HEALTH NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3831, 16 August 1927, Page 7

HEALTH NOTES.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. LIFE IN THE OPEN. (Contributed by the Department of Health.) Physical education is designed primarily to maintain healthy growth and vitality. If suitably applied it is able to correct various physical defects and early deformities before permanent or serious damage is done. It prevents faulty development and subsequent disability. A good carriage, and a flexible, well-shaped body are possessions of great value to the youth preparing to earn his living. Add to the habit of daily exercise a knowledge of the everyday laws of health, sufficient rest to ensure growth, an adequate and suitable food supply, a love of irseh air, and interest in games and sports and the young citizen is equipped with weapons which will stand him in good stead in his I future struggle with industrial fatigue, with the insidious attacks of infective organisms, and with the many and varied strains likely to undermine his health. AIM OF EXERCISE. The aim of physical exercise si ould be a full-harmonious development of the various parts and organs of the body according to their natural purposes and powers. Montaigne over 300 years ago said : “I would have a young man’s outward behaviour and mien 1 the disposition of his limbs formed at the same time as his mind. It is not a soul, it is not a body we are training up; it is a man, and we ought not to divide, him up into two parts;” and as Plato says: “We are not to fashion one without the other, but to make them draw together like two horses harnessesd in a coach.” In a word, healthy physical growth is essential to intellectual growth. VALUE OF EXERCISE An American medical authority recently stated that he considered the motor car one of the greatest ci-rses of the twentieth century, his argument being that the motor car is robbing people of the use of their legs and thereby furnishing no moan factor towards the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and a multitude of other ph -ideal sins. It a law of nature that disuse means impaired functioning. If an engine is Ic for a long time without being used its orking parts get stiff and clogged with dust and rust. To keep the body - no: y and in good running order it must - freely exercised. The sun, the wind, and the open air are our best friends. All the great races of mankind who made conquests, founded cm. res, and built up civilisation were virile and active, and lived largely in the open. Physical lazin ss <’ ’ inactivity, spending too much time doors in a. stuffy atmosphere, weaken the aody, undermine its health and vitality, and contribute to disease. A man riio permits himself to carry a load of excess fat is thereby shortening his life. The machinery of his body is clogged, and its functions are slug-gishly performed. Such a man loses too soon the vigou- and vitality of youth and becomes prematurely old. FORMS OF EXERCISE. Those with sedentary and indoor occupations should make an effort to spend at least a portion of each dry in the open air. One of the best forms of exercise and one of the most convenient and the easiest to get is walking. A good vigorous walk to school, office, shop, or factory every morning is of enormous value to health for the' person who has the good common-rer.se to take it. It is cheaper in the long run to wear shoe leather than to spend a lot of money on tram fares. People who live far out in the. suburbs must, no doubt, take the tram to get into town, bu' they should always make a point of walking vigorously part of the way. It is a safe rule to see that the lungs are fully expanded for at least a few minutes each day. If other means of obtaining this are not at hand a few simple breathing exercises, preferably in

the open air, will be of great benefit. Young people, however unnecessarily they may patronise tram or motor car, usually get some e: ereise in other ways by dancing, swimming, gymnastic, outdoor games, and they can stand the strain of more concentrated and violent exertion. For those who have passed the first glow of youth exercise should be regular and appropriate to the iudividua..

He who would keep his youth must be temperate in all things- It is unscientific and harmful for a man of mature years, to indulge in violent athletic exercise without proper training. A long day at golf or a desperate rush to catch a vanishing train or tram maj’ be disastrous for the middle aged who have exercised spasmodically. A 'wenty-mile tramp with muscles flabby from disuse means exhaustion without any benefit to compensate . An hour spent in gardinng is profitable both physically and ally. A daily walk for a mile or two keeps a man fit. It is much more restful to brain and nervous system and favourable to a readier solution of the problem of the day for a man to walk quietly to his office rather than to crowd himself with other hurried individuals into a city-bound tram.