Lifestyle Choices

Every living thing seems to have some enemy. Wherever we look, we see the evidences of conflict in one form or another. Human life is no exception. Some of our enemies come out into the open where we can see and watch their movements, but others are far too small for the eye to see. What is worse, they are many times more numerous and far more dangerous. Most of them have the power to multiply within the human body in enormous numbers. These are the enemies we call germs. Some of them may cause serious diseases that could have been prevented with a little care. (more…)

This is the most important step of all, for no house can be a real home unless those who live there hold ideals that are kind, noble, and good. Without high ideals it is easy for even the best of homes to drift apart. There must always be some things that will hold the family together, such as family worship, in which all the members may share. These happy occasions are not likely to come by accident but must be carefully planned by the parents. (more…)

Is any other place so dear to the human heart? Wherever we go, our thoughts ever turn to the one spot we can always call our own. No matter how humble, our fondest dreams are centered there. It need not be a mansion or lavishly furnished with the latest appliances. Although these may be desirable, they are not essential to true happiness. As the poet has said:

“Be it ever so humble. There’s no place like home.”

This kind of home is a shelter from the storms of life. It is the one place where the family can enjoy an atmosphere of peace and rest. Such a home will give depth and meaning to all we do, say, or think. If that home is blessed with children who grow into mature and happy young people, there is no lovelier sight in the world. (more…)

Almost every healthy person at some time has had a desire to be married. This is the most natural thing in the world.

There may be various reasons for this desire— love, sex, security, companionship, and so forth —but the urge is usually there. And yet it takes far more than a mere urge for one to be happy in marriage. Surely there must be some counsel that young and old can follow to avoid the mistakes so many are making every day. (more…)

The medical meaning of the word tumor is simply a swelling or lump raised above the skin surface. Although some tumors are cancers, most are not and the word can be applied to something as harmless as a wart.

Harmless skin lumps of one type or another are exceedingly common: in fact everyone has one or more at some time in their life. Although moles, which are raised, could also be considered here they are dealt with in detail in the section on birthmarks and pigment. This section deals with both harmless or benign lumps as well as true cancers or malignant lumps. (more…)

Marriage is a merger of two different individuals. These differences are perfectly natural, some of them arising from powerful substances produced in the human body. The presence of these chemicals brings on profound changes in form and behavior, especially in the female, while in the male there may be little change from day to day. The woman is never quite the same from one day to the next. Every month she passes through what is known as her menstrual cycle. This is brought about by the ebb and flow of the chemical hormones in her blood stream. This results in a wide variation of feelings toward herself, her husband, and those around her. (more…)

Fungi

Several fungi can infect human skin, nails and hair. Those fungi which normally live in the soil or on animals tend to produce inflammation as well as scaling but those which are specifically human fungi give rise to little reaction on the skin. The term ringworm is used because many fungal infections produce a circular rash.

Ringworm

Ringworm on the foot is also called athlete’s foot and it is the most widespread form of fungal infection. It is easily spread from one person to another and swimming baths and changing rooms are likely sources of infection. The usual changes are redness, scaling and maceration in the space between fourth and fifth toes, and it may be accompanied by small blisters. It may remain like this for years causing no discomfort, however, it may itch and spread to the other web spaces or other body sites. (more…)

Viruses

Viruses are even smaller than bacteria and fungi and they are not usually found on normal skin. Many viruses can cause a rash - e.g. measles and glandular fever - but these diseases are not dealt with here. This section describes some virus infections in which either the only signs or the commonest signs of the disease are on the skin.

Warts

It is now known that there are several strains of wart virus and each tends to produce its own type of wart. Some cause the ordinary wart on the hands, others painful warts on the feet; and still others warts on the face or genitals. Warts are caught from other people. This happens easily in children who have not had time to develop immunity to the virus but adults are more resistant. Even when the virus has gained access to the skin it may lie dormant for weeks or months before the wart itself appears. (more…)

Atopic eczema

Onset and inheritance

This type of eczema often starts in the first year of life, though rarely before three months, but may begin at any age. It affects at least one baby in 50 and is usually mild.

Fortunately it clears up in most children by the age of four or five but it may linger on after the age of ten or rarely into adult life. There may be a long gap when it seems to have settled only to reappear. Doctors are very wary about predicting what will happen: for example, in the case of a baby with atopic eczema, there may be an eighty per cent chance of it clearing by the age of five. But that means one in five will not clear and the parents of that one will naturally be disappointed and lose faith in their practitioner. It is best to show a cautious optimism stressing the fact that a great deal can be done to improve eczema. (more…)

Many of us never worry about our health until we are in danger of losing it. Then we are willing to pay any price, pouring out the savings of a lifetime in a vain attempt to try to win it back again. Our health is our greatest possession. Why should we throw it away through ignorance? There is no substitute for good health. We must take care of it while we have it. Our whole future depends upon our maintaining a sound mind in a healthy body.

Hospitals all over the world are filled with people who have disregarded the laws of health. Some may not have realized their danger. Others knew but did not care. They evidently thought that they could dodge the consequences. Perhaps they did for a while. But eventually even the strongest constitution will break if we continue to disregard the laws of health.

Many a chronic invalid might have enjoyed good health all through his life if he had only known how to keep well. Instead of living a happy life, free from sickness, he has become a burden to himself and perhaps to the community as well. Prevention is always far better than cure. Knowing how to live will keep us out of trouble. It will enable us to live out our years in peace and contentment, free from unnecessary pain and illness. (more…)

It is equally important that every home be provided with adequate facilities for the proper disposal of wastes. Those who live in large cities usually have this provided for them unless some emergency intervenes. But people who live in more isolated areas may have to provide their own facilities. How they handle this problem may determine in a large measure the kind of health they and their families will enjoy.

Proper sanitary disposal of body wastes is one of the first laws of health. Wherever human beings live, there are flies. And flies flourish on waste materials. They often carry dangerous germs and bring misery into many homes because of the diseases they continually spread around.

In large modern cities there are usually adequate facilities to meet these needs. In villages and smaller towns, whatever system is available may be woefully inadequate. People living on farms and those who own mountain cabins and beach cottages are often in need of advice as to how to meet these particular needs. The same is true on campgrounds and other places where people may stay for a few days or weeks at a time. Usually, the more isolated the area, the greater the need. (more…)

Living in a large city is not always safe. Wherever large numbers of people are gathered together, there is always some risk of infection. During an epidemic it is easy for disease to spread quickly from one person to another. The more dense the population, the greater the danger.

Out in the country the risk of infection may be somewhat less. The protective forces of nature often help to prevent disease. Many germs are destroyed by the heat of the sun and by the drying effects of the wind. The cold days of winter may also help to eliminate some harmful bacteria. But a few germs may still be there after the snow has melted. This is more apt to be true where the winters are short and relatively mild. (more…)

Do you physically act out your dreams? Injure yourself and/or your bed partner? Fly out of bed and have frightening dreams? People with REM sleep behaviour disorder actually attempt to act out their dreams. They kick, punch, leap and run from bed, often injuring themselves and/or their bed partners.

One case in England resulted in a man shooting his new bride to death while he was dreaming of being pursued by gangsters.

We usually can’t act out our dreams. During REM sleep a part of our brain keeps us from moving our arms and legs, although we can still breathe and move our eyes. REM sleep, in essence, is characterized by a highly active, dreaming, brain in a “paralyzed” body. When the normal movement-inhibiting mechanism fails, some people, usually men over the age of sixty, may develop REM sleep behaviour disorder and be able to act out their dreams. The risk of developing REM sleep behaviour disorder increases with age, and men are more likely than women to develop it. (more…)

Persistent bed-wetting, sleep enuresis, is considered a disorder after the age of five. It occurs in all sleep stages, and daytime bladder control can be normal. While the prevalence of bed-wetting in childhood decreases with age, about 3 per cent of adolescents between the ages of twelve and eighteen continue to wet their beds.”

Bed-wetting has a hereditary component. Approximately 77 per cent of children whose parents both wet their beds as children are bed wetters themselves.’ A congenitally small bladder, bladder infections, allergies, obstructive sleep apnoea or metabolic or endocrinologic disorders may be predisposing factors. Contrary to popular belief, bed-wetting is almost never emotionally or psychologically caused; less than 1 per cent of bed^-wetting has an emotional source.” (more…)

ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT A CONTINENTAL QUILT

Acontinental quilt almost eliminates bedmaking. A good continental quilt (or duvet) can be the equivalent of at least three blankets and can cost and weigh considerably less than conventional bed clothes.

You’re supposed to make the bed only using a bottom sheet and a quilt cover, but I use two sheets traditionally and keep the quilt in its special case until spring cleaning time comes round.

You may want to know the difference between an eiderdown and a continental quilt and whether you can use a double bed eiderdown as a single quilt? No, not efficiently, because the eiderdown is tightly packed and crushed down and there are no air pockets to trap the warm air round you, as does the quilt, on the same principle as a string vest. (more…)

I’ve read a lot about women who serenely cope with the three roles of full-time working woman, wife, and mother. However, I’ve never actually met one. All the ones that I know feel inadequate.

Going back to work after having children is a practical and emotional problem and both are interdependent. You risk worrying about them when you’re at work and about work when you’re at home, and end up being happy in neither situation.

Two requisites for a working mother are stamina and an understanding family Sympathetic they may be until it comes to your interests versus theirs, but they still want their evening meal on time and they don’t want to hear about the bus queue which made you late. (more…)

Women hate being efficient in the home. Lists and routines simply do not fit into the pink-check-gingham.. and-lace mental picture of the soap opera mother, which so many of us were brought up to be. When you become a working mother with any luck you will get twice as much out of life, but you can’t run your house as if you weren’t working. A working mother has to work faster and more efficiently in the home. She has to be twice as reliable outside it because people expect her not to be.

I have evolved my own system, which I slowly slip away from, but it pulls me back to reality at regular intervals, and heaven knows what I would be like without it. (more…)

There are obvious disadvantages to a child in having a working mother but there are less obvious advantages. Children with working mothers certainly don’t suffer from smother-love — over-fussing. They learn to be realistic, independent, responsible and sometimes stoical, no mean preparation for the toughness of life.

Your children risk having a mother who’s not permanently on tap for them but who is likely to have a younger outlook and be more tolerant and open to new ideas (although I did hear myself saying to my older son during that craze, `I don’t know how you can walk on those high heels’). (more…)

Full-time or part-time shop assistant: Hard on the feet but can be more interesting than office work if you like meeting people. Part-time work is often easier on Saturdays.

Stocking shelves in supermarkets, to prepare for the next day, is one example of evening preparation work. Ask the manager of your local supermarket if there’s anything going.

Welfare workers are largely women. Child care officers are needed (training from one to three years necessary) so are youth club workers, youth employment officers, young people’s advisers (being married is a qualification and it’s possible to do as little as thirteen hours a week work). (more…)

Training: If you have had training you can probably find job opportunities through your professional body or through reading or advertising in your professional journal.

Assuming that you haven’t had any training prior to marriage and aren’t coping with pre-school age children, what is available? Most women are unskilled. Only 6 per cent receive any further training when they leave school. However, there are suitable training courses for `mature students’, the official description of any woman over twenty- three. You can exploit a talent which you already possess and are practising in your home (sewing or cooking) or be trained by a firm who wishes to employ you, or at one of the many courses at a local technical college. Generally what is difficult to acquire isn’t really the training, or even the job, but the determination to forget embarrassment, laziness or shyness — and go out and get it. (more…)