TO KEEP FIT.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15865, 11 December 1923, Page 9

TO KEEP FIT.

PROBLEM FOR MIDDLE-AGED.

AVOID UNUSUAL EXERTION

(By the Medical Correspondent of the Times.)

Two middle-aged men, both of them members of Parliament, have set the world discussing Die capacities of the man of forty. These two men marched from Banbury to Oxford in full marching kit, ariving at their destinafioil in a state of great exhaustion. So far as is known neither of them is much the worse for the experience. The question naturally arises: Is it worse for a middle-aged man than for a young man to exert himself to the utmost? It is not a very easy question to answer. Some middle-aged men are so fit that any effort seems possible lo them. In the case of other men there is literally no margin of safety.

For this reason all attempts to lay down rules are futile. Indeed, the recent discussions have served to emphasise the impossibility of such a course. In the last issue a man is lit to do what he can do without damage. Most men, however, wish to have some guiding principle in this matter, and in consequence doctors are often asked: “How am I to know when I am overdoing it?" Red Lights. There arc two great cardinal signs of over-exertion. The first is breathlessness, and Ihe second pain over the left side of the chest. These two signs indicate weakening of the circulation. Curioulv enough, they are not, always present in the same individual at the same lime. A man may have pain in his chest and no breathlessness, or breathlessness and no pain. But in either case he had belter accept the warning. For breathlessness reveals an inadequate blood flow through the lungs, and so an inadequate “ventilation” of the blood. Pain, it is believed, indicates a weakening of the blood supply to the heart ilself.

These are different aspects of a similar deficiency. They mean that the pumping system of the body is insufficient for the muscular needs of ttic body—those engines, the muscles, are being “run” short of power. In other words, the individual is at the end of his resources. Collapse is bound to occur if exertion is pushed further at the moment. On the other hand, there is no reason why Die “limit” of to-day should he the limit of to-morrow. Everyone must have noticed that even so commonplace an illness as a cold on the chest, during its period of acuteness, greatly “shortens” the breath. This is due to the fact that Ihe circulation of the lungs is poisoned and thrown out of gear. Very little further strain can be tolerated. When the eold passes off, however, the breath becomes “longer" again. Safe Exertion. In the same way an athlete training himself from a “soft” condition finds Ihat, day by day, his power is increased. Ho seems, ns it were, to push back the limits of his capacity and so to enlarge his margin of reserve of power. Here is the secret of safe exertion at any age. The difference between twenty and forty is not a difference of muscular strength. It is a difference of “educability.” The younger rnan can increase his strenglh much more easily than the older man. Therefore, because of his greater “elasticity" he can afford to take risks.

At forty a strain'is less likely to result *in a subsequent increase of strength; it is more likely to result in a break. At fifty the chances are much more heavily against improvement. In other words, the middleaged man must train slowly and carefully for anything he proposes to do. Provided he has gradually added to ! his strength, he is as lit as any other man to act strenuously within the limits of that strength. Wear-and-Teap Risks. To the hoy who has exhausted himself in a strenuous effort one can safely say: “It doesn’t matter. The effect will probably be to make you stronger. You possess elastic arteries made of ‘new’ material." But in the case of the boy’s father such optimism would not be justified. Some part of the older body may be weak. Insurance companies refuse to accept the risk of a motor car over four years of age, so far as wear and tear are concerned. It is not that they doubt the power of the old car to run well, but that they fear something may break during tho running. There is the danger. Happily, as has already been said, breathlessness and pain are reliable danger signals. If they are not neglected, comparative safety is assured. Once that has been obtained exercise is entirely beneficial to men and women of all ages. For only by means of exercise is the body able to maintain itself in fitness.

Speaking generally, older people should avoid sudden sharp efforts; they need have no fear of prolonged effort which is undertaken in comfort.

To some extent, too, they should be reluctant to engage in new forms of activity. It is a curious fact that a blacksmith who may he breathless while running upstairs, will still probably be able to swing his hammer without discomfort.

Exertion to which we are accustomed imposes on us much less strain than new forms of exertion.