KEEPING FIT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17352, 17 May 1924, Page 9

KEEPING FIT.

HEALTH BANISHES WORRY. IUiS DISCIPLINED MIND. (By the Correspondent of the “ Times,” Healthy men do not worry. It is perhaps their most conspicuous mental quality, matter how black 01 uncertain the outloojt may be, it a man is really ht he can lace it with equanimity. let a need not be doubted that the capacity to worry, the “ worrying . tieak, as it lias been called, exists wi th ° nund oi every human being. itseTf 1 " e ar ° wea k that capacity asserts Thus health represents a- power of repression. It is a kind of “ lid ” set on the crude impulses and disturbing ieeb.eness of the spirit. So long as it exists order and discipline are maintained because the wild beasts cannot escape irom their cage. v^ew pi healtn is comparatively leccut, yet jt is gaining ground. It is an active as opposed to a. passive view Indeed, it links up the health of the body with th© health of the numt in quite a new way. An analogy i s the power of selection. >\ hen we are well w© can find about one thing at a time and put all other tilings out of range of thought. But when we grow unfit our thoughts tumble over each other in confusion. I his is spoken of by doctors, and patients, too, as “ inability to concentrate. That is not, perhaps, a very accurate description, for the real difficulty is not concentration, but choice. It wo could only decide which was the most important among many problems awaiting our attention we should find relief. To hesitate ir. choosing is to begin 1 to worry. Because, in its essence, worry is a form of hesitation. “ MHO HESITATES IS LOST.” The anxious mind is never made up. Nothing is clear, nothing is definite. Every Kind of possibility, near or remote, is considered in turn. Finally a kind oLpanic supervenes. This may express itself as depression or as wild and ill-considered action. During times of worry men are apt to undo the work of their lives. Hasty, violent activity, indeed, in a man accustomed to “go slow” is a pretty reliable sign of nervous exhaustion, and so of unfitness. The “ plunger ” is never a perfectly healthy individual. The difficulty, of course, is that he nearly always misinterprets his svmptoms. This feverish, worrying activity is apt to be mistaken for real energy. In consequence men who are really diseased i . body and mind acquire the reputa tion of genius. Their spasmodic violence is described as ‘* Napoleonic,” and large numbers of people trust them with the conduct of their affairs. When the inevitable “smash” comes these simple folk are greatly shocked and distressed. THE EXAMPLE OF NAPOLEON. Even an elementary knowledge of his tory might have saved them. Napo leon, whose name is so frequently misused in describing business men of the speculative and unbalanced type, was one of the fittest persons who ever lived. He possessed in rare measure the power of rapid decision. He could sleep at a moment’s notice, eat anything, and turn his mind from problem to problem without, fuss or worry of an 7 kind. No one. in that sense, was ever less “ Napoleonic ” than the great Emperor himself. It was only when disease began to lay hold of him, when his body was worn out with campaigning and his mind with a host of troubles, that tty spasmodic and “brilliant” violence began to show itself. M hen that happened the beginning of the end had arrived. In saying this one does not deny that occasionally success may come to the unhealthy. The writer knows a case in which a man on the verge of lunacy made a large fortune oiT the Stock Exchange. He was certified and sent to an asylum before he had a chance to lose the money lie had thus obtained. DANGER OF DELAY. But such exceptions in no wise in validate the general rule that, whenever a business man begins to feel leckless, having first passed through a period of worry, lie should cease work. Let him tell himself unequivocally that he is ill. or at any rate “run down,” and let him set about getting fit again. If he does this at once he will probably recover completely. Postponement

means increased risk. Neglect almost always mean eatas trophe. Such passing complaints as influenza receive a great deal of undeserved blame in this respect, because their ap pearance coincides often with th© final disaster. In reality they are merely '* the last straw which breaks the earner s hack.” The process has been going on for years or months before the influenzi attack occurs. There has been just enough strength to enable the victim ti*. carry on. Even a severe cold may he enough, in these circumstances, to pre eipitate a crisis. Curiously enough, a man mav begin to show signs of nervous exhaustion in his dreams. Very troubled sleep is always an indication that danger is at hand. If it continues, worry will soon ap pear, and then, in process of time, restlessness and recklessness.