141. General Hygiene
Today’s reading: “The Ministry of Healing” pp. 271–274a.
The greatest reason, and motive, for a healthy lifestyle:
“I am a temple, revealing God’s glory.”
We often think of the benefits in terms of good health and long life for ourselves when it comes to these practical health principles, but Ellen says, “No, look to your God and His glory.”
Perfect circulation enables perfect health. It needs proper food (more of that later), pure air and free circulation. The latter is affected by clothing, or lack of it in cold environments (such as air-conditioned offices) where many of the headaches, coughs, indigestion, and I’ll add dysmenorrhoea symptoms, are caused by “insufficient clothing” causing congestion
Congestion is not discussed much in medical circles today because it is not affected by drugs, but hydrotherapy can have a major effect to relieve the symptoms congestion Ellen lists, and many others.
All of us have relatively sedentary lifestyles these days, along with the stooped postures and superficial breathing. Deep-breathing soothes the nerves and improves our public speaking. Shallow breathing depresses the whole system making it susceptible to disease. So sit up straight, take a deep breath and read that last paragraph at the bottom of page 273 again. When do you feel like that? What are you going to have to change?
I remember the years I lived next to a busy road in Bangkok; the air was thick with dust, diesel fumes and drain smells. To come back to the fresh air of Australia was a pleasure, but even here we can have “dead and vitiated” air in our air-conditioned rooms. What does the low vitamin D level of most Aussies say about our lack of exposure to sunshine and fresh air?
Does your breathing and speaking pattern detract from the glory of God in your life?
