NERVE STRAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 30

NERVE STRAIN

LORD HORDER'S OPINIONS

Taking as his text Mr. Baldwin's speech to the members of the Federation of British Industries recently, Lord, Horder enlarged on the theme of the need for combating nervous strain, said the "Daily Telegraph" on April 16. Lord Horder was responding at the People's League of Health Banquet at the Guildhall to the toast of the league, proposed by the Bishop of London, Dr. Ingram. "The Prime Minister has said that we know little or nothing about nervous strain,", he said. "If he was referring to himself and other members of the Cabinet, 1 must acknowledge his modesty. But we doctors know a good deal about nervous strain, and we mean to know a good deal more about it. "Not merely industry but the whole of national life is involved in the question. "Science has saved us from decimating disease—we are no longer mown down in swathes by the recurrence of epidemics—but we are caught in the meshes of the machine in several ttays. It is to help to extricate us from the machine that the People's League of Health exists." ' ' Lord Horder declared that health was a thing that we could not avoid, if we gave ourselves a proper chance. The basic essentials were enough of the right food, an occupation, proper shelter, some leisure, access to fresh air, and room to play. In proposing the toast the Bishop of London stated his own health rules. They were:—"l don't drink alcohol at all—l believe that the more* you keep away from narcotic poisons the better; I don't smoke; I don't eat too much; I take regular-exercise every day." The result was that at 79, he was able to do the same things that he did at 29—and rather better. "On the other' hand," Dr. Ingram admitted, "I came'across an old gentleman of 92 who said I was wrong. He ate what he liked, drank what he liked, and went to'bed when he liked. Either he was a freak or I am. I think that he was." The banquet, at' which- the Lord Mayor, Sir George Broadbridge, presided, was held to launch a national appeal by the People's League of Health for £50,000 for the prevention of disease by the dispersal of its causes. A collection 'was made among the guests at the end of the banquet by

ntirses in uniform.