Old people are particularly sensitive to cold, and they therefore need a warm room when the temperature falls in the autumn. In old age, especially in its advanced stage, the processes of oxidation are diminished, and thus less natural warmth is produced; but, as we give off more heat in cold weather, it is only natural that they will feel the cold then much more than younger individuals.
The rooms, therefore, in which old people live must be kept very warm, in the same manner as we do with infants, especially for those who come of parents with degenerated thyroids. Thus we see again how old age and infancy present many parallel features.
But, if a very warm room be compulsory for aged folks, no such necessity exists in the case of the young or middle aged, and it is abusing their health if they remain long in rooms heated above 75° to 85°, or sometimes 90°, where, at the same time, every window is sedulously closed on all sides, so that no fresh air can find entrance. Such overheated rooms we usually find in northern climates, and the air in such cases is frequently hotter in the house in winter than we find it in the open on a comfortably warm summer day, when, being in the open, the heat can certainly be better borne than in a close room.
In America many things are better than in Europe; but this certainly does not apply to the method of heating used in the majority of the houses, hotels, and office buildings, all of which are mostly overheated, and that by steam heat, and very frequently with defective ventilation, if there be any at all. The worst part of it is that a uniform heat is maintained, whether it be a warm or a cold day; thus, the air temperature was 55° F. on October 15, 1906, when I was in New York, and in one of the most fashionable hotels the temperature was 75° F. In Houston, Texas, there was a heat wave in February, 1907, with disagreeable hot weather, yet 70° F. of steam-generated heat was maintained in the hotels, which made life unbearable for those who, like the author of this book, are so fond of fresh air.
As we are endeavoring in this work to give hints how to reach a ripe old age and prevent diseases which may dissipate our hopes in that direction, it is our duty to protest and to point out the dangers of such irrational heating.
It seems to me, however, that in some northern countries in Europe things are not much better, especially since steam heat is becoming more and more used, as in Norway, even in the private houses. In some of these countries—Russia, for instance—cotton is put around the window panes to exclude the air, and also to absorb the moisture condensed on the inside of the double windows.
In many European countries, however, fireplaces and stoves are common. The most rational method of heating, though not the most economical, is the open fireplace in England, whence the most ventilation is obtained; for the essence of the problem is to obtain warmth and fresh air at the same time. English, Scotch, and Irish are most sensitive to an overheated room, and they are probably the most healthy inhabitants of Europe, too. While a guest, some years ago, of friends in Derbyshire, I well remember that, directly the temperature rose above 65, the windows were thrown open.
Americans in Europe often complain that they are not warmed at the fireplace, which only keeps the face and not the body warm. This, however, will only apply to those who only feel comfortable at a temperature of 75° F., which is distinctly unhealthy; for the open English grate can very easily produce the standard temperature of 15° R. (about 18° C.), which should not be exceeded if we want to have a healthy warmed atmosphere in our rooms. Of course such fireplaces can produce a much higher temperature, but even then the air is never so offensive as that of rooms heated by steam.
It would seem, at first thought, that women can withstand cold much better than men, considering how much lighter is their dress and how much more it exposes them to cold air. We sometimes see young girls of the poorer class in such light clothing in mid-winter, standing in the streets and talking with their friends, that we men shiver at the mere idea of such clothing. Yet it is women who most need a warm room, probably because their dress is much the same indoors in mid-winter as in mid-summer. They, however, when out-of-doors wear heavy furs which entirely check the respiration of their skin; and their light clothes, when indoors, do not afford much opportunity for their skin respiration, for then there is usually no fresh air in the house, but an oppressive heat, all air ventilators being sedulously closed. It is strange how people try, by every means, to destroy their health!
In warm weather we give off less warmth and do not require so much food in order to produce warmth, as the natural temperature also requires less of us; in summer, therefore, we need less nourishment.
Circumstances, also, become much more equalized in the artificial summer of the overheated room. Whereas people taking a brisk walk in a cold and bracing atmosphere return with rosy cheeks and a roaring appetite, the unfortunates who persist in passing the day in overheated, especially steam-heated places with a confined atmosphere will not feel a natural hunger, will eat without a healthy appetite, and will have insufficient gastric juice (see chapter on appetite), exposing themselves to digestive troubles in consequence. Their need for food will be less, and a bad condition of health will follow.
Another and most imminent danger of overheated rooms is the facility with which we are apt to take cold by walking from a room kept at summer heat to the outside cold of winter. We all know how we catch cold, as a rule, but we never know how it may end. Sometimes a simple cold is followed by sore throat, but often also by catarrh of the bronchi, and even of the lungs. In persons addicted to alcohol a fatal pneumonia from such a cause is common; but, in any event, there is a great failing of the general health for a long time, all of which may have originated from an overheated room which has made us more sensitive to the effects of cold.
When we keep ourselves cool we are less liable to catch cold, as is well known; for then our body is not first heated up and then cooled off rapidly. This has been shown by experiments on animals. It is certain that people accustomed to a temperature of 15° R. have much less tendency to take cold than those living in rooms at 75° to 90° F. Such a temperature is also a breeding place for billions of dangerous microbes, which certainly prosper better at such a warm temperature.
Still more dangerous are the consequences from the overheating of railway compartments, as then it is still less impossible to avoid rapid changes of temperature. When there are many persons in overheated places, and the exhaled air from all of them contains an enormous quantity of virulent bacilli, the danger of infection is still greater; especially so when there is steam-generated heat, with its injurious effects on the mucous membranes, whose resistance to bacillary invasion is thus lowered.
Steam heat is the most injurious of all heat, as it dries up the mucous membranes and renders them thereby more liable to infection. We have often noticed in persons with large tonsils inflammation of these glands, which commenced every time that such persons inhaled steam-generated heat for several hours. Such frequent tonsillitis will also undermine the health, especially if we consider that not infrequently an acute glomerulo-nephritis may ensue (and often does follow, in an insidious way, without even being diagnosed). There have also been plenty of cases of appendicitis in which the tonsillitis has been in prior etiological relation to its development.
We have observed persons who, in consequence of such frequent tonsillitis due to steam heat, have run down in health, lost their appetite, and presented a pale, gray and miserable appearance, whereas before they were rosy-cheeked and vigorous. In others, continued pharyngitis, bronchitis, and sometimes asthma, may be observed.
In order to mitigate these dangers of steam heat we must place basins filled with hot water in the localities where the steam heat is produced. Such basins can be readily placed behind and attached to the radiators; but they must be of large dimensions and must be kept properly filled.
Steam heat is most dangerous when there is insufficient ventilation; there should, therefore, be behind the radiators, and also in the opposite wall at a certain height, an opening for ventilation. It is, of course, understood that such ventilators are to be always kept open and not, as is unhappily so often the case, closed. It is of the utmost importance that the radiators be thoroughly dusted every day, as this heated dust is most injurious to health. This is a rule that should be especially observed in railway cars.
Fireplaces and stoves, which allow of a renovation of the air in a room, are superior to the steam heat. In a room with an open fireplace or a good stove the air is renewed, for a current of air is created which removes from the room microbes and dust. Thus the air is purified. But it is quite different with steam heat, which does not remove bad air from the room. Fancy, now, a steam-heated hall, with many people in it, which is overheated at the same time, and you will understand the frequency of tonsillitis and bad colds after staying in such a hall—which we would feel inclined to spell in a different way, to show better its real nature.
Hot-water heating is superior to steam heating.
Everyone who desires to preserve youth for a long time and attain a good old age, should avoid living continually in places overheated by steam, without proper ventilation, as this is one of the surest means of shortening life.