TESTS FOR HUMAN FITNESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 25

TESTS FOR HUMAN FITNESS

Can you balance a peg on a ruler and raise the ruler at arm's length without upsetting the peg? Can you balance on one foot lor fifteen seconds with your eyes shut tight? In fact, do you know how physically and mentally fit you are? asks Grace Wilson in an English paper. Perform these few tests and you will know as much about your state of physical and mental fitness as if you had spent an hour with a doctor. The first test is one of balance. Stand on one foot with your eyes closed. Keep your knees clear of one' another. Balance with your arms. Then repeat the test, standing on the other foot. You will sway about —for this sounds easier than it looks —but if you can balance yourself for fifteen seconds with your eyes closed then not a lot wrong with your inn<?r ear—the organ that conveys sensations from bones and muscles. "Nervy" people will fail.

The second test is one which gauges your sense of control. Chalk a line on the floor. Walk backward and forward along it. Then shut your eyes and walk heel-and-toe along it. The third test will prove the state of your lungs. Exhale. Then fill your lungs as full as you can. Hold your breath as long as possible, pinching your nose if necessary. Fourth test answers the Important, question—can you relax? The ability to relax completely means _ that you rest completely. You can live longer and avoid nervous diseases. Here is the test. A friend must take your torearm in the palm of his hand. He holds

it for a while, asks you to relax, and then unexpectedly lets it drop. Your arm ought to drop lifelessly. If it remains tense, this proves your nerves are not too good.

The fifth test is simple. Take an ordinary old-fashioned clothes-peg or any short wooden rod with a base just seven-eighths of an inch in diameter. Balance the rod on a ruler, one and a half inches from the end. Now pick up the ruler at the other end and lift it, holding it at arm's length without upsetting the rod. Repeat it with left and right hands. The sixth experiment tests the nerves again. Stand with your arms extended. Spread your fingers, relax —and see if your hand trembles. It may a little—and that's all in order, but if your hand trembles violently you are suffering from some nervous disorder.

Now the seventh test measures your power of co-ordination. First touch your nose with your right index finger. Then touch it with the left. Then touch the left knee with your right heel, and the right knee with your left heel. Do it slowly and then speed up. Then close your eyes and do it quickly. To gauge the strength of your heart, first have someone take your pulse. Then hop fifty times on one foot. Take the pulse as soon as you've finished. After two minutes take it again. The efficient rates are: Eighty before you start hopping, 120 immediately after, and 84 two minutes later. Just eight tests—but they may tell you more about yourself than you have ever known.