The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-07-01
-. .-tlIi ~
Walking as an Exercise.

. 70
DIR. H. /. BOwDITCH has been writing a
series of articles for the London Sanitary
Record on Health, and the Means of
Preserving IT,, In the third paper, which
| is devoted to " Exercise" after enumerat-
ing the principal kinds, as walking, rum
ming, dancing, horseback riding, driving,
gymnastics, boxing, bowling, rowing and
swimming, he goes ON as follows:
OF these the most universally applica-
BILE and usually the best form of exercise
is walking. Unfortunately our climate,
with its SHOWS and intense cold in winter
and equally intense and depressing heat
in summer, prevents all of us from walk
ing as much as would be useful, Or as
much as can be done in some other coup-
tries throughout the year. Whenever it
is feasible it probably exercises the whole
body better than any other method. 1t be-
comes, however, very uninteresting, even
in large city, if made simply for health's
sake. d. .s.-. -,
Therefore it is always well to combine
with it another object, either of business
or of pleasure. Hence profession that
will compel outof- door exercise is the
best prescription one can give. l have in
recollection now a case of naturally
feeble man who had very decided signs of
pulmonary disease, with bleeding from
the lungs. He was a newspaper carrier
when he called to see me after one of his
bleedings. feared at that time that ex-
posure during the winter would be very
pernicious, and perhaps fatal to him.
Under this exercise, however, taken daily
in rain and storms of all weather, and by
the use of cod liver oil, he wholly re-
covered.
Those of my patients who have most
frequently recovered are those who, by
advice, commenced years since, and still
continue several times daily, their " con-
stitutional' walks around the Common"
in Boston (about a mile) They will con-
tinue to do SO while they live, because
they know from experience now that not
only their health but their real comfort
depends upon strict attention to that
course. Omission of that exercise for a
single day perceptibly affects them unfa-
vorably. Two more obvious advantages
arise from this course:
1. Every muscle in the body is gently
and uniformly brought into action by the
swing of the legs and the arms, and con
sequently of the trunk in vertical direc-
ton. The undulations made by the head,
chest and abdomen in vertical plane are
thus not only according to "Hogarth's
line of beauty" but also in that tending
10 perfect health. Every internal organ
is gently stimulated to more robust action
The circulation goes more freely and uni
formly. s
2. Never, in common walk, does
person breathe twice the same air, because
he is constantly changing his position
This fact alone is of incalculable adj
vantage Some writers contend that the
rebreathing of air once partially used is
one of the most fertile causes of consump-
ton. F ..r
The most favorable time for walking is
undoubtedly about midday in winter, and
in the morning and toward evening in the
summer. Late in the evening is less use
full, because of the liability to dampness
and GOODNESS, and absence of the suns
rays, which of themselves seem sometimes
to put vigor into the animal frame, and
their absence is correspondingly felt in
depression of the powers.
Nevertheless, one cannot deny that there
is great energy sometimes given by
brisk walk in a cold, dry, starlight or
moonlight night, when the atmosphere
seems not only free from all chilling
moisture but absolutely pure and infinite
ly celebrating.