Ways to maintain health

Protecting yourself from disease and injury will require you to master many simple techniques called personal hygiene.

Developing immunity will protect you from a number of very serious diseases that you may be exposed to - smallpox, typhoid fever, diphtheria, cholera, plague, yellow (tropical) fever. It will not cure the most common illnesses such as dysentery, colds, and malaria. The following tips will help you stay on your feet as long as possible. Usually, on the hike and in temporary shelter, there is no opportunity for washing with hot water and soap, washing clothes, cutting hair and shaving.

However, some hygiene rules are strictly required. Firstly, when going on a raid (hike), you need to cut your hair short, shave off your mustache (if any), and cut your fingernails and toenails as short as possible. Care must be taken at all times to keep underwear and socks (footcloths) clean and dry. At a minimum, it is necessary to shake out clothes, shoes and linen, ventilate and dry them every day during halts (overnight stays).

Wash your hands with at least cold water or wipe them with disinfectants (alcohol, gasoline, potassium permanganate, aftershave cream, etc.). If the weather and external conditions permit, it is imperative to swim in natural reservoirs with clean water or arrange for washing the limbs with hot water, as well as washing clothes. Secondly, scuffs of the feet should be avoided in every possible way. Foot scuffs usually arise from improperly fitted shoes, from walking in wet shoes for a long time, from inability to wrap a footcloth, from the fact that toenails are too large and dirty. It is necessary that the shoes are always dry, worn out, without folds and irregularities inside. When going on a training raid, and even more so on a combat mission, it is better to wear good sneakers than boots. Good means strong, with strong lacing (no velcro!) And high. Each scout must have at least two pairs of sneakers in his personal belongings (after all, one does not have to expect their acquisition at the expense of the command of a military unit).

Daily skin and toe care is a must. With sore legs, the scout is no longer a scout, but a burden for other members of the group. In a war, because of such a "disabled person", everyone can simply die. One of the means of preventing fungal diseases is daily wiping the folds of the skin between the toes with a disinfectant solution: 0.5% potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate), 2-3% formalin; soap paste, boric acid. You can also sprinkle the folds of skin with a dry tinder fungus rubbed into dust, fireweed (willow-tea) fluff, sphagnum moss. Sphagnum moss is widespread in swamps, it has a red or yellow tint. It is torn, peeled from the coarse lower parts of the stem, squeezed by hand and air dried.

Then rub to make it as soft and tender as possible. This moss absorbs moisture well and contains substances that kill the microflora of festering wounds, scratches, and cuts. If the legs are still worn out, it is necessary to pierce the skin vesicles with liquid with a disinfected needle, squeeze out the liquid with clean hands and, without tearing off the skin, lubricate the affected areas with Vishnevsky ointment or syntomycin ointment. Then put a soft pad-tampon on top and bandage it (or glue it with an adhesive plaster). Bleeding scuffs are treated with potassium permanganate or boric acid, at worst with a triple cologne (slightly diluted with boiled water) and sprinkled with streptocide. Don't forget about your shoulders. The scout has to carry tens of kilograms of cargo: weapons, ammunition, explosives, food, devices (for example, a radio station), equipment.

Therefore, it is necessary to fit belts, buckles, backpack, pouches and everything else to the body as carefully as possible. It is advisable to "strengthen" the outfit in the area of ​​the shoulders and neck with special overlays on top and inside linings (you can hem the above-mentioned women's pads). Check your shoulders at every big break. Preventive measures for them are the same as for the legs.

Keep clean

1) Cleanliness of the body is the first defense against disease-causing microbes. A daily shower with hot water and soap would be ideal. If this is not possible, keep your hands clean, scrub your nails, and sponge your face, armpits, crotch, and legs at least once a day.

2) Keep clothing as clean and dry as possible, especially underwear and socks. If washing is not possible, shake out the garment, dry it and ventilate it regularly.

3) If possible, use toothpaste every day. Soap, table salt, or baking soda can replace toothpaste, and a small green twig, chewed well on one side, will serve as a toothbrush. Another method is brushing your teeth with a clean finger. This method also massages the gums. After eating, rinse your mouth with drinking water, if available. Food hygiene. Beware of gastrointestinal diseases and disorders.

Do not bite your nails or eat with dirty hands (at least wipe your hands thoroughly before eating with clean, dry grass or leaves). Do not drink dirty water (it must be boiled or treated with special tablets, and then filtered). Protect food and water from flies and other insects, remove food waste and waste in a timely manner. Avoid eating unprocessed and poor quality foods (undercooked, fried, unwashed with hot water, rotten, moldy, fermented, rotten, etc.). Food poisoning, dysentery in the field means a disruption of a combat mission and, quite possibly, the death of a scout. Teeth cleaning.

Teeth should be cleaned with a toothpick and rinsed with water after each meal. And in the evening, getting ready for bed, teeth should be brushed with toothpaste or powder. In the absence of a paste (powder), teeth can be cleaned with crushed charcoal, dried and crushed mint leaves can be mixed with it. The best charcoal for brushing your teeth comes from linden. A toothbrush is easy to make from twigs of spruce, pine, or a fresh twig of linden or aspen. Split the stick on one side into small pieces and bend for great softness.

Protect yourself from intestinal diseases.

1) The most common and dangerous diseases are diarrhea, food poisoning and other intestinal disorders. They can be caused by contaminated food, water, or other beverages.

To protect yourself from these diseases, you must:

- keep the body, especially the hands, clean. Do not bite your nails. Do not eat with your hands;

- before using water, dilute a disinfecting tablet in it or boil for 1 minute;

- wash and peel all fruits; - do not store food for a long time before cooking;

- sterilize kitchen items, preferably in boiled water;

- protect food and water from flies and other insects. Keep your camp clean;

- follow strictly the timely disposal of waste and waste.

2) If you have diarrhea or vomiting, stop to rest, and do not eat heavy foods until symptoms of improvement appear. Consume drinks, in particular drinking water, in small portions and often at regular intervals. Even if you feel better, try to avoid eating heavy foods. Do not add too much salt to your food. Protect yourself from heart failure. In hot climates, sunbathe carefully, partially exposing your body to the sun. Strong stress under the hot sun can cause a heart attack. Heart weakness can be prevented by supplementing drinking water and salt to replace what goes away with sweating.

Protect yourself from colds.

1) In areas with very cold climates, keep the body warm by all possible means. Take special care of your feet, hands and exposed parts of the body. Keep your socks dry, use rags, paper, moss, grass, leaves for insulation, from which you can always make a good shelter.

2) Frostbite is a constant danger to anyone who is exposed to temperatures below the freezing point of water. To treat frostbite areas, find a warm place (at normal room temperature) faster and immediately immerse them in hot water or expose the area to hot air. Do not massage or apply ice to frostbite areas of the body.

Take care of your feet.

1) Dirty or sweaty socks can hurt your feet. If you don't have clean pairs, wash the ones you wear more often. If there is clean steam, place the washed on top of the clothing behind your back. They will dry out faster. Wear woolen socks whenever possible, they absorb sweat better. Socks can be frozen and then beaten off to remove dirt.

2) Blisters are dangerous, as they can begin an infection that can interfere with your movement, or in general, if your situation worsens further, cause death.

If your shoes fit you well, dust off the dirt after each transition, change your socks more often, use foot powder, massage or rub your feet calmly and you will have less worries about blisters. If a blister appears, do not open it, but put a soft pad on it to rub less on the area. Hygiene of clothes and shoes. Shoes should always be carefully monitored, especially when operating in damp climates and in winter. Shoes should be dried more often, being careful, as they can deteriorate quickly (over a fire, near a hot stove), as well as leaving wet shoes in the cold. A good drying method is to fill the shoes with heated (so as not to burn) pebbles, sand, and small stones.

Shoes can be stuffed with paper, dry hay or moss to help dry and prevent deformation. As a last resort, it is permissible to put on damp boots (boots) on dry socks and footcloths, but not vice versa. Lubricate your shoes with a thin layer of boot cream regularly. Shoe cream can be replaced with unsalted bacon, tar, waterfowl (fish) fat, raw soap, vegetable oil. To obtain tar, you need to heat the birch bark in a jar on fire until the dark liquid is distilled off. When carrying loads, fill the backpack (knapsack) correctly: small items should be placed towards the back, hard and heavy ones - in the lower half of the knapsack. Adjust the straps of the satchel according to your height so that its lower edge (attached weight) is adjacent to the sacrum. A satchel adjusted in this way does not hit the back and does not pull the shoulders too much.

With a heavy load (more than 20 kg), it is necessary to take care of soft pads under the shoulder straps (made of foam rubber, felt, moss, etc.). In winter, you need to especially carefully monitor the serviceability of clothing, keep it dry and protect it from burning. The most common cause of wet clothes is heavy sweating. When it appears, remove excess clothing (be sure to keep the upper windproof layer), reduce physical activity, if possible. Uniforms for prolonged use, especially in cold climates, should be dried by hanging them in the upper part of the shelter, after shaking them out. If it is impossible to wash, it is necessary to shake out the linen and clothes, and then hang them in the open air for 1.5-2 hours. To prevent snow from sticking to the uniform in a blizzard (blizzard) and it does not get wet, it is recommended to wear dressing gowns and capes made of parachute fabric on top. This also provides disguise.

Remember, that:

 - tight-fitting clothing reduces the zone of still air around the body and prevents free blood circulation;

- perspiration is dangerous because it reduces the insulating capacity of clothing by saturating the air with moisture. When moisture evaporates, the body cools. Prevent overheating by removing a piece of clothing and unbuttoning it at the neck, wrists and chest;

- hands and feet cool faster than other parts of the body and should be given more attention. Cover your hands as much as possible. Hands can be warmed under the armpits, on the inner thigh, or on the chest. Because your feet sweat quickly, it is difficult to keep them warm. It is best to wear larger shoes so that you can wear at least two footcloths (socks). A warm double sock can be made by putting dry grass, moss, cellophane bag or bird feathers between a pair of socks;

- the greatest heat loss occurs in the head area. Never forget a good headdress. In the subtropics, as well as in the middle lane in swamps and in the forest, in hot summer, the scout is attacked by hordes of insects (mosquitoes, gadflies, horseflies, flies, wasps, hornets, midges, etc.). Therefore, it must have:

- clothing of such strength that it does not tear when moving through dense thickets of bushes and undergrowth;

- mesh and gloves to protect against insects; - sleeves and trousers loose enough to tuck into gloves and socks. The mosquito net should be light, because mosquitoes and many other insects are afraid of the light color. Dark tones attract them.

(based on materials of «Энциклопедии безопасности» Громова В.И. и Васильева Г.А., Москва, 1998)