3) Cleanliness and Dress
It has been said that "cleanliness is next to godliness," and, while this saying didn't come directly from the Bible, the principle is certainly correct.
To teach ancient Israel the habit of cleanliness, God instituted ceremonial regulations commanding the people to bathe or wash their clothes after coming in contact with likely disease carriers (Lev. 11:29-47). The physical lesson to be learned from these ceremonies is that we should keep our physical bodies clean.
Regular care of the skin, hair, nails and teeth, and freedom from perspiration odor are essential to cleanliness and contribute to health. Waste products are eliminated through the pores of the skin, so regular bathing is important.
Keeping your person, your clothes and your living quarters clean will not only aid in promoting vigorous health, but will tend to keep your thoughts on a higher level and keep you closer to God.
Untold physical impairments are caused by the wearing of tight, ill-fitting or unsuitable clothing. Clothing should afford proper protection from the weather and should be loose fitting and comfortable. The wearing of extremely tight girdles or corsets by women often results in the cramping of vital organs and the weakening of muscles and tissues in the abdominal and pelvic areas — often causing physical distress in later life, and sometimes resulting in the inability to have children normally. It just doesn't pay.
Also, high-heeled shoes that throw the whole body out of line often cause harm not only to the feet, but to the entire body. Another common fault among women is wearing unnecessarily tight-fitting shoes, which cause bunions, corns and in-grown nails.
4) Sunshine and Fresh Air
Exposing a good portion of the body to the sun's rays is beneficial. The sun's rays that provide the greatest benefit to health are the ultraviolet rays. These rays aid in the utilization of phosphorous and calcium, and vitamin D is formed primarily through this influence.
Try to spend time out of doors in the open air and sunshine as you can. But remember that there is danger in sunlight if the body is exposed too long before it is conditioned to the sun. So, in acquiring a tan, you should proceed cautiously.
And take deep breaths of pure, fresh air. After all, breath is the stuff life itself is made of (Gen. 2:7). Breathe deeply to be healthy.
We breathe to get oxygen into our systems. Every vital process in the body depends on oxygen for its performance. The more you breathe pure, fresh air, the more pep you will have, the brighter will be your color, the more alert you will be and the better posture you will have.
Most of us take in enough air to sustain life, but not enough to live it vigorously.
Exercise
In this day of push-button gadgets and automobiles, millions of people are only half the physical specimens they ought to be — because of a lack of exercise.
Notice a crowd of people some time. Observe the various sizes and shapes. Am I talking about a need for huge, bulging muscles?
No. Except in a few cases, they are entirely unnecessary in modern life — and constant expenditure of time and energy would be necessary to keep them in that condition.
But many people today do need an intelligently planned program of exercise. Exercise stimulates deep breathing and increases blood circulation; it aids in the expelling of poisons from the system, and tends to produce normalcy in all bodily functions.
While work leaves one tired and sometimes enervated, proper exercise is of remarkable assistance in building up energy. The body is often recharged after systematic calisthenics, and this form of exercise can include all of the muscle groups of the body — whereas regular work or games often neglect some of these, while overtaxing others.
Especially for young people, games and sports naturally afford an enjoyable opportunity to get needed exercise. But these should be supplemented with calisthenics or some form of exercise at home as one grows past that stage in life and tends to neglect physical exercise.
Walking and hiking are excellent forms of .exercise for people of all ages and occupations. But vigorous young people should supplement even these with some form of activity that directly utilizes the arms, shoulders and torso.
One of the very most important types of exercise is called aerobic exercise. The word is taken from the Latin and means simply "with wind." It means the kind of exercise where you are forced to do regular, continuous deep breathing.
This kind of exercise is vital in building and maintaining your cardiovascular system — your heart, lungs and liver. Nearly every coach in any major sport knows that this is the type of exercise to get athletes into condition.
"With wind," it means. Deep and continuous breathing and panting with the corollary vigorous workout for the heart muscle that this involves. So football, basketball and baseball players "take their laps" and do a lot of running in the conditioning period. Swimmers take their laps. Boxers do their "roadwork" — running and jogging — and continuously skip rope besides.
Do you have to become a jogger?
No, although in certain cases that is ideal. You could swim a number of laps each day — slowly working up to at least a quarter mile daily. Or you could get a bicycle and go cycling for several miles nearly every day.
Buy a good book on aerobic exercise. Some local "YMCAs/YWCAs" offer free aerobic dancing classes or similar programs. If you are past middle age or have a heart condition, start slowly and work up a vigorous walking program — preferably under a physician's guidance. You probably can build up to where you are vigorously walking at least two miles nearly every day!
But do something. For the increased energy and stamina, the sense of exhilaration and the better all-round good health will be more than worth it!
Don't overdo and wear yourself out or get shin splints. And be careful. Don't get hit by a truck!
Because of the tendency in the Apostle Paul's day to glorify athletics and idolize athletes, Paul wrote Timothy: "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things" (I Tim. 4:8). Notice that Paul did not condemn physical exercise, but merely showed that it does profit a little, or for a little while, as compared with godliness which will profit through eternity.
But few of us in this age are inclined to get too much exercise, and we do need a proper amount to build the kind of abundant, radiant health we should all enjoy.
Building a strong, supple, graceful body does require effort. But it is eminently worthwhile — especially in this day when we are inclined to let machines do everything while our own bodies stagnate.
6) Sleep and Rest
Many people, especially students, are inclined to delude themselves with the idea that they can drive themselves on in work or play, then catch up on sleep later on — and be none the worse for it. Nothing will take the place of regular sleep and rest in its recuperative effect on the human body.
Man can go much longer without food than he can without sleep, and sleep becomes unbelievably necessary after long periods of sleeplessness.
Sufficient, regular sleep for most adults ranges from seven to nine hours each night. This is definitely not wasted time. It will enable one to be fully alive during his work and play, and to live a longer and fuller life in the end.
However, too much sleep is not a benefit. Rather, it is depressing and causes sluggishness and a state of lethargy. We are warned in Proverbs against oversleeping and laziness (Prov. 24:33-34).
In addition to regular sleep, many health authorities recommend one or more short periods of rest throughout the day to recharge our worn nerve batteries.
When God said, "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work," He was giving a law of health — as well as a spiritual principle — that will never grow old. Both physically and mentally, we need to rest every seventh day — and so. God gave the Sabbath rest as a great blessing.
Thousands of years ago, God knew and enunciated what many men still haven't found out — that in depriving yourself of sufficient sleep and rest you will accomplish not more, but less, in the end.
Take ACTION!
You now know six of the seven basic laws of radiant health. Here they are summarized: 1) Quit worrying, arguing, bickering. Maintain a tranquil mind — a positive attitude. 2) Be sure you have a balanced diet of natural foods. Learn the value of drinking plenty of water, of fasting and of avoiding constipation. 3) Remember that cleanliness is vital to good health, and that suitable clothing is also necessary. 4) Derive the maximum benefit from sunshine and fresh air. 5) Plan a program of regular, sufficient exercise. And stick to it! 6) Let your body recuperate from work and play through proper sleep and rest as God intended.
Remember these six basic health laws; study them in detail; and most of all, practice them!
You must put them to work and LIVE by these laws! It will take some effort, but the reward of a strong, graceful, vigorously healthful body will more than repay your efforts.
Of course, if you have already broken these laws most of your life, you will not attain as great benefits as if you had started early. And in all honesty, we must realize one factor that we have nothing to do with — our heredity, and the fact that some of us have inherited certain weaknesses that may never be fully overcome.
But nearly any physical condition can be greatly improved if the right steps are taken.
So put your shoulder to the wheel! Radiant health is worth working for. And applying these physical laws is important spiritual training.