HOW TO KEEP FIT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3145, 27 November 1922, Page 7

HOW TO KEEP FIT.

Dr. T. D. M. Stout delivered a lecture in Wellington on "Longevity, and how to keep Fit," before a good audience. The subject was a very comprehensive one the lecturer said, and then proceeded to discuss the conditions that lead to those chronic insidious changes in the human body which prevent the average age of the individual reaching 100 years. So far the saving of life, has been mostly in the youth of the community. In former times it seems people lived longer than now, and to accomplish this we must seek for our present errors in life and correct them. "The influence of heredity on longevity is of great importance, just as there are families where early death is the rule, which could possibly be counteracted by better methods of living. It has been found that the majority of long-lived persons were temperate, small meat eaters, lived much in the open air, and an active life full of work, many a life of toil with restrictions as to food and comfort, more were early risers and performed their work cheerfully. The lecturer said that under the scientific conditions of to-day men should live to 100. The retirement of men of 60 or 65 from active work was a groat loss to the community. He should then be in the prime of life. Many men of 80 years of age are capable' of performing strenuous work, and in a young country like this their services are necessary. The deathrate from typhoid fever, tuberculosis, etc., has decreased greatly, but the fight against degenerations and chronic diseases, by which the body is imperilled, has not yet begun, though science is steadily showing us the way. A man is as old as his arteries and changes in the heart lead to the great part of what is called heart disease. Changes in the kidney led to Bright's disease, and are in the nature of chronic degeneration of the blood vessels in that organ. In the chest we -ret chronic bronchitis and m the alimentary svstem inability to assimulate food and 'eliminate waste products, and lastly there is the scourge of cancer The exact causation of this has not yet been proved. In the future, the speaker thought we would find the way to fight cancer would be the way to ' fight premature senility, said the speaker. "Of late years our attention has been particularly drawn to the wonderful internal secretory or endocrine glands that the body possesses We have learnt how they control the metabolism of the body and what far-reaching effects any derangement of them causes They have been compared to the spark of a petrol engine You will have read not long ago 'how a famous musical artist endeavored to set back the clock behaving monkey's thyroid glands■ engrafted. The reasoning behind that procedure was that the endocrine idnnds degenerate in old age, and it we could retain their energy wo could prevent many of the signs of old age. The symptoms of a deficiency of thyroid secretion have much m common with those of old age. kmong the. factors which give rise to these changes diet is a very important one Many diseases arb caused by looct deficiency and lack of vitamines, which cause rickets, etc as well' as other changes, such as loss of appetite, impaired digestion, and especially atrophy of the intestines, which often necessitates operations. Grocers and confectioners' shops are full of articles of diet which arte unnecessary and harmful Too much food, especially flesh food, leads to these changes. Man lives not by what he eats but by what he digests. In New Zealand we consume an inordinate quantity of flesh food. Moderation of flesh food and stimulants will prevent blood pressure. In Denmark during the blockade an interesting experiment in dieting was made. Before the war Denmark imported 50 per cent, of grain used, jiy requisitioning all cereals for food only, grinding rye out to 100 per cent., and mixing 12" to 15 per cent, of bran for bread, prohibiting production of alcoholic liquor for general consumption, reducing brewing to one-half, and prohibiting export of fruit and vegetables sufficient food was made' available lor the people and a surplus of bread grains available for export. The death rate, exclusive of epidemic diseases, fell 34 per cent, in one year. The doctor quoted from the rate in Copenhagen, showing that this reduction was largelv due 1 to the absence of alcohol, and' said if the rationing system had continued the death rate among men would have been reduced by half. Infectious diseases play a comparatively small part in old age. and in the old-age group. Professor Hind'hede considered that the alcohol restriction did not play a more important part than the diet. When strict diet ceased to be enforced an increase of death from bronchitis, bronchial pneumonia, and senility followed. He advises old people to lead a. comparatively quiet life, eat but little and to live on a laeto-vegetanan diet. The reduction of the death rate to n similar level would save annually 300,000 lives in France, 183,000 in Great Britain. This experiment show-

Ed that the return to simple vital food stuffs, and the cutting off of the main tissue poison taken by civilised; mankind can effect a wonderful change in the health of a community. It shwjs especially that it is in the type of degeneration causative of premature old age that errore, and especially excessive diet and ingestion of taxie substances, have a. most marked effect.. The lecturer also considered that work, both physical 1 and mental, was of great, importance in the preservation of health. The saying, "It is: better to wear out than rust out," was true. Closely connected with work is the question of exercise. The proper functional use of alll the muscles seems to be a. nedesisiity to preserve them in a healthy condition. A sedentarv worker who does not take regular exercise is l apt to get stout, and to get the degenerative changes in the heart and blood-vessels and kidneys so much more rapidly. The exercises which se'em to be peculiarly required are those of deep, respiration and 1 those, of abdominal 1 muscles. Also, associated with, the question of exercise is that of the breathing of fresh, air. It has been borne in on us that the treatment of tuberculosis what an important thing fresh air is. The doctor then proceeded to. speak of the question of the elimination of waste products. To drink water was recommended, also exercise and regular habits. The care of the teeth was touched on, and the necessity for selfcontrol and cheerfulness. While the matter of a sufficient period of sleep spoken of; as we get older generally, less sleep is necessary. In conclusion, tbe doctor gave the essentials for longevity : (1) Sufficient exercise, in the open air, and respiratoiy and abdominal exercises particularly. (2) Sufficient work continued to the end of one's days, and not stopped in middle-age. (3) A rather spare diet, containing the fresh foods, fish, eggs, butter, cheese, milk, fresh vegetables, and fruit. In old-age the diet should! be particularly a. lactot-vegetarian one, with a minimum of fleishi foods'. The fresh foods will provide l the essential vitamines which will keep in perfect order the endocrine glandular system, and so regulate the metabolism.