A. Significance of the Common Cold
With war we hear much about sabotage, undercover agents, fifth columnists, and like forces which seek to undermine stability and well-being. Anything that reduces effectiveness of resistance to enemy is a menace and should be removed without delay. Public enemy we are about to consider weakens health defenses and opens barriers for invasion by more powerful enemies.
B. Why Is a Cold Dangerous?
Common cold, which most of us accept as something which cannot be helped, responsible for more sickness and greater loss of time from work and school than any other one ailment. In fact, responsible for 50 per cent of all disabling disease. Today considered as a factor responsible for both decreased production and lessened working efficiency in defense activity. Two special dangers which accompany a cold:
1. Early signs often same as signs for more serious and contagious diseases, such as influenza, measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough. If treated "just like a cold," may be neglected at most contagious time when medical and nursing care do most good.
2. Long-continued colds pave way for pneumonia, tuberculosis, heart disease, and chronic infections of nose, throat, ears, or sinuses. In fact, the more we deal with colds, the more we realize that a cold is a serious affair. A cold may be likened to a key that opens the body to Pandora's box of ills. Therefore important to prevent and clear up colds at once and not expose friends or ourselves to more harm.
C. How Can I Prevent a Cold?
Surest way to meet disease by prevention.
Most diseases preventable. Nature has given us lines of defense that surpass the ingenuity of military defense. Illness in spite of nature's defense due to carelessness and neglect. Best fortification against colds and other diseases by observance of laws of health. Special prophylactic measures against colds summed up as follows:
I. Eat a variety of nourishing foods, but do not overeat. Include those rich in vitamins A and C, such as milk and milk products; fruits, especially citrus fruits and tomatoes ; green and yellow vegetables, both cooked and raw. Those who catch cold easily may need additional vitamin A in concentrate form, because it builds up resistance against respiratory infections.
2. Eight hours of sleep each night and some form of outdoor exercise daily. Get out of doors for part of your lunch hour, or walk to and from work.
3. Live and work in well-ventilated rooms. If we would fill our lungs instead of our stomachs to capacity every day, we would be in better health. Statistics show that the troops in the trenches during the first World War suffered less from respiratory infections, in spite of exposure and hardship, than those living under ordinary conditions. Unless the room is air-conditioned, open windows twice a day, even in winter, for complete change of air. Better for thermometer to read 68° than over 700.
4. Dress according to weather. Wear enough clothing to be warm and comfortable on cold days. Better to put on adequate wraps when going out of doors than to wear heavy underwear all the time. Wear rubbers or overshoes on stormy days. If you get wet, change clothing, shoes, and hose, to avoid getting chilled. After exercise, don't cool off too suddenly.
When a horse finishes a race, he is cooled off gradually for two hours or more. Yet men partake of vigorous exercise, rush to a shower, then go outside or ride in a car with all windows open.
5. Avoid all contact with colds. While there is much discussion regarding the causes of colds, we are certain that they are catching. In an expedition to Little America, the men enjoyed absolute freedom from colds until arrival of shipment of clothing and supplies, when sneezes and coughs went the round. Eskimos go through their arctic winters with clear respiratory tracts, but with arrival of first steamer in spring they begin to wheeze. To keep from catching cold by direct contact, we should stay as far away as possible from people with colds and those who cough or sneeze carelessly. Possible to catch cold by using towels, eating utensils, or other articles which have been used or handled by someone with cold. Colds also transmitted by handshake. Wash hands frequently.
D. First-Aid Treatment for Colds
All instructed what to do in event of air raid or other disaster : "Keep calm. Don't run around aimlessly. Do what you planned to do." If Public Health Enemy No. I overtakes you in spite of your defense, don't run around at all. Do what you planned, to prevent it immediately.
1. Go to Bed. You need to conserve strength, and you need rest whether you think so or not. Very few colds would develop into serious illness if people would take care of them at very start. A day in bed a good investment in health ; may prevent loss of many days later. If you cannot stop work, have a treatment in afternoon, and stay in bed all evening and night. Do not get chilled. Room should have fresh air but be warm.
2. Force Fluids. Ordinarily we should drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day ; when treating a cold, increase to a glass of water or fruit juice every hour or oftener. Diet should be simple, to help maintain vitality and fighting resistance.
3. Elimination. Secure good elimination, but not by strong cathartics, as they decrease body fluids, generally deplete patient, and may prolong cold. Cleansing enema safer and proves helpful in eliminating poisons.
4. Hydrotherapy. Use hydrotherapy measures unless physician advises against it. Induce sweating by taking hot bath, or at least hot foot-bath, accompanied by hot drink, such as lemonade, and then covering up in bed with extra blankets. Take care not to get chilled when the body is wet with perspiration. Other effective hydrotherapy measures, heating compress to throat, and fomentations to chest with alternate cold.
5. Finally, remember early treatment is what counts. If patient does not respond to these first-aid measures for cold, call doctor.
"Mary had a little cold,
But wouldn't stay at home.
And everywhere that Mary went,
That cold was sure to roam ;
"It wandered into Molly's eyes
And filled them full of tears;
It jumped from there to Bobby's nose,
And then to Jimmy's ears.
"It painted Anna's throat bright red,
And swelled poor Jenny's head ;
Dora had a fever, and a cough Put Jack to bed.
"The moral of this little tale
Is very quickly said—
She could have saved a lot of pain,
With just one day in bed."
E. Conclusion
God has expressed His wish for His people in the following words recorded in 3 John 2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health." Surely it is a sacred, as well as a patriotic, duty to do all that we can to prevent illness and promote health.
_____ To be continued
