Messenger of the Lord

Non-dietary Features of Health Reform

Objectionable aspects of city living. In 1890 Ellen White spoke of Satan at work “poisoning the atmosphere.” In 1902 she predicted that city life “will grow more and more objectionable,” and “a peril of health,” with the “prevalence of foul air, impure water, impure food,” including “poisonous gases.” She looked to the day when many will move to the country, “for wickedness and corruption will increase to such a degree that the very atmosphere of the cities will seem to be polluted.” ¹²⁴ Modern research validates this warning. MOL 327.3

Beneficial effect of sunlight. Ellen White wrote in 1865 that the atmosphere of rooms that are not exposed to light and air “is poisonous, because it has not been purified by light and air.” Why? “Death-producing germs abound in dark, neglected corners, in decaying refuse .... Perfect cleanliness, plenty of sunlight, careful attention to sanitation in every detail of the home life, are essential to freedom from disease and to the cheerfulness and vigor of the inmates of the home.” ¹²⁵ MOL 327.4

Exercise and physical health. Exercise directly affects the circulation of the blood. Contrary to conventional medicine in the nineteenth century, exercise is vital to recovery from most diseases as well as to the prevention of disease. In 1872 Ellen White wrote that “no exercise ... can take the place of walking. By it the circulation of the blood is greatly involved.” MOL 327.5

Two years earlier she urged that “all who can possibly do so ought to walk in the open air every day, summer and winter.” Why? “The muscles and veins are enabled better to perform their work. There will be increased vitality, which is so necessary to health.” In 1905 she gave several reasons why “inactivity is a fruitful cause of disease“: (1) slow circulation of the blood; (2) impurities are not expelled through the skin; (3) lungs are not fed with fresh air; (4) a double burden rests on the excretory organs. ¹²⁶ MOL 327.6

Exercise reduces risk of heart disease. ¹²⁷ Sedentary people have twice as much risk of heart disease and high blood pressure as physically active people. ¹²⁸ Even medium levels of physical activity in men protects against strokes. ¹²⁹ The relative risk of mortality for women ages 50-74 was one-third less in the most active quartile compared to the least active. ¹³⁰ MOL 327.7

Exercise may also reduce the risk of cancer of the colon, prostate, and breast, as well as diabetes. ¹³¹ After emphasizing that a person should be moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week, the American Cancer Society’s 1996 report noted that “physical activity can help protect against some cancers, either by balancing caloric intake with energy expenditures or by other mechanisms. An imbalance of caloric intake and output can lead to overweight, obesity, and increased risk for cancers at several sites: colon and rectum, prostate, endometrium, breast (among postmenopausal women), and kidney.” ¹³² MOL 327.8

Exercise may boost the immune system. ¹³³ MOL 328.1

Exercise and mental ability. Ellen White wrote that “physical inaction lessens not only mental but moral power.” ¹³⁴ Exercise linked with the ability to think was noted in a study of twenty persons who exercised three times a week for six months. Conclusion: they were not only twenty percent fitter, they also were seventy percent better at making decisions than before beginning their exercise regimen. ¹³⁵ MOL 328.2

A walk after meals. Mrs. White clearly stated that we should not “engage in brain labor immediately after a meal.” Further, we should not consider this counsel “a matter of trifling importance.” “To engage in deep study or violent exercise immediately after eating, hinders the digestive process.... A short walk after a meal, with the head erect and the shoulders back, exercising moderately, is a great benefit.” ¹³⁶ MOL 328.3

In 1964 Gerhard Volkheimer, M. D., a cardiovascular researcher in Berlin, reported that he had found that “physical inactivity can lead to the accumulation of chyle (fat) in the thoracic duct. And any sudden movement can apparently propel enough chyle into the blood to produce a coronary embolism.” ¹³⁷ Because of his research, Dr. Volkheimer strongly advised an after-meal walk to avoid the risk of a coronary attack. MOL 328.4

Adequate sleep. Mrs. White included a program of adequate sleep as part of her eight natural remedies. ¹³⁸ After linking mental vigor with physical health, she wrote: “Proper periods of sleep and rest and an abundance of physical exercise are essential to health of body and mind. To rob nature of her hours for rest and recuperation, by allowing one man to do the work of four, or of three, or even of two, will result in irreparable loss.” ¹³⁹ MOL 328.5

In the Belloc-Breslow study it was noted that sleeping seven to eight hours nightly is one of the health factors that extends life by as much as eleven years. ¹⁴⁰ MOL 328.6

Trust in God. Long before many had linked health with spiritual values, Mrs. White wrote: “Courage, hope, faith, sympathy, love, promote health and prolong life.” ¹⁴¹ A strong correlation exists between the mind and the body in physical recovery, even in the program of reversing heart disease. ¹⁴² Mrs. White was equally clear about how spiritual values not only help in curing disease, but are perhaps “health’s greatest safeguard.” ¹⁴³ MOL 328.7

Literature is abundant that documents how faith and social support from family and friends encourage mental and spiritual well-being. ¹⁴⁴ People who attend church regularly have fewer illnesses than non-churchgoers. Non-religious Jews are twice as likely to have a coronary attack as synagogue-attending Jews. ¹⁴⁵ MOL 328.8