" Spectator" Conference for Personal Problems

Health—II.

[The SPECTATOR C'anference offers to readers a service of advice on personal problems in which they would like impartial help. The Editor has appointed a committee, the members of which are themselves engaged in The practical work of life; in one Way-or another they-have met, and are meeting, a great variety of problems in theif'own experience. They do not wish.to be regarded as authorities ; but they give their good will and their knowledge to all questions which are referred to them. Readers inquiries are dealt with in strict confidence ; they are seen only bijinembers of the Conference, and they are answered by private' correspondence. Letters should be addressed to the Conference on 'Personal Problems, c/o the SPECTATOR, 13 York Street, COvent Garden, W.C. 2.] A friend of mine, suffering from asthma, 2s fighting the disease with .all his might and main. . He restricts his diet heroically, he takes infinite trouble' to 'avoid chills,' he watches' over everything he is doing to see that it is safe. He has tried every recognized cure and found them all useless. I am sure' that a great deal of his disability cones from over-anxiety.- Could you devote an article-to health, and the ill-effects upon it of thought and worry ?

EVERYONE knows far more about health than he pretends. Many. people, however, 'enter into a sort of conspiracy with themselYes to neglect the ObYious. Perhaps (they think) there is some mysterious law of. health ; some one thing m that will act as a charm, permit me to live as I like in all othei ways, and still keep me healthy. whatever I do. And this one thing, perhaps; is potable gold, or tar-water, or gland extract: . Now specific remedies can be left safely in the hands of doctors. They are called for only when we have lost control of our own bodies. They do not help us, really, to gain health'; they help to repair. damages and to put us into a Position where we can make ourselves healthy if we wish to do it. Every dainage from which we suffer in our bodies- eolds , or scarlet fever or even cancer—can only afflict Us through a long habit of neglecting the obvious.

Last week I said that " the first rule of health is to recognize how far we are responsible for our own bodily condition." The second ride is to stop worrying about health at all. By this I mean to stop expecting miracles. If we have been refusing tobe sensible for a number of years, there is not much hope that we shall wake up in' perfect health to-morrow. morning.- We may insist on this event, but we shall' never obtain it—not even with the aid of aspirin or magnetic belts. If we are seeking the impossible, we need not wonder if we become anxious and desperate and make ourselves far worse than we were before.

• What we can do—and it is a great and very rare thing—is to change our attitude to health : seek it without strain by making a habit of attending to the obvious. It will help us, too—but this is still rarer—if . we enjoy and use to the full the health we already possess. Every disease growi by the attention that is paid to it. Test this fact by lying in bed and seeing if you feel uncomfortable anywhere. You will always be able to find.. some small irritation or other.. If you concentrate your attention upon it, you can make it into quite a large and impOitant pain. Valetudinarians have been playing this game all their. lives. It is a 'rotten game to keep On playing, and it really makes us ill.

_It is very. necessary to remember, that our bodies are not so weak as we think them. We can over-eat asmuch as we like, provided that we don't make a habit of it. It will do us no harm to get wet through from time to tithe, provided that we are not afraid of getting wet through and don't try as hard as we can to catch colds by staying uncomfortable longer than we need: A sleepless - night never killed anybody ; but, of course, :it is a big strain if we continue for months with too little sleep ; and it is worse still if we bother so much about it that sleep, when it comes, is neither deep nor refreshing.

- Let us combine our two rules into one maxim " Keep alert, and trust your body." It is a pity that the laws of health are

so very simple. Nobody is really pleased at setting himself to follow out obvious advice. For thousands of yca-s men have had in their own hands the methods of keeping healthy, and none of us has followed them out with any completeness. We begin to think of them when we are perhaps not even then. We will always find, however, some plain fact staring us in the face, a fact so very plain that we prefer not to notice it. We find it, nevertheless, very painful to take the discredit of our own illnesses.

DIET.—lt is a good thing to observe what food Suits us best and to make it' the basis of our eating. This is a plain

and objective experiment, and should not be misunderstood. By " suits us best " I do not mean seems most attractive " —or most self-denying. We have plenty of opportunity for discovering how we feel when we have eaten this kind of

food or the other ; how we work ; what sort of mood we induce ; and whether life seems to turn 'out well or badly.

everyone knows that the best kind of diet is simple, fresh and frugal. We cannot avoid hearing that milk, eggs, vegetables, and good bread are excellent foods for general use. Look round at your friends and you will notice that meat is nilt poisonous. It is obviously bad to gulp your food or to put too much tension on the internal organs ; but it is unsociable to spend too long over meals, and " thirty-two chews to a mouthful " is no panacea.

It is important that we should not restrict our diet too harshly. If we make simple foods the basis of our meals, we can let ourselves go every so often without any harm.

Even if we indulge ourselves so recklessly that we feel off- colour for a day or two,- we shall soon recover and take to our ordinary food with relish and benefit. We should' .overhaul our general standard of diet, certainly. We should see how we can improve it, and we should see whether we have bad dietary habits. Our stomachs, however, will revenge them- selves on us if we bore them.

EXERCISE.—Don't take exercise for the sake of health. If you must take it, take it for enjoyment. It is all the better if you feel it is doing you good ; but games should not be played with this as an objective. From the point of view of health, violent exercise is artificial and troublesome. It is the use of our muscles and our bodily organs in our day-to- day activities that conditions our health, 'and if we wish to regain an appropriate physical condition it is best to pay attention to our carriage, our breathing, our gestures, the way we stand and sit, and the posture in which we sleep. It is what we do most often that needs most correction.

RELAxATuur.—Europeans are notably awkward and tense. in their bearing, and English people are worst of all.. This is

not a matter for pride. Where the body never has any peace,

it cannot accomplish its tasks with success. Worry, for example,-constricts the muscles of the stomach and compresses

the digestive organs. The whole system is thrown Out of gear by these constant tensions. It is useful really to practise relaxation of the muscles of the body, at definite times and with conscious intention, and practise hard until we can relax with ease. Where there is no need for effort, the body should never be in a condition' of strain. At first everyone will be surprised to see what a tight grip he is keeping over himself, and how deeply he fears to " let go." The ability to relax is . not learnt at a blow ; but, once it is acquired, it conduces to health more- than any other factor. - Botiux, HAmm.--The 'chief aggravator of health is con- stipation. It contributes to almost all morbid states. With

a reasonable diet and a reasonable." style of living " it can be avoided or remedied. Unfortunately, constipation is one of those cunning devices to which I referred last week ; those devices we unconsciously choose in order to make ourselves ill. If we are very much set on avoiding health, we have a means ready to hand.

ALAN PORTER.

[The article in our next issue will discra :fie )1‘yeliology'of several typical diseases.]