Distilled water is best.
4. Eat pure food. Make a careful study of diet, and eat what is best adapted to your case, heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. Don’t eat everything set before you just to please yourself or the one who prepared it.
5. Keep the blood pure. Keep poisons out of the system. Don’t eat them, drink them, breathe them, smoke them, chew them, absorb them, swallow them, or think them. Keep the eliminative organs in good condition by proper care.
6. Keep your surroundings sweet, clean, and cheerful. Be cheerful yourself. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Enjoy your work, whatever it is, and do it with your might. Call nothing drudgery which falls to your lot to do, if it is needful. Don’t wear your strength away and waste your time in needless work. Let the sunshine enter your heart and life.
7. Take time to rest. Whatever your work, divert your mind from it at times, and let it dwell upon something else that is good. Specialties are a necessity, but they bring insanity when carried to extremes. Do whatever you do as unto the Lord, and never go beyond your strength for fear of what some one may say or think.
8. Read and practice Isaiah 58.