Importance of Ventilating Our Living Rooms by Charles Henry Hayton, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 19, 1914

Importance of Ventilating Our Living Rooms

By Charles Henry Hayton, M. D.

CHARLES HENRY HAYTON, M. D.

AIR is the most important element in the maintenance of human life. One can live without water for many days, and also without food for many weeks, but one cannot live without air even for a few moments.

It is most essential, therefore, to the health of every individual that he be able to obtain a plentiful supply of pure, fresh air every hour of the day and night, the night especially, for that is the time when the system needs an abundance of fresh air. The lungs are so constructed that the air which is inhaled is taken into the small air sacs, and there transferred to the blood, and carried to all parts of the body. If the air is pure and fresh, the blood assumes a bright red color, and the organs bathed by it are stimulated and invigorated. If, on the other hand, the air is bad and vitiated, the blood turns a darker color, and the organs are enervated and depressed. The general effect of impure

air is usually very quickly seen upon individuals, producing heaviness, sleeplessness, lassitude, headache, and oftentimes sickness. The continuous breathing of vitiated air induces a general lowering of the bodily tissues with gradual loss of strength and nutrition. It is only too apparent to a casual observer that much of the impaired vitality and health of the poorer inhabitants of the crowded towns and cities is due to the constant inhalation of impure air.

Impurities of Air

An ordinary individual at rest breathes from fourteen to eighteen times a minute. At each inspiration he takes in from twenty to thirty cubic inches of air. The air passing in contains, with the nitrogen, which is always a constant factor, about twenty-one per cent of oxygen gas and .04 per cent of carbon dioxide. The air passing out contains about fifteen per cent of oxygen, three or four per cent of carbon dioxide, besides water vapor and organic matter. The exhaled air therefore contains about one quarter less of oxygen and five times the amount of carbon dioxide. The watery vapor given off by the body amounts to about thirty ounces a day, ten from the lungs and twenty from the skin. The organic matter generally consists of fatty particles, dead epithelium cells, scales of hair or skin, and germs given off by the body. It is this moisture from the lungs and skin and the organic matter shed by the body, together with the excessive amount of carbonic acid gas, that makes the air of crowded and unventilated rooms so close, ill smelling, and uncomfortable.

Proper Ventilation

Of all the methods of natural ventilation, the open doors and windows are the best. This arrangement, however, except in the warmest weather, is likely to cause considerable drafts. To secure perfect ventilation all windows should be placed opposite each other. Each of such windows should be open from the top. This is necessary to guard against drafts, as all cold air should enter the room above the heads of the inmates if possible, and leave it at the same height.

Among the many devices for inlets of fresh air is the simple plan of raising the lower sash of the window and fitting in a board about six inches wide. A space is left between the meeting rails in the middle of the window, through which currents of fresh air are constantly flowing in and are directed upward toward the ceiling.

There are many such simple devices that can be arranged to ventilate the living rooms without causing drafts. Again, those who have anything to do with the care of public buildings should see that the inmates are plentifully supplied with fresh air. Caretakers of churches, schools, and halls should never close doors and windows as soon as an audience has passed out, and shut up the poisoned air to be breathed over again. Doors and windows should be thrown open, and these places well aired.

No lesson, sermon, nor concert can be understood or enjoyed by a sleepy, heedless audience,—sleepy and heedless because of the poisons breathed in. A wise caretaker will see to it that the company is well supplied with fresh air.

The sources of air contamination in a sick room are many. The patient himself, the nurse, the light, the bedding, sink, closets, all contribute to vitiate the air. If constant ventilation cannot be had, cover up the patient, and open the doors and windows for a short time every few hours.

Conclusions

1. Fresh air is essential to health.

2. The body is continually unloading poisons into the atmosphere.

3. All living rooms should receive a constant supply of fresh air, day and night.

4. Churches, schoolrooms, and halls should be properly ventilated.