The Era of Health by Maria Edwards, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 3, 1910

The Era of Health

By Maria Edwards, M. D.

In this era of awakening there is more serious thought and practical consideration being given to the regaining and preserving of the health than ever before. As an evidence of this fact we have walking clubs, cross-country runs on horseback, automobile trips, sleeping porches, physical culture clubs, numerous breakfast foods, health drinks, and hygienic clothing. So thoroughly recognized has the tendency become, that a manufacturer has but to name his article “health” or “hygienic so and so” to insure for it a ready sale, even though the thing itself may be anything but healthful.

This health fad has not only been used by the venders of really good and helpful things, but it has been abused by those who would make a market for things that are positively and always harmful; the “health corset,” the “hygienic cigar,” the “health-giving beer and wine,” “health candy,” are terms that are met with in the advertising columns of every daily paper.

Indeed, so much progress has been made in educating the public toward health, that we find many of our city workers are moving into suburban homes where they can have the benefits of air and sunshine and the home garden, from which they secure not only physical exercise to offset the hours of mental or indoor work, but they reap the fruits of their own sowing in fresh vegetables, choice fruits, etc.

Again: we note that in what is termed “modern conveniences” is invariably included the bath-room, supplied with hot and cold water, where the family can indulge in frequent bathing for health as well as for luxury. The vacation period from business has come to be an established custom, for the employer knows that the employed can do better work if allowed periods of relaxation; and one conspicuous and encouraging feature of this vacation is the growing tendency to spend that time not at fashionable watering-places and hotels or in railroad travel, where rest in the truest sense is impossible, but in camping in the mountains or by some favorite lake or river, where the life may be exceedingly simple, and the hours of sleep and recreation may be arranged to suit the inclination of the tired rester.

The increase of outdoor games, the sentiment in favor of living the simple outdoor life, “close to nature,” are all still further evidence that the minds of men are beginning to grasp, though perhaps to a very limited degree, the possibilities before them, if only they will and can conform their lives to the natural laws of their being. When it is possible for a person who has acquired so fatal a disease as tuberculosis to overcome it by being outdoor, clothing himself warmly, and eating simply, what might not be accomplished for health and strength by the individuals who have less with which to contend, if they would put forth a like intelligent and persistent effort toward perfect health?

In hygienic as well as all other reforms, the real basis of that reform lies in the education of the individual. So the work of agitating and educating must go on until the members of society have an intelligent understanding of the principles involved in that reform.

There is a phase of the health question—that of rightly clothing the body—which has surely been touched upon in the past, but for which it is very difficult to secure a due amount of favorable sentiment. This difficulty, no doubt, is due to the fact that radical changes are demanded. It really has called for moral courage to wear a short, sensible walking skirt when fashion demanded that it should be two inches below the feet, or to allow the waist to remain twenty-six or twenty-seven inches when it is counted a great virtue to have attained the twenty-two-inch measurement, or even to abstain from hoops, bustles, skin-tight sleeves, high heels, heavy hats, etc., when they in turn have been forced upon the oft-reluctant wearer.

Another difficulty that interferes with the popularity of healthful dressing, is that so few realize that there is any relation whatever between their clothing and their health. How frequently we see a family of boys and girls, born of the same parents, reared in the same home, fed at the same table, and taught in the same school, and yet with whom the results in health to the boys and the girls have been absolutely different. The former enjoy health, while the latter have come to almost enjoy sickness. The girls have been clad in clothing that would not prevent the brothers from freezing; they have restricted their time to be outdoors to the minimum; they have habitually ridden in the stuffy street-car when a brisk walk of a mile or two each day would have been their salvation. And as to walking, many wear thin, tight shoes, with high heels and lace stockings, and their poor little feet and ankles are so habitually cold and bloodless that they have long since ceased to feel cold, and the warm blood that should be sent to these parts, is congested in the centers; the arch of the instep is also broken down, so that exercise on the feet is painful and well-nigh impossible. The brothers have always in damp, cold weather, worn warm shoes with thick soles and broad, low heels, which properly support the weight and admit the natural poise of the body. The girls certainly need as much protection as their brothers, and why should not they have it?

Again: can any one believe that even for one day the boy would endure to dress as his sister does? The cramped ribs, the restricted stomach, and the immobilized lungs would all cry out against such abuse, and demand a return to the ample garments to which they were accustomed. Do not the vital organs of the girls need as much room accordingly as those of the boys? And why should not they have it?

If the members of the family could only realize that the same things that produce strong, robust boys would bring about the same results in the girls, how different the outcome might be!

Still another difficulty that makes healthful dress unpopular, as prominent perhaps as any mentioned, is that the popular ideas of beauty have been so molded and educated by the fashion builders that we have almost no appreciation of the beauty of the human form as designed by the Creator.

These times call for more definite reform, more courage and determination on the part of the women of the civilized world to keep pace with the other good reforms that are being carried forward by willing supporters, for thereby their health can be improved, and their lives made more useful.

“Our words, our actions, and our dress are daily living preachers, gathering with Christ, or scattering abroad.”

“In dress we should seek that which is simple, comfortable, convenient, and appropriate.”

“The principles of healthful dress should regulate every article of clothing worn.”

“Simplicity of dress will make a sensible woman appear to the best advantage.”

“Physical loveliness consists in symmetry—the harmonious proportion of parts.”

Disease of every type is brought upon the body through the unhealthful, fashionable style of dress; and the fact must be made prominent that a reform must take place before treatments will effect a cure. MARIA EDWARDS, M. D.