The Ministry of Health and Healing

Ventilation and Sunlight

In the construction of buildings, whether for public purposes or as homes, care should be taken to provide for good ventilation and plenty of sunlight. Churches and schoolrooms are often faulty in this respect. Neglect of proper ventilation is responsible for much of the drowsiness and dullness that destroy the effect of many a sermon and make the teacher’s work toilsome and ineffective. MHH 152.5

So far as possible, all buildings intended for human habitation should be placed on high, well-drained ground. This will ensure a dry site and prevent the danger of disease from dampness and a foggy, unwholesome atmosphere. This matter is often too lightly regarded. Continuous ill-health, serious diseases, and many deaths result from the dampness and malaria of low-lying, ill-drained situations. MHH 152.6

When constructing homes it is especially important to secure thorough ventilation and plenty of sunlight. Make provision for a current of air and an abundance of light in every room in the house. Sleeping rooms should be so arranged as to have a free circulation of air day and night. No room is suitable as a bedroom unless it can be thrown open daily to fresh air and sunshine. In most countries bedrooms need to be supplied with conveniences for heating, that they may be thoroughly warmed and dried in cold or wet weather. MHH 153.1

The guest room should have equal care with the rooms intended for constant use. Like the other bedrooms, it should have air and sunshine and should be provided with some means of heating to dry out the dampness that always accumulates in a room not in constant use. Whoever sleeps in a sunless room, or occupies a bed that has not been thoroughly dried and aired, does so at the risk of health, and often of life. MHH 153.2

In building, many make careful provision for their plants and flowers. The greenhouse or window devoted to their use is warm and sunny, for without warmth, air, and sunshine, plants will not live and flourish. If these conditions are necessary to the life of plants, how much more necessary are they for our own health and that of our families and guests! MHH 153.3

If we want our homes to be the abiding place of health and happiness, we must place them above the tainted vapors and fog of the lowlands, and give free entrance to Heaven’s life-giving agencies. Dispense with heavy curtains, open the windows and blinds, allow no vines, however beautiful, to shade the windows, and permit no trees to stand so near the house as to shut out the sunshine. Sunlight may fade the draperies and carpets and tarnish the picture frames, but it will bring a healthy glow to the cheeks of the children. Those who have senior citizens to provide for should remember that these especially need warm, comfortable rooms. Vigor declines as years advance, leaving less vitality with which to resist unhealthful influences, hence the greater necessity for the elderly to have plenty of sunlight and fresh, pure air. MHH 153.4

Scrupulous cleanliness is essential to both physical and mental health. Impurities are constantly thrown off from the body through the skin. Its millions of pores are quickly clogged unless kept clean by frequent bathing, and the impurities that should pass off through the skin become an additional burden to the other organs of elimination. MHH 153.5

Most persons would be benefited by a cool or tepid bath every day, morning or evening. Instead of increasing the liability to take cold, a bath, properly taken, fortifies against cold, because it improves the circulation; the blood is brought to the surface, and a more easy and regular flow is obtained. The mind and the body are alike invigorated. The muscles become more flexible, the intellect is sharpened. The bath is a soother of the nerves and promotes digestion. It helps the bowels, the stomach, and the liver, giving health and energy to each. MHH 153.6

It is important also that the clothing be kept clean. Garments absorb the waste matter that passes off through the pores. If they are not frequently changed and washed, the impurities will be reabsorbed. MHH 154.1

Every form of uncleanliness tends to disease. Death-producing germs abound in dark, neglected corners, in decaying refuse, in dampness and mold and must. No waste vegetables or piles of fallen leaves should be allowed to remain near the house to decay and poison the air. Nothing unclean or decaying should be tolerated within the home. In towns or cities regarded perfectly healthful, many an epidemic of fever has been traced to decaying matter about the dwelling of some careless householder. MHH 154.2

Maximum cleanliness, plenty of sunlight, and careful attention to sanitation are essential to freedom from disease and to the cheerfulness and vigor of all who live in the home. MHH 154.3