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Summer Health Hints

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 17, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 29.

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Summer Health Hints

By G. H. Heald, M. D.

G. H. HEALD, M. D. Editor Life and Health
MANY may not be in a position to make use of all these suggestions, but every one should be able to make use of some of them, and in this way avoid many of the unpleasant features of the hot spell.

Clothing

Wear as few layers of clothing as possible. Every layer makes a "dead-air space," each of which helps to retain the body heat.
Wear thin clothing—linen or cotton, not wool.
When in the sun, wear a broad-brimmed straw hat or carry a sun umbrella.

Exercise

Avoid muscular work during the heat of the day.
Do necessary work as far as possible between 4 and 7 A. M. In order to get sufficient sleep retire as soon as it is dark.
Do not walk much. Keep to the shady side of the street.
If consistent, take two or more cool baths every day during hot weather, a spray-, tub-, plunge-, or even a sponge-bath. Every such bath is refreshing. Continue the bath sufficiently long to get the skin well cooled.
Dry without much friction. Don a dry suit, and put the damp suit on a line in the sun.

The Premises

Often by keeping a room on the lower floor, north side, of the house closed during the day, it can be kept cooler than the outside, and will be a good place in which to lie down when the weather elsewhere seems unbearable.
If the humidity is low and the thermometer high, the temperature may be modified by hanging up sheets and keeping them moistened or almost dripping with water. The rapid evaporation cools the temperature.
Hang such moist sheets out of the windows, and sprinkle the porch, side of house, and lawns by means of the garden hose.

Sleeping

Every one should sleep outside, especially during the hot weather, on a sleeping-porch built for the purpose, or in a summer-house consisting of a floor, corner posts, and roof, with curtains for protection, or in a well-ventilated tent.
Of course, such sleeping-place should, if necessary, be screened from mosquitoes and flies.
One should sleep under a single sheet in the hottest weather; and there are nights when one may take an air-bath in the Edenic garb for the entire night, without any fear of catching cold. Where there are sudden changes during the night, such a course would be unwise.

Diet

Live largely on fruits and fruit-juices, green vegetables, and the like.
Cereals, "roasts," legumes, meats, and other "heavy foods," which make excellent fuel for the winter, are better avoided in the summer.
Do not overdo the cold drinks or iced foods. Americans are noted for drenching the stomach with ice-water and iced foods. A severe gastro-intestinal trouble may be started by the use of too much ice internally. Unless the ice is from a source above suspicion, it should never be put into drinks. Better cool the drink or food by placing it in the ice-chest.
Be especially careful not to use foods that have stood in the pantry for some hours since heated. Such foods often "go bad" in such a way as to produce very troublesome and even dangerous summer diarrhea.
Do as little cooking as possible. Live on fresh fruits and the like, but avoid uncooked root vegetables or vegetables and fruits raised near the ground, unless you yourself know just how they were fertilized. Otherwise you invite typhoid fever, hookworm disease, etc.

Vacations

Remember that the "summer boarding-place" is not the ideal place it is advertised to be. There may be malarial mosquitos, or there may be danger of typhoid fever through flies or impure well-water or milk. Do not, if you can avoid it, make your summer residence where there are mosquitos; and you will be on the safe side to boil your water and milk. The resident family may be typhoid immunes and at the same time typhoid carriers.

General

Don't worry about the weather.
Don't keep your eye on the thermometer.
Don't do any unnecessary work.
Don't feel that you must do a lot of visiting or shopping.
Don't imagine that everything will go to smash if you fail to keep up the strenuous gait.
Don't get nervous when you read of heat prostrations. If you follow the advice in this article, you will be in no danger in the hottest climate.