The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-06-03
How to Avoid Premature Old Age,

The following good advice is given
| BY Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson:
The rules for the prevention of senile
disease are all personal. They should
| BEGIN in youth. 1t should be rule
among grown-up persons never to sub
iect children to mental shocks and I'M
necessary griefs. When. in the sur
rounding of the child life, some grave
calamity has occurred, it is best to make
the event as light as possible to the
child, and certainly to avoid thrilling it
with sights and details which stir it to
the utmost, and in the end only leave
upon the mind and heart incurable
wounds and expressions. Children
should never be taken to funerals, nor
to sights that cause a sense of fear and
dread combined with great grief, nor to
sights which call forth pain and agony
in man or in the lower animals.
To avoid premature old age in mature
life, the following are important points
to remember:
Grief anticipates age. Dwelling on
the inevitable past, forming vain hy-
potheses as to what might have been if
this or that had or bad not been, ac-
curing a craze for recounting what has
occurred-these acts do more harm to
future health and effort than many
things connected with real calamity
Occupation and new pursuits are the
best preventiyes Tor mental shock and
bereavement.
Hate anticipates age. Hate keeps the
heart always at full tension. 1t gives
rise to oppression of the brain and
senses. 1t confuses the whole man. 1t
robs the stomach of nervous power, and,
digestion being impaired. the failure of
life begins at once. Those, therefore,
who are born with this passion-and a
good many, | fear, are-should give it
up.
Jealousy anticipates age. The facial
expression of jealousy is old age, in
however Young a face it may be cast.
jealousy preys upon and kills the heart.
So, Jealous men are not only unhappy,
but broken hearted, and live short lives.
| have never known a man of jealous
nature live anything like long life or
useful life. The prevention of jealousy
is diversion of mind toward useful and
unsellish work.
Unchastity anticipates age. Every
thing that interferes with chastity favors
vital deterioration, while the grosser de-
partuces from chastity, leading to spe-
cific and hereditary disease, are certain
| causes OF organic degeneration and pre-
mature old age. Thus chastity is pre-
ventive of senile decay.
lntemperance anticipates age. The
more the social causes of mental and
physical organic diseases are investi-
| gated, the more closely the origin of de-
generative organic changes leading to
| premature deterioration and decay are
| questioned, the more closely does it
come out that intemperance, often not
suspected by the person himself who Is
implicated in it, SO subtitle is its intlu-
ence, is at the root Of the evil.
When old age has really commenced,
its march toward final decay is best de-
| layed by attention to those rules of con-
servation by which life is sustained with
the least friction and the least waste.
The prime rules for this purpose are:
To subsist on light but nutritious diet,
with milk as the standard food, but
varied according to season.
To take food, in moderate quantity,
four times in the day, including light
| meal before going to bed.
TO clothe warmly but lightly, so as
that the body may, in all seasons, main
tain It's equal temperature.
To keep the body in fair exercise, and
| the mind active and cheerful.
To maintain an interest in what is
going on in the world, and to take part
in reasonable labors and pleasures, as
though old age were not present.
To take plenty of sleep during sleep
ing hours. To spend nine hours in bed
at the least, and to take care during
cold weather that the temperature of
| the bedroom is maintained at 60 deg
Fab.
To avoid passion, excitement luxury.