The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-12-13
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Why Many Men Of sedentary Habits
Are Not Well

Christian association, are SHINING
daily Some of them who scorn the
moderate use of tobacco are regular
ly injuring their health by still more
pernicious habits of personal hygiene.
Many of these same classes of men
are today guilty in large measure of
three particular sins against their
bodies-overeating, mental overwork
and deficient exercise. When found
on examination of a prominent bust
ness man that he had heart rate OF
thirty-six beats above normal, he said
at once, 81 know that you will say |
have been smoking too much said
Il am not sure about the smoking in
your case, but | know you have been
eating too much
Our habits of living have changed
in such a marked degree that a rad
ical change is necessary in the diet
of most of us. Formerly we led an
active life muscularly We now have
cut muscular endeavor down to its
smallest limit We use all the mod
ern means of transportation. The
progressive business man has his
stenographer, telephone and modern
conVeniences which enable him TO
quadruple his mental and at the same
time actually decrease his muscular
work The only essential is that he
have "A clear head and strength
enough to sit in an office chair. I'm
fortunately for him, this procedure fl
nally leaves him with impaired ply
steal functions 1t may be high
heart rate with increased peripneral
resistance due to obseity; it may be
his liver, his kidneys; or his family
doctor NAV say he has Americanitis,
neurasthenia or some other dreadful
nervous difficulty.
want to speak briefly of the errors
from over-eating. The average SEN
entary worker eats too mucn Of all
kinds of food, and a great deal too
much of some special kinds
Foods are divided functionally into
two groups, viz, tissue formers and
energy producers. The proteid foods
rich as tissue formers are chiefly
meat (muscle), fish, eggs, cheese and
the grains. These tissue formers
may also be used as energy producers
by the breaking up OF the proteid mol
ecule; & is. however throws addition
al work on all the organs of metabo-
lism and excretiOn.
The man who overeats, for example
in the use of meat is paying very
high first cost for his food Chitten-
den has shown in his book The Ply
siological Economy OF Nutrition that
an average man uses one-half more
proteid food than his system needs
This reduction in proteid would save
from twenty to forty cents per week
fl each ad It on the food used This
+ ght be called one Of the external
econom IS. Most men overeat and
fail in prop = mastication of their
food This reduction in proteid food
does not as rule mean an increase
in the carbohydrates, e. g., yegeta-
bles and fruits, or fats, e. g., butter
and fat meat. Many men are carry
ing about with them a large amount
OF fat for storage tissue. In advising
with one man recently about his diet
| asked How much do you weigh ~
He said Two hundred and sixty
pounds On inquiry l found he
weighed when he was q years old
,
other words, he as carrying one hun
dred and twenty pounds OF storage
material around with him.
The reduction in diet in such cases
means a gradual loss in weight, with
marked Improvement in the general
health The minimum reduction sug-
gested by Chittenden would mean a
saving per annum in a city of $4,000
people OF 100000 for food The lar
gest loss is however, not the direct
financial one, but the loss in bodily
efficiency
Oyereating means not merely vast
ed food but energy wasted in diges-
ton and the metabolic work neces-
sary to eliminate the surplus animal
food The heart must pump this ad-
ditional material through the system;
the liver, kidneys and other organs
must do the extra metabolic and ex-
cretory work.
Let me illustrate the matter in an
other way. A man who came to me re.
Gently had heart rate thirty beats
above the normal. That meant that
each hour his heart beat 1900 times
more than should have been neces-
sary, and in twenty-four hours the to-
tai unnecessary work would be repres-
ented by 1920 extra beats. The
heart in many of these cases is not
only beating faster but it is working
against greater resistance, and is
therefore doing an even greater
amount of extra work than the in
crease in pulse rate indicates.
Allow me to give two fairly typical
cases. First, man, age AZ, weight
PIC, urine 1885 specific gravity, urea
shows an equivalent of 1850 grams of
proteid Tissue forming food in the
diet. He has heart rate of 80 with
a high tension pulse. He nas creaky
joints, is rheumatic and irritable. The
proteids in his diet are cut from $50
to 80 grams per day. The weight
falls from PIC to 1856 pounds in three
months; the heart rate falls from 80
to Y beats per minute the urine from
1885 to 1920; the joints cease creak-
ing, the rheumatism disappears, and
the irritabiity decreases.
The second case is a woman who
had been under treatment ten years
for neuralgia, age SO, weight 17S
pounds; with a cut chiefly in the flesh
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