The matter of keeping the limbs covered at all times is an advanced principle, and it may require time for the body to adjust to a new way of dressing. To go from sleeveless in summer to long sleeves is a huge leap. A more gradual adjustment makes logical sense. There are many who choose to dress modestly who feel that elbow-length sleeves are acceptable during the summer months. We need to keep the limbs from becoming chilled, whatever the season. Going from extreme heat into an air conditioned building or car is hard on the body. The body temperature needs to be regulated, and clothing the limbs is one of the best ways there is to accomplish that. May God give each of us wisdom in our daily practice, and keep us from becoming fanatical on the one hand or rebellious on the other. We individually need to lift this matter up in prayer and ask God to guide us.
Here are a few excerpts from other authors on this topic.
From the website Temcat.com
HOW TO KEEP COOL
A. Dress against the heat.
• Protect the skin from the direct rays of the sun with loose, cotton clothing that fully covers the arms and the legs. In countries where the weather is very hot, clothing is loose fitting and covers the body well.
• Choose light colors that reflect the heat and thus keep the body cool.
• Wearing long sleeves, in summer and winter, prevents the "alarm reaction" of the adrenals. This alarm causes a vigorous adjustment in the nervous system and the sensation of extreme overheating if even a light sleeve is worn in warm weather. The reaction is paradoxically characterized by an intolerance to covering the arms. It is an adaptation response of the nervous system to the stress of chilling.
B. Keep the head cool while in the sun by wearing a hat, avoiding the midday sun when possible, and by drinking plenty of water to promote free sweating.
C. Eat lighter foods, emphasizing fresh, raw fruits and vegetables. Heavy or sweet foods, fatty foods, or high protein foods cause much heat production.
D. Water. Perspiration can be promoted by drinking plenty of water. The skin and the lungs, which are the natural temperature controls of the body, can be much more efficient when an abundance of water is taken in.
E. Pop, coke, and flavoured drinks actually cause you body to have to use extra water to flush out the sugar and chemicals! A glass of coke takes more water out of your body than it adds. The high sugar or chemical sweetners in pop and flavoured drinks, frozen punches etc. only makes you hotter and more thirsty.
Water with a bit of unsweetened fruit juice added queches thirst and helps your body cope with heat much better. You can make great freezies for children by getting popsicle maker trays from the dollar store and filling them with real, pure unsweetened juice. Much better for the health than the chemical syrup in the commercial ones.
F. Do some wise planning to avoid rushing and excitement in hot weather.
At splash pools even on very hot days, watch out for chilling of a child's limbs and body.
Eating or drinking icy food or drinks when one is very heated is not wise and can lead to illness.
The following is by Sylvia Fischer, from Dressing for Jesus
How can we make our dress healthful?
“In order to secure the most healthful clothing, the needs of every part of the body must be carefully studied. The character of the climate, the surroundings, the condition of health, the age, and the occupation must all be considered.” MH 293.
- Climate
- Surroundings
- Condition of health
- Age
- Occupation
Keep Extremities Warm–Evenly Clothed with the Body
“God clothed them [Adam and Eve] with coats of skins to protect them from the sense of chilliness and then of heat to which they were exposed.” SR 46. This teaches us that clothing is needed not only to keep us warm, but to keep us cool by preventing congestion of heat in the
head and body trunk ! The popular idea of undressing more for every increase in temperature is not based on a correct understanding of physiology. Chilling of the skin by evaporation from air passing over sweaty arms and legs, causes the pores on the extremities to clamp shut, reducing their ability to radiate heat. Granted, the extremities feel clammy cool (if you can still sweat) because of the chilling factor, but the blood is driven to the head and trunk of the body, causing further imbalance that may more easily cause heat exhaustion. Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation. A light or moderate and even covering over the whole body is best for hot weather. Just remember, two layers on the trunk of the body means two layers are needed on the limbs.
How many layers of fabric are you wearing over your chest and abdomen just now and how thick or warm are they? Do you have an equal or greater number of layers and warmth over your arms and legs as over the trunk of your body? If not, it is very likely that your heart is stressed, your pores are not open and properly operating or your circulation is impaired. Even if you feel warm to the touch on your extremities, your pores may be inactive and your head and trunk congested with more than their share of blood. I have become convinced that inability to endure heat is largely due to the blood being congested in the head and trunk, the natural result of people undressing to the fullest extent they dare. To be physiologic, it is better to dress the extremities lightly and cool the head and trunk in hot weather.
We should not overdress by wearing many layers in hot weather, but the arms, legs and feet should always have their due proportion, whatever the weather conditions. “Most of us wear clothing enough, but many fail to give every part of the body its due proportion. If any part of the body should be favored with extra coverings, it should be the limbs and feet, which are at a distance from the great wheel of life, which sends the blood through the system.” MH 293.
Colds, coughs and pneumonia are not caused by lack of clothing about the chest, but from the extremities not being well clothed. Along with proper clothing, vigorous exercise is also essential to maintain a balanced circulation.
“Exercise in the invigorating air of heaven is necessary to a healthy circulation of the blood. It is the best safeguard against colds, coughs, and the internal congestions which lay the foundation of so many diseases. True dress reform regulates every article of clothing. If those ladies who are failing in health would lay off their fashionable robes, clothe themselves suitably for out-door enjoyment, and exercise in the open air, carefully at first, increasing the amount as they can endure it, many of them might recover health, and live to bless the world with their example and the work of their hands.
“It is not the will of God that men and women should die prematurely, leaving their work unfinished. He would have us live out the full measure of our days, with every organ free to do its allotted work. Many complain of the providences of God when disease and death remove members of the household; but it is unjust to charge God with what is but the sure result of their own transgression of natural laws.” CTBH 89, 90.
One dear lady I know found herself very vulnerable to respiratory infections and often suffered from colds and pneumonia. When she changed her dress by always covering her arms and legs year round, day and night, regardless of how “hot” she felt, her susceptibility to these infections drastically diminished.
The easiest time of year to begin keeping your arms and legs properly covered is fall. By spring the body has adjusted somewhat and with continued consistency and an intelligent understanding of what you are doing, learn to manage your summer clothing for health and comfort in your part of the country. Thin, loose, cotton, linen and wool garments are best for hot weather. Although wool is warming, wool is also cooling because it is insulative from direct heat.
Choice of Fibers and Fabric
One summer day, a charming elderly lady, Billie Calhoun, visited our home. We were working with wool and she soon struck up a conversation regarding it. Noticing that she was wearing a lovely wool cardigan and wool socks, even though it was a warm day, led us to comment on her apparent love of wool clothing. She told us an interesting incident in regard to wearing wool. I will share the story as I remember her telling it.
At the time it happened, Billie's husband was working for a pit mine operation in the Nevada desert. In the summertime, the heat could become extreme and almost intolerable for the machine operators down in the pit mine. One employee after another became very ill from heat exhaustion and several died of heat stroke. The managers became alarmed, but did not know what to do. They always supplied plenty of drinks and encouraged the men to drink liberally to maintain hydration at normal levels. Eventually, they noticed that one employee never got heat exhaustion and he had worked there for years and was still going. They decided to interview this man, who had survived the heat when others could not, to learn his secret.
After thorough questioning, the only thing that they discovered as the secret of his survival under extremely hot conditions was the wool underwear that he always wore. As a result, they required all the machine operators to wear a full suit of light wool long underwear.
Heat exhaustion soon dwindled and no more of their men died from heat stroke.
This story, as well as experience, reveals that even when a person feels very hot, wool protects from heat. It helps equalize the circulation, supporting the body's natural cooling and moisturizing system. Our skin was made to sweat, whether sensibly or insensibly. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground.” Genesis 3:19. Though sweat, like hard work, may seem unpleasant it helps purify our bodies. The skin is an important part of our elimination system.
Wool is a wonderful protection from heat as well as cold. Cotton and linen are protective, absorbent and durable fabrics that are cooling when damp and warming when dry. Wool is warm and protective when dry, but also warming when damp or wet. Silk is another natural, healthy fiber that is surprisingly strong and warm even when very thin. Synthetic fibers, like nylon and polyester, are generally not good fabrics to wear next to the skin, because they have a suffocating effect. If worn as looser outer garments over natural fiber undergarments, they are not necessarily detrimental. But if all our skin were totally and tightly covered by a non-breathable substance such as plastic wrap or water-proof paint, we would die. We must be cautious in choosing non-breathable fabrics because they can stress the body. Absorbent and breathable natural fibers are best.
Some people who agree with these theories regarding the best fibers as well as encouraging blood to the extremities, cannot bring themselves to practice them because they feel “hot” or “sweat” without long sleeves where others are very comfortable with long sleeves. How, they reason, could they bear long sleeves?
Once a group of hikers, some with short, and others with long sleeves went out to hike on a comfortably warm day. Those in the long sleeves appeared more comfortable and had more stamina than those in short or sleeveless outfits. On this hike, it was the woman in shorts and camisol who suffered from heat exhaustion when the sun beat down, as she explained “I cannot sweat.” The several individuals in long sleeves took the heat with ease and helped her back.
It is largely a matter of adaptation. If you are accustomed to wearing short sleeves whenever the temperature rises above chilly, your body has learned to compensate to some degree. Many people have never even thought of the benefits of long sleeves and have simply followed custom without consideration to physiology. If a person has never purposely worn long sleeves year round, they are not in a position to judge the matter because they have never had opportunity to adapt. We cannot expect our skin to relax and open it's pores to breathe when a chill feeling might pass over it at any moment without any protection.
A parallel might be in diet. We cannot eat a largely meat-based diet, then suddenly change to a vegetarian diet and expect our tastes to be completely adjusted and our health problems to be corrected ( those health problems that a vegetarian diet is know to help heal) by the following day or even in two weeks. And another point is, Do I think the vegetarian diet is inadequate or that it will hurt me? The same is true with long sleeves in hot weather and other correct principles in dress. The mind has a profound influence on the body, and if we think our diet or dress will hurt us, it likely will.
It is more physiologic to undress or otherwise cool the trunk of the body and the head when the temperature rises than to go bare-legged or sleeveless. But for modesty, it is best to keep both trunk and limbs clothed.
The Following is by Dr. Mary Ann McNeilus, taken from A Reform Less Followed
Clothing Distribution
God's health reform messenger said it best: "Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation. Special attention should be given to the extremities, that they may be as thoroughly clothed as the chest and the region over the heart, where is the greatest amount of heat." Again, with the practical applica tion of physiological principles brought to a lucid and logical conclusion, we read: "The limbs were not formed by our Creator to endure exposure, as was the face. The Lord provided the face with immense circulation, because it must be exposed. He provided, also, large veins and nerves for the limbs and feet, to contain a large amount of the current of human life, that the limbs might be uniformly as warm as the body." 7
Unfortunately, these basic physiological tenants have been ignored by modern medicine and largely unheeded by God's end-time people. It does not take an astute observer to recognize that the follow ing statement is as true today as when it was first penned. "There is but one woman in a thousand who clothes her limbs as she should." 8 Chilled extremities were depicted as the unsuspected cause of a surprising array of ailments.
Conditions Associated with Chilled Extremities
- Upper airway inflammation
- Croup, influenza
- Tuberculous lymph nodes
- Headaches, brain congestion
- Nosebleeds
- Chest congestion and disease
- Heart palpitations
- Digestive disturbances
- Habitually cold hands and feet
- Failure to thrive—infants
- A vast amount of disease
- Premature death!
The following is by Pastor J.R. Cofer
THE DRESS REFORM IN LIGHT OF HEALTHFUL BODY TEMPERATURE
98.6 degrees
Normal body temp is almost 100 degrees. At this temperature the body feels normal or cool. This temperature is a temperature of normalcy. The body by its own natural processes maintains this temperature. God's will is for us to work in cooperation with this natural process to aid in maintaining this body climate.
Traditional school of thought is to expose the limbs in hot climates and cover in cold. How would this assist in maintaining the natural body temperature?
First, understand that the body is designed to work quickly to maintain this 98.6 degrees. In heating of the body (like physical activity) sweat will flow from the billions of skin pores to cover the skin surface with a liquid coating that will naturally cool the body - if it is covered in a manner consistent with Gen 3:21. The Coat (covering that drapes the arms and legs as well as the torso) was God's plan to counteract the loss of man's robes of light lost by sin. It was the will of God to have this form of covering and it was a part of His redemption plan in maintaining man's natural (healthful) body processes –which also are the will of God expressed physiologically.
Clothing
The make and wear of a garment should be such as to prevent heat loss by conduction, yet not interfere with evaporation of perspiration. In choosing proper garments, attention must be paid to the quality and conducting power of the clothing.
Avoiding Conduction
A warm layer of air is an excellent non-conductor. Therefore loosely woven porous cloth is more desirable than non porous material. The air contained within it will afford a warmer "blanket" than the cloth itself. In light of this, also two thin garments are preferable to one garment even twice as thick, since the shield of warm air between the two sheets acts as a air jacket facilitating conservation of heat stored in water vapor next to the skin. Flannel underwear finds use year-round because of these qualities (Cotton tends, however, to be the best for underclothing).
Good Conductors lose heat easily and are therefore good for summer wear or in hot climates. Poor Conductors, on the other hand, retain heat as previously mentioned and are proper for cold weather. Let's list some of the well known materials in each category.
| Good Conductors (HOT) |
Poor Conductors (COLD) |
| Cotton |
Silk |
| Linen |
Sheep's Wool |
It is interesting to note that after the fall of man God clothed them. The Bible says "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Genesis 3:21. Here we see not only the first use of garments but also the first sacrifice. Our Lord performed the first sacrificial offering, pointing forward to His death for the saving of all who would trust in Him from the just punishment of the law.
Forever would their very garments remind them of the terrible cost of transgression. The cost of their garments was more than the life of a lamb, but pointing symbolically to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. How important for us to remember that the same sacrifice for our sin (Jesus, the Lamb) also provides a covering of protection for us (His Covering Righteousness) that we may have not only pardon, but power to “weather” the storms of temptation that burst upon us.
Notice that God set the example for man in performing the first ceremony and choosing the sacrifice - which would provide our covering or clothing. There is a deep symbolic lesson here that many overlook. This worship service provided the clothing. Does your relationship with the Creator affect your mode of dress? That is GOD'S PLAN! Also, the lamb that was slain provided through his death clothing for man! If the Lamb is Jesus and Jesus is the Word (John 1) - Does the Word of God dictate what is proper for you to wear? That is GOD'S PLAN!
Since the text reads "..God made coats of skins.." one may believe that the garments were fashioned from the skin and not the wool. It would be more accurate to see the use of both wool and skin in the text. The severe temperature changes in the world that came as a result of mans' transgression would necessitate both.
A Look At Wool
Wool, the hair fibers taken from sheep (the Lamb), can absorb large amounts of water without itself becoming wet (hygroscopic). Its natural oil sheds water easily, thus preventing chilling of the body. It is a material well suited to cold damp weather.
God has shown us how to work in harmony with our being and maintain proper circulation and temperature that is facilitated by proper diet and exercise (GOD'S PLAN). In cold weather clothing is layered to help the body maintain it normal temperature in contrast to the chilling winter air.
Exposure to these elements all require proper cover
Summer – Suns Time – Cover needed from suns rays to allow perspiration to cool body and protect from heat
Winter – Winds Time - Cover needed to insulate from winds chill and retain heat close to body
Spring – Rains Time - Cover needed to protect from chilling rains contact with skin surface which would drop temperature
Not allowing the cover of the body interrupts a vital step in the process of maintaining the circulation of heating blood flow and vital force (temperature) which allows health. Congestion of Blood and disturbance of free flow of nervous energy are main causes of disease.
Main areas for heat loss are the head and groin area. Torso being so close to vital organs also has abundance of blood and heat. Fashion exposes the area most remote from these advantages and designed to receive the most aid (arms and legs).
