SOLITARINESS IMPAIRS USEFULNESS WHEN PEOPLE GROW OLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18578, 28 September 1928, Page 4

SOLITARINESS IMPAIRS USEFULNESS WHEN PEOPLE GROW OLD.

BE HAPPY IN PRESENT AND FACE FUTURE WITH SERENITY. (Contributed by the Department of Health.) There is no well-marked line of demarcation between the three periods into which we may roughly divide the ages of man, for not only do the de cades gently glide into each other without the cognisance of the individual, but people are affected differently by the progress of the years, stated Sii Thomas Oliver in his presidential address to the Institute of Hygiene. There are certain visible signs which are usually regarded as associated witn the years beyond the middle period oi life, such as baldness, greyness of ha;r and the presence in _ the front of itn eyes of an arcus senilis, or a dull greyish circle surrounding the outer border of the iris, but in many instances these are evidences of hereditary acquirements, since many persons have grey hair at the age of twenty or twentyfive, other sare prematurely bald, and hand on to their offspring the family trait, while the dull grey circle surrounding the iris may be found tn middle-aged men who are discharging their daily duties with undiminished vigour. A man or woman is as old as he or she feels, and not as he or she looks. There is a considerable amount of truth in the statement that age Is largely determined by the condition of the heart and blood vessels. Each decade of the influences those that are to follow, so that, barring accidents and epidemic diseases, if the middle period of life is to be attained much will depend upon how the earlier years have been spent, and a similar remark applies to old age. As indicating from a hygienic and social point of view how each decade creates its own conditions, nurses these and parses them on to its successors, it will be generally conceded that it is especially after middle age, when men have become prosperous or the reverse, that they reap the harvest sown in previous years.

Prosperity itself is not without its dangers, for to many men it is the harbinger of harm, since luxuries hitherto unsought begin to replace necessities, with the result that as a consequence of autotoxaemia and the imperfect elimination of the waste products formed within the body, men lose their spring and elasticity, become obese, also the subjects of high blood pressure and the of a torpid liver.

The four secrets of health. Dr Leonard Williams reminds us, are “early rising, exercise, personal cleanliness and leaving the table unoppressed.”

The Personal Element. As for food, the personal element is important. An individual cannot always coerce sleep, but so far as food is concerned he can, both as regards its quantity and kind, considerably in fluence these, for if by the time a man or woman has reached middle age. and neither of them has become his or her own physician as concerns food, then no lesson has been learnt from the experience of earlier years. Leas food, rather than more, is safer for most pople when they are graduating towards the seventies, but even this remarks requires ' qualification. Few healthy persons deliberately like to admit that they are growing old. Rather, within them, there is the determination to contest the advances of unfitting old age. The yearning for continued youth has probably always been the dream of mankind, but how to obtain the elixir which confers rejuvenescence.

[ has hitherto evaded the quest of the scientist. To-day biologists Inform u; that the object is not altogether beyond our grasp. After and even before the middle term of life there is a tendency in

many men and women for the outline of the body to become altered. In men this is seen in the ill-fitting manner in which their clothes lie upon them, their limbs become heavier, and their gait loses something of its spring. Many women become similarly affected. Although two types of obesity, or the deposition of an excess of fat in unwanted places, are spoken of, one of .alimentary origin and the other the sequence of endocrine gland defect, it does not necessarily follow that obesity is always the result of excessive eating, for some stout people eat sparingly. Corpulency in either sex is not attractive. Too frequently it is an indi cation of advancing years, and is discouraged. not because obesity is a disease in itself, but on account of its crippling effects, since individuals thus affected cannot move about so freely as formerly, and in the event of serious illness the excess of fat creates physical disability. While obesity is a family trait, it is also a personal possession. We admit that excessive corpulency has its drawbacks and even its dangers, for the excess of fat tends not only to surround the internal organs but tends to interpenetrate between the groups of cells of secreting glands, .also the muscular fibres of the heart, and yet even with these disqualifying circumstances great age may yet be reached. A Stimulus to Health. Should then, with the knowledge we posse??, the entrance upon the seventies be the call to men to retire from work? No, certainly not for all men. There is no reason for men who have reached the seventh decade, and are physically and mentally fit, to down tools or lay aside the pen. Occupation is a stimulus to health and an incentive to longevity, and on these grounds alone is worthy of being followed. Plato lay dying with pen in hand at the age of 80; Isocrates wr<*te his panegyric at the age of 94; while Gorgias of Levant, who lived over 100, was then still working. Men who have been engaged in hard and laborious work are, it is true, in many instances, physically speaking, worn out by the time they reach 65 years of age; besides, it is common experience that with each succeeding decade added t<» life, the duration of illnesses is greater and the effects of injuries last longer. It is knowledge of these facts which is largely responsible for the circumstance that working men over 50 when out of employment have difficulty in obtaining occupation. An Important Factor. If there is one circumstance which contributes to the fullness of life and confers opportunities for development, it is association with one’s fellowmen, but as the years roll on friends and associates leave us and fresh intimacies are seldom made. The loss is gradual, but it is none the less an important, factor in impairing the usefulness of advanced age, for its activities become cramped by solitariness, and yet where the mental powers are preserved and the physical health is good, work may vet be done for the State, the municipality, and the family. Few things can surpass in value the example of a well-spent life, wherein during its declining years the individual can look back upon the past with few regrets, be happy in the present, and can contemplate the future v. : ;h a serenity based upon faith and hope, for, having given to life his best and having received from it an adequate return, the aged veteran, as an illustration of his cheer ful acquiescence in his own fate and as a call of encouragement to other travellera who are wavering by the way, finds comfort in the words of Browning— Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be, The last of life for which the first was made.