HEALTH NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 243, 12 September 1929, Page 2

HEALTH NOTES

SCHOOL CHILDREN. ADVICE TO PARENTS. (Contributed by the Department of Health.) Tho National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, Great Britain, 'issues the following advice to parents and guardians on the care of children of school age : 1. Let tho children have as much light and air as you possibly can. 2. Fresh air is most important; for tho preservation -of health. 3. Fresh air and sunlight kill the germs of disease. 4. AA'indows should be kept open to the external air both by day and night, unless forbidden by the medical adviser. 5. Never block up the fireplace or chimney. If there be a Register, never close it. 6. Rooms, especially bedrooms—should be frequently flooded with fresh air by opening all the doors and windows. 7. A coal fire causes an updraught of air, and so ventilates a room. BREATHING EXERCISES. 1. Breathing exercises, if properly performed, are of special value in improving tho condition of weakly and anaemic children, who are often ihe subjects of repeated colds, and in the prevention ol many diseases of the lungs, notably consumption. 2. These exercises should be performed for five minutes twice daily in the open air or before an open window. 3. Handkerchief drill should first he practised. Every child should have its own pocket handkerchief and be taught how to use it. The child should stand with the feet a few inches apart, tho toes being pointed a little outwards. The hands are allowed to hang by tho sides in an easy, natural position, and there should be no stiffening of the muscles. Air should be taken in slowly through the nose until the chest is filled; the breath should then be held for a few seconds, and after this allowed to escape slowly through the nose. It is best to count during these movements, increasing the length of the exercises as they become easier through practise. No movements of the arms are necessary, but, if desired, in order to gain suppleness of the chest and spine the actual breathing exercises may advantageously be preceded by forward, backward, and sideward bending of tlio body upon the lower limbs, keeping the knees stiff. MOUTH-BREATHING.

A child should breathe in through the nose and out through the nose, and not through the mouth. If the child cannot breathe freely with the mouth closed, medical advice should be sought; for mouth-breathing causes dryness of the mouth and so the teeth decay. Other and more serious ailments may be present, such as enlarged tonsils and adenoids (growths at tho back of the nose), which often cause night-screaming and snoring, frequent colds, stupidity, poor circulation, anaemia, and deformity of the chest and spine. Deafness and running ears may also result, and, if neglected, produce abscess of the brain. CLOTHING, SLEEP AND DIET. Clothing should be warm, light and loose. There is no point in covering np the body with an excess of heavy, airproof garments, which impede movement and induce fatigue. Beware ol wet and cold leet and oi wet'and thin shoes. Late hours and disturbed rest are responsible lor many eases of debility and nervous diseases, which may lead to insanity. In many houses the children are running about till the parents go to bed, and m the morning ate disturbed by the father going early to work. This should not be. Children five to twelve years of age should not have less than IU to 11 hours’ undisturbed sleep every night, and they should not be awakened by other members of the family coming in late. , 1. Food should be plain and nourishing. 2. Milk is a perfect food and may be given at any age. 3. As soon as milk comes into the house it should he scalded, if not already pasteurised, and at once poured into a clean basin or jug, which should always be kept covered with a plate in a cool place. The jug should always be wiped with a clean cloth. Avoid contamination by flies, dust and dirt. Pasteurised milk should not be emptied out of th© milk bottle. -The milk s freshness will be prolonged by standing the bottle in a basin of cold water. 4. Give the child plenty of water; absence of thirst is no guide. 5. Give no tea or coffee till tho age of eight. Do nob stew tea for longer than two minutes. . 6. Give children no wine, no beer, no spirits. . , , 7. Avoid late suppers, pickles, sauces, vinegar, unripe and over-ripe fruit. CARE OF THE TEETH.

Two-thirds of children of school age suffer from defective teeth. A child with decayed teeth cannot be healthy. The first teeth of the second set to appear arc four largo double teeth at the back of the mouth behind the first set. These teeth may be cut at any time between five and eight years of age, and are the most important teeth in the head. If the teeth grow irregularly the dentist should bo consulted. Decay is due to fermentation of the particles of food left upon or between the teeth. The teeth then decay in places which often cannot easily be seen or reached, and the decay may make considerable headway before it is discovered. The results are numerous, from inability to masticate food and the formation of gumboils to the poisoning of the whole body, loss of portions of the jaw, and even of life. Hence the child’s mouth should be inspected by a dentist at least once in every six months, whether tlie teeth ache or not. Inflammation or sponginess of the gums is a disease quite as important as decay of the teeth. Its first sign is that the gums bleed easily when brushed. If bleeding occurs when the gums and teeth are brushed on more than two successive days advice should be sought at once. 111-effects of Diseased Teeth.—Children with decayed teeth cannot properly bite their food; often because of tender teeth they refuse their food or bolt it, and so do not obtain sufficient nourishment to allow full growth and development of the body. In the cavities of decayed teeth the food decomposes and tlie" products of such decomposition, together with the discharges from the diseased gums around the teeth, are swallowed, causing indigestion and other forms of stomach trouble. Even more serious illnesses may arise from the same cause. Enlarged glands in the neck, repeated sore throats, gumboils, ulcers o 7 the mouth, indigestion, constipation and diarrhoea are extremely common. So, too, the presence of decaying food at and under the margin of the gums often causes more general troubles than actual decay of the teetli. Parents and guardians should insist on having children regularly examined from time to time so as to exclude the risk of insidious infection. Tuberculosis begins frequently in childhood. If detected early it is readily arrested. If missed, the consequences may be very serious.