Your ShelfYour Projects

The Health Habit

6%

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 8, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 48.

Read the full edition

The Health Habit

By Maria L. Edwards, M.D.

Article II

By Maria L. Edwards, M.D.
ROBERT INGERSOLL is reported as having once said that if he had been the Creator he would have made health catching, instead of disease. He certainly did not stop to consider the many and wise provisions the Creator has made for the health of His creatures. Indeed He has made health catching, from the light and sunshine, a plenty of which can overcome some of our most dread diseases. Health is catching from the soil, for from it come a numerous variety of strength-producing food elements. It is catching from the air, laden as it is with oxygen necessary to oxidize the food produced by the soil; and from the water that has been so abundantly provided for the needs of the body. Health is catching also from the companionship of human souls, even from the animals about us that we call dumb, that yet are so intelligent and appreciative in their way; and from the trees, grass, and flowers. How often one may feel lonely and strange in a throng of people, but so much at home, befriended, and at ease under the branches of a spreading tree nestled in the friendly grass. Well has Van Dyke said in his “Psalm of Friendly Trees”:
“I will sing of the bounty of the big trees, They are the green tents of the Almighty, He hath set them up for comfort and for shelter.
“Their cords hath He knotted in the earth, He hath driven their stakes securely, Their roots take hold of the rocks like iron.
“He sendeth into their bodies the sap of life, They lift themselves lightly toward the heavens, They rejoice in the broadening of their branches.
“Their leaves drink in the sunlight and the air, They talk softly together when the breeze bloweth, Their shadow in the noonday is full of coolness.
“The cattle are very glad of a great tree, They chew the cud beneath it while the sun is burning, There also the panting sheep lie down around their shepherd.
“He that planteth a tree is a servant of God, He provideth a kindness for many generations, And faces that he hath not seen shall bless him.”
All of these really give out health and courage. On the other hand, have you ever stopped to think what a laborious, trying process it is to get sick—really and chronically sick? It is only after frequent exposure to dampness, after many neglected colds and coughs, and careless dressing, that consumption is actually acquired; and only after years of overtaxation of the nervous system, and of defrauding the body of needed rest, that nervous prostration is attained.
It is rarely the first indiscretion that produces illness, nor is it the first illness that produces the habit of being sick; but nature struggles faithfully to maintain health, before yielding to disease. In fact, some of the wrong physical habits are formed after a great deal of opposition on the part of nature. Recall the boy trying to use tobacco, and his characteristic illness; or a maiden attempting tight lacing for the first time, and her unpleasant sensations; but after this continued opposition on the part of the body, the time may come that it will demand the very things it once so vigorously resisted.
As wrong moral habits must be discovered and replaced by right habits, just so wrong physical habits must be recognized and replaced by right habits. Of course perseverance is as necessary in one case as the other where corrections are to be made. To illustrate: If more rest is needed for the repair of the system, it will be found a definite struggle for the ambitious one to retire regularly at nine P.M., or to take an hour’s absolute rest in the middle of the day; or if a person needs daily out-of-door recreation and exercise (and we all need it), it may seem an absolute impossibility to take the time, and as if home cares or business interests would be too much neglected; or if the stomach is weak and can digest only a very simple variety and small quantity, it may require rigid self-discipline to abstain for weeks and perhaps months from the things that taste and smell more to our liking. It is indeed akin to the self-guarding that is necessary to overcome the habit of swearing—or slandering.
If right and correct habits can be formed in the first place, a great deal of trouble is saved in after years. The health habit can not be formed too early. The infant who is given his feedings at regular intervals, has good baths, necessary care, and undisturbed sleep; the child who is allowed only simple food, given at its regular meal-times, is clothed warmly and properly, given out-of-door exercise and ten or twelve hours of good sleep; and the adult who intelligently observes the laws of nature, are each and all forming the health habit, and a most enjoyable and delightful habit they will always find it. But the violation of these laws, and paying no regard to their demands upon us in infancy, childhood, and adult life, is the cultivation of the sick habit—a very unprofitable business, for sickness is a loss to all concerned.
Then let us plan for health, live for health, and expect health; for so the health habit is formed.