Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-26
Why American Business Men
Lose Their Health and Nerve
Special Correspondence Of The Star.
NEW YORK. April ?:

NEW YORK. April q. 1908.
K1 INETY-F1VE per cent of suicides
III in crowded cities are due to lack
of exercise rather than to over
work. according to DR.. Louis r. Welzmii-
Ter. physical director of the West Side
NJ. c.. A.. who has jus. completed the
physical examination of more than 5000
typical men and boys In New York city.
And to this same cause Dr. Welzm1ller
attributes the great Increase in neu-
rasthenia. nielancholia and dependency.
noticed. particularly among financial and
professional men and literary workers.
This finding is directly borne out by fig
ures furnished by the board of education,
which found recently that large per-
centage Of the teachers applying for re-
tirement gave "neurasthenia" as the rea-
son. And in New York. so marked is the
connection between the affairs of Wall
street and average health that a finan-
human tape much as 1t does on the regu-
lar ticker. A panic Is always followed
by a heavy depreciation of the stock of
human energy and nerve force.
DR.. Welzmiiler says:
Exercise VS.. Needed Rest.
And yet these men-these business men
and professional men who become nervous
wrecks and blame the whole thing on over
work. are simply paying the penalty of
not spending thirty minutes a day In
keeping themselves good animals. This
is not a theory; it is the experience OF
every observer in gymnasium. Bust
ness men will come into the gymnasium
after banking hours, exhausted nervous
ly and physically as they say. The GYM
nasium people probably find 1t very hard
to get the visitor to begin. exercises. as he
is too tired BY jollying him. they final
ly get him ont on the floor or running
around the track. and at the end OF half
an hour OF vigorous exercise he finds to
his surprise that the work Of exercise
has. actually rested him. A brisk show
Ell and rub down put him in a condition
10 enjoy his dinner and evening and to
steep IN a way that recuperates. The
trick about 1t Is that the man has SIM
ply used muscles which have been idle
all day while his brain was working. An
nOur day Of this exercise, provided it
be Of such character that 1t Is interest
ing in itself, and SO occupies the tired
mans mind and attention. will keep q
man in city. In good physical condition
and put him In trim to meet business
emergencies without becoming either blue
or melancholy But it ID essential that
the exercise be made interesting. In the
Y. M. c. A. gymnasium we have abandon
ed formal exercises with apparatus for
this class of men. because they will per-
form these drills in a merely passive way.
and passive exercise is far less beneficial
than that which has snap and mental
interest back of it. For these men we
now use competitive games which embody
all necessary exercise In the form of com.
petitive sport -
The Essential Thirty Minutes.
Business men will engage in those games
because they are fun as well as medi-
cine. The results are remarkable -Neu.
rasthenics. sleep-seeAerr. melancholy
men. after few hours ofsreal exercise
often the, first they have taken since boy.
hood-become CHEEKY. self-reliant, conf
dent men. Sometimes they think there
must be some magic I'm 1t all. But the
truth Is that for the first time they have
given their adult Hvers show. and are
breathing enough good. clean air and