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The amount of sleep required for good health varies tremendously from person to person. Eight hours each night appears to be average, but the essential test is whether you feel rested in the morning and have sufficient energy to carry through the day’s activities. If not, chronic fatigue may accumulate and contribute to what can be a serious illness. Some men and women find they can get along on fewer than eight hours sleep a night as they grow older, but if you are concerned that you are really not getting the sleep you need, you should discuss it with your doctor. One suggestion: it could be that you are getting less sleep because you need less sleep. Inability to sleep is discussed under insomnia in the encyclopaedia section; see also the entry sleep.
We all know about the need for a good night’s sleep, but too few of us recognize the need for rest during the day. Businessmen, professional people, executives, and many others who not only work hard but are under heavy stress, could live more comfortably and probably longer if they managed to rest during the day. Even a brief period of relaxation would be healthful. You could relax by having lunch in a quiet restaurant instead of in a crowded, noisy one. Or you might bring lunch from home and eat it in a park.
I have always found it refreshing to rest at home for half an hour at the end of the day instead of rushing right to the dinner table. It is really sad that this time of day, which should be a peaceful meeting time for the family, can become a time of short tempers and unpleasantness, just because you, and perhaps your wife too, are tired. An eight-hour workday, plus another hour or two for travelling, is too long for many people.
Periods of relaxation which are found in pleasant recreation are necessary to most people at least once a week. More and more, it is being recognized that a yearly vacation helps to safeguard good health.
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The bones form the basic framework, or chassis, of the human body. There are 206 bones in the body. Some of these, such as the skull, which encloses the brain, the eyes, and the inner ear, have a chiefly protective function. Others are mainly supporting structures, such as the vertebral column with its 24 individual bones. This encases the vital spinal cord and also helps support the back. Other bones are concerned chiefly with movements.
Bones contain a hard, stony, chemical structure that gives them the tremendous strength required. Yet they are so marvellously constructed that they are resilient and light enough to permit the wonderful feats of agility of which the human being is capable. The basic chemical of bones is calcium phosphate, found so plentifully in milk. That is why milk is such a basic item in the diet of growing infants and children and is also very important for the pregnant or nursing mother.
As people grow older, their bones become more brittle and heal less readily. That is why physicians fear certain fractures in elderly people much more than in children and younger adults.
The bones have another quite different function in addition to those of protection, support, and movement. They are vital elements in the manufacture of the blood cells. The bone marrow does this important work. After the red and white blood cells are manufactured in the marrow of the various bones, these cells enter the blood to carry on the functions described in the section on blood.
The bone marrow requires nutrient foods and vitamins different from those needed by the hard, outer, calcified part of the bones. The red blood cells must have iron and proteins to build haemoglobin, their important oxygen-carrying pigment. Vitamins of the vitamin B family are required to nourish the bone marrow.
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Too many sincere but misguided friends and relatives give incorrect and even dangerous advice about reducing and reducing diets. Here are a few of the things you may want to know about them.
Should one take drugs and medicines in order to reduce?
A very straightforward answer: without a doctor’s prescription, never.
Can exercise reduce weight?
For many years, the role of exercise in weight control was minimized. Regular exercise is now considered highly important, not only for good health but as a valuable part of a carefully regulated diet. Regular and moderate exercise burns up a measurable number of calories. Besides, it has a beneficial effect on the cholesterol level and helps to prevent heart disease.
If your goal is substantial weight loss, the combination of diet and exercise should be carried out under a doctor’s supervision. Because exercise stimulates the appetite, the doctor may decide to use an anti-appetite pill precisely when it is most needed.
Can unsightly fat be removed surgically?
Operations have been performed to trim layers of fat from the ankles, abdomen, and Rips. This is very difficult and by no means always effective. The operation is very rarely undertaken just to improve the appearance. But if obesity has made a woman’s breasts pendulous and painful, a plastic surgeon would probably consider removing some of the fatty tissue.
Can massage reduce weight?
No. But massage may tone up the skin and muscles and help the body to adjust to its new, slimmer contours.
Can sweating or hot baths reduce weight?
Only temporarily. These methods remove water, which a person tends to regain almost immediately in order to satisfy thirst. Not only do they accomplish nothing permanent; they may also put a dangerous strain on the heart and circulation. Sauna baths may sometimes be dangerous to a person who is unaccustomed to them. In a sauna, the body is exposed to high temperatures to induce violent perspiration. This is such a shock to the body that the pulse rate may double.
How about ‘new’ reducing diets?
The main danger I see in many of these diets is that they tend to encourage people to reduce at a rate that is too rapid for safety. Some diets are too expensive or too difficult to be practical, while others are based on theories that have not yet been scientifically proved. From time to time, a patient has shown me a current fad diet, saying she could stick to it far more easily than she could follow any general instructions. ‘Everything’s written down,’ she explains. ‘I don’t have to count calories or consult charts; and best of all, I don’t have to make any decisions.’ If you feel the way she does, take any diet that you find congenial to your doctor, and let him approve or modify it.
Is a doctor necessary for supervision of loss of weight?
Your doctor has learnt many helpful things by studying various people who have been on reducing diets. Individual preferences vary tremendously, and it helps a great deal if you can have your diet adjusted to your taste. Some people are miserable if they are deprived of a bedtime snack; some want a substantial dinner at night and are willing to cut down on lunch in order to have it.
Faddists and quacks who advocate reducing diets do not follow correct, medically exact rules for dieting. Stay away from them.
Can you ever reduce on your own?
Although I see no reason why you should not at least mention it to your physician, it is not actually necessary to visit him in order to lose five or ten pounds over a period of a few months. However, report to him immediately if you notice any untoward symptoms, such as constipation, diarrhoea, dizziness, or fainting.
Let us assume that you were in excellent condition at your last checkup just before going on your vacation, and that in spite of all your resolutions, you put on five pounds. If you are sensible, you can get rid of them without danger. Be sure to maintain an adequate diet as described earlier in this chapter and in the entries diet and reducing in the encyclopaedia section.
Get rid of your excess weight at the rate of one half to one pound a week by exercising self-control. Cut out eating between meals, except for low calorie fruit. Go easy on high calorie foods at mealtime, substituting low calorie ones whenever possible. Avoid alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, and resign yourself to getting up from the table without feeling really full. In a month or two, your appestat will be back where it belongs. Of course, this takes self-control.
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A calorie is a unit for measuring the energy value of food. It represents the energy for heat and physical work that can be obtained from a certain weight of food. A pound of fat in butter or meat equals 4000 calories. If—to cite an extreme case—a person consumed 4000 more calories a day than he needed, the body would have to dispose of them. It could do so by laying down a pound of fat in the abdominal wall and elsewhere! On the other hand, if the food consumed each day were not enough to furnish heat and energy, the individual would have to burn up a part of his own body fat or tissues.
Fever or an over-active thyroid gland (see the entry thyroid gland in the encyclopaedia section) causes the body to use more calories, and may necessitate high-calorie diets, rich in concentrated foods such as sugars and fats.
It is possible to consume a great many calories without getting the benefit of important body-building values. Alcoholic beverages and soft drinks contain many empty calories.
Among the problems associated with drinking alcoholic beverages are these: A few drinks, in addition to adding calories, can stimulate the appetite so that you might eat too much. Excessive drinking to the point of alcoholism can ruin the appetite. In using alcohol instead of food, the drinker is taking in a great many calories, but none of the essential bone and tissue building protein.
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Both coffee and tea contain caffeine, which is a stimulating compound. Coffee and tea in moderate amounts are not harmful. The use of more than three to four cups of coffee or tea per day may lead to restlessness, over-activity, nervousness, insomnia, and excessive urination. Each person needs to find the correct amount for his own particular system and habits of life. Some people can drink coffee or tea shortly before going to bed without any resulting loss of sleep; others find that the caffeine in these beverages keeps them awake for several hours.
Coffee and tea should not be given to children. Even when so much water is added that there is practically no caffeine present in a cup of these beverages, they should not be substituted for nutritious drinks such as milk and fruit juices, which growing children and adolescents need even more than adults. (The caffeine in cocoa is negligible.)
Cola drinks
Most cola drinks contain approximately the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Obviously, the cola-drink habit can be serious.
Always think of cola drinks as though they were coffee. Your children are better off without them, and you yourself should set a daily quota which does not make you suffer from any of the symptoms caused by too much caffeine.
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