CHAPTER V. Hygiene in General

HYGIENE IN GENERAL

Section I--The Fifteen Rules of Hygiene

The aids to health discussed in the preceding chapters may be summarized in specific formulas classified under the four heads, Air, Food, Poisons, and Activity, corresponding to the four chapters, and under fifteen sub-heads, corresponding to the fifteen sections.

I. AIR. 1. Ventilate every room you occupy. 2. Wear light, loose and porous clothes. 3. Seek out-of-door occupations and recreations. 4. Sleep out, if you can. 5. Breathe deeply.

II. FOOD. 6. Avoid overeating and overweight. 7. Eat sparingly of meats and eggs. 8. Eat some hard, some bulky, some raw foods. 9. Eat slowly.

III. POISONS. 10. Evacuate thoroughly, regularly and frequently. 11. Stand, sit and walk erect. 12. Do not allow poisons and infections to enter the body. 13. Keep the teeth, gums and tongue clean.

IV. ACTIVITY. 14. Work, play, rest and sleep in moderation. 15. Keep serene.

The application of these rules to one's daily life must be varied with each individual. The most practical method is for the individual to begin the improvement he would seek by constructing a typical day's program in which time is provided for, say, breathing and other exercises in bed, bath, toilet, walk to business, meals, amusement, etc., with special notes and memoranda as to the particular faults of omission and commission to be corrected. One might also, as Benjamin Franklin records in his autobiography, keep a daily record for a week as to how nearly the program is lived up to. By dint of such and other stimuli, the transition in habits can be made, after which the "rules" cease to be rules, as carrying any sense of restriction, and become automatic like putting on or taking off one's clothes.