Changes

From Terrain Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Line 3: Line 3:  
The first two lessons dealt with the Life Science outlook on health and disease. The third lesson stated the essentials of life and presented in-depth scrutiny of two of these needs, namely air and water.
 
The first two lessons dealt with the Life Science outlook on health and disease. The third lesson stated the essentials of life and presented in-depth scrutiny of two of these needs, namely air and water.
   −
This fourth lesson encompasses seventeen other essentials of life in summary form. Exhaustive treatment of any single aspect of life’s needs is not intended. Rather, it is in- tended to acquaint you preliminarily with each life need presented. Subsequent lessons will plumb the depths of the essentials treated in this lesson.
+
This fourth lesson encompasses seventeen other essentials of life in summary form. Exhaustive treatment of any single aspect of life’s needs is not intended. Rather, it is intended to acquaint you preliminarily with each life need presented. Subsequent lessons will plumb the depths of the essentials treated in this lesson.
    
Assuring your body of all its needs might be likened to the care that must be lavished upon highly complex jet liners. Every item of equipment aboard the jet must be in working order and have an adequate supply of its needs in order to operate as designed. The jet may operate with many of its systems knocked out but it is crippled. Crippling of certain systems may send it to its doom. And so it is with the body.
 
Assuring your body of all its needs might be likened to the care that must be lavished upon highly complex jet liners. Every item of equipment aboard the jet must be in working order and have an adequate supply of its needs in order to operate as designed. The jet may operate with many of its systems knocked out but it is crippled. Crippling of certain systems may send it to its doom. And so it is with the body.
Line 134: Line 134:  
But, because most of us are not physically able to cope with extreme cold, we must employ clothing to help maintain warmth. Warmth must be maintained lest we suffer functional disturbances due to reduced temperatures.
 
But, because most of us are not physically able to cope with extreme cold, we must employ clothing to help maintain warmth. Warmth must be maintained lest we suffer functional disturbances due to reduced temperatures.
   −
A comfortable temperature must always be maintained. Deliberate cooling or heat- ing of the body is exhausting of nerve energy and lowers the body’s functional abilities.
+
A comfortable temperature must always be maintained. Deliberate cooling or heating of the body is exhausting of nerve energy and lowers the body’s functional abilities.
    
==== Some Problems of Temperature Maintenance ====
 
==== Some Problems of Temperature Maintenance ====
Line 340: Line 340:     
==== You’ve condemned deodorants. Are they very harmful? What is a person to do to control body odor? ====
 
==== You’ve condemned deodorants. Are they very harmful? What is a person to do to control body odor? ====
Deodorants are poisonous. Their toxic effects cause the skin pores at points of application to close up so as to exclude their chemicals from the inner sanctum. This prevents body perspiration and exudation. They are properly called anti-per- spirants for this reason. A person who has body odor should strive to go to the source of the problem. Body odor is not natural. Healthy persons do not have body odors. Foul smells are produced by a foul system. Clean up the body and it ceases to exude unpleasant smells.
+
Deodorants are poisonous. Their toxic effects cause the skin pores at points of application to close up so as to exclude their chemicals from the inner sanctum. This prevents body perspiration and exudation. They are properly called anti-perspirants for this reason. A person who has body odor should strive to go to the source of the problem. Body odor is not natural. Healthy persons do not have body odors. Foul smells are produced by a foul system. Clean up the body and it ceases to exude unpleasant smells.
    
==== Do you mean that people who have body odors, bad breath and so on are really sick inside? ====
 
==== Do you mean that people who have body odors, bad breath and so on are really sick inside? ====
Line 357: Line 357:  
Warmth is one of the necessities of life. Vital activities are possible only between certain narrowly defined limits of temperature. Cold inhibits and excessive heat suspends them. Body heat is energy. It is employed not just in resisting cold, but also in accelerating cellular activities. Temperature, within certain narrow limits, is so absolutely essential to life that all functions are excited by any attempt at its variation. Animals are roughly divided into two major classes: warm-blooded and cold-blooded. This is according to whether they have means of producing and maintaining their own temperature or are dependent upon the surrounding medium (water or air) to provide it.
 
Warmth is one of the necessities of life. Vital activities are possible only between certain narrowly defined limits of temperature. Cold inhibits and excessive heat suspends them. Body heat is energy. It is employed not just in resisting cold, but also in accelerating cellular activities. Temperature, within certain narrow limits, is so absolutely essential to life that all functions are excited by any attempt at its variation. Animals are roughly divided into two major classes: warm-blooded and cold-blooded. This is according to whether they have means of producing and maintaining their own temperature or are dependent upon the surrounding medium (water or air) to provide it.
   −
The invertebrates, although they breathe oxygen and circulate fluids throughout their bodies, have no red blood corpuscles and are cold-blooded animals. Fishes and reptiles, vertebrates with red blood cells, are also called cold-blooded animals, although they are able to maintain an internal temperature above that of the surrounding water or air. In- vertebrates have no heat of their own, but receive their temperature from the surrounding media and adapt to it. Except for fishes and reptiles, whose heat-producing and heat- regulating powers are very limited, we may say that all vertebrates are warm-blooded, having red corpuscles, while the reverse is true of the invertebrates which have no red corpuscles.
+
The invertebrates, although they breathe oxygen and circulate fluids throughout their bodies, have no red blood corpuscles and are cold-blooded animals. Fishes and reptiles, vertebrates with red blood cells, are also called cold-blooded animals, although they are able to maintain an internal temperature above that of the surrounding water or air. Invertebrates have no heat of their own, but receive their temperature from the surrounding media and adapt to it. Except for fishes and reptiles, whose heat-producing and heat- regulating powers are very limited, we may say that all vertebrates are warm-blooded, having red corpuscles, while the reverse is true of the invertebrates which have no red corpuscles.
    
It may be suggested that since animals can live without red corpuscles and exist without internal heat, the primary office of respiration is more universal than to provide for the production of animal heat. Using a popular phrase in biology, heat production is only a “secondary adaptation.”
 
It may be suggested that since animals can live without red corpuscles and exist without internal heat, the primary office of respiration is more universal than to provide for the production of animal heat. Using a popular phrase in biology, heat production is only a “secondary adaptation.”
Line 385: Line 385:  
But the body also increases and decreases the radiation of heat from the body as need arises. While oxidation warms the body, evaporation (as in sweating) cools it. These physiological processes are carried on in relation to vital wants. The human body, to narrow our considerations at this point, is based upon a system of self-regulation and equipoise, and its temperature relations are beautifully provided for. In a cool atmosphere less heat is lost by evaporation and more produced within the body, while a reverse process is seen in a warm temperature.
 
But the body also increases and decreases the radiation of heat from the body as need arises. While oxidation warms the body, evaporation (as in sweating) cools it. These physiological processes are carried on in relation to vital wants. The human body, to narrow our considerations at this point, is based upon a system of self-regulation and equipoise, and its temperature relations are beautifully provided for. In a cool atmosphere less heat is lost by evaporation and more produced within the body, while a reverse process is seen in a warm temperature.
   −
In all changes of temperature outside the body, some compensatory effort is required. But if our other relations are correct, the internal heat-regulating capacity of the body will be efficient. The maintenance of the heat-making mechanism of the body is an in- dispensable condition of health. Feeble and sick individuals who find it difficult or impossible to maintain normal temperature in a cold climate need to be kept warm. Chilling inhibits all functions of life and reduces their already greatly reduced stock of energy. The escape to a warm climate is no mere luxury for such persons. Warmth of some degree is certainly a normal requisite of life. But experience and experiment have shown that when the temperature of the surroundings is out of all proportion to the needs of the body and to its capacity to adjust itself, the body must and does suffer. There is not only discomfort, which normally causes us to seek relief from extremes of heat or cold, but there is some expenditure of energy in resisting extreme temperature.
+
In all changes of temperature outside the body, some compensatory effort is required. But if our other relations are correct, the internal heat-regulating capacity of the body will be efficient. The maintenance of the heat-making mechanism of the body is an indispensable condition of health. Feeble and sick individuals who find it difficult or impossible to maintain normal temperature in a cold climate need to be kept warm. Chilling inhibits all functions of life and reduces their already greatly reduced stock of energy. The escape to a warm climate is no mere luxury for such persons. Warmth of some degree is certainly a normal requisite of life. But experience and experiment have shown that when the temperature of the surroundings is out of all proportion to the needs of the body and to its capacity to adjust itself, the body must and does suffer. There is not only discomfort, which normally causes us to seek relief from extremes of heat or cold, but there is some expenditure of energy in resisting extreme temperature.
    
In lands where fogs, frost and darkness cramp the energies of man, as well as in regions where excessive and long-continued heat depresses his vital activities, life is handicapped. By means of clothing, housing and artificial heating arrangements, we are able to live in cold climates. By means of cooling systems and a reduction of clothing, we live more comfortably in hot regions and seasons. But none of these arrangements are ideal. A warm climate serves man best; first-class habits of living enable him to live better in whatever climate he resides.
 
In lands where fogs, frost and darkness cramp the energies of man, as well as in regions where excessive and long-continued heat depresses his vital activities, life is handicapped. By means of clothing, housing and artificial heating arrangements, we are able to live in cold climates. By means of cooling systems and a reduction of clothing, we live more comfortably in hot regions and seasons. But none of these arrangements are ideal. A warm climate serves man best; first-class habits of living enable him to live better in whatever climate he resides.
Line 392: Line 392:  
Do you dress for success? Are you a fashion follower or a “clothes horse?” Is your cloth- ing bought for style and status or comfort and durability?
 
Do you dress for success? Are you a fashion follower or a “clothes horse?” Is your cloth- ing bought for style and status or comfort and durability?
   −
Like food, shelter and the other necessities of life, clothing can be as natural or un- natural as we choose. Just as the businessman who orders steak at a luncheon to impress others with his financial success, there are people who wear the latest styles in clothing and name brands to make impressions.
+
Like food, shelter and the other necessities of life, clothing can be as natural or unnatural as we choose. Just as the businessman who orders steak at a luncheon to impress others with his financial success, there are people who wear the latest styles in clothing and name brands to make impressions.
    
However, from the body’s standpoint, clothing serves two functions only: 1) To protect us from climatic variations, and 2) To protect the skin from injuries. Clothing is not a necessity if we live in an agreeable climate and a non-threatening environment. If we need to cover the body, clothing should be chosen for only these reasons:
 
However, from the body’s standpoint, clothing serves two functions only: 1) To protect us from climatic variations, and 2) To protect the skin from injuries. Clothing is not a necessity if we live in an agreeable climate and a non-threatening environment. If we need to cover the body, clothing should be chosen for only these reasons:

Navigation menu