The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-17
MAKING THE MOST OF YOURSELF
KEEPING THE MUSCLES FROM OvERFATIGUE Is NECESSARY TO
INSURE SUCCESS IN LIFE

'vERFATIGUE Is NECESSARY TO
1Ss IN LIFE
used up under grinding muscular la
Dor their total supply Of energy, read.
lily become the victims Of disease or
Join the society of wastrels. Employ
ers are beginning to realize that the
skill OF men,, gained through years Of
practice is absolutely wasted II these
have no muscular power left to
exercise 1t. Philanthropists are en-
gagged in opening the eyes of these
employers to tho fact that there lie a
consistent limit to bodily labor, which
ould be observed not only in the
interest of the workers health, but
to the profit Of the business. What.
ever 10 healthful for the worker IL
proftable for the employer has been
a~bundantly proved in a great number
OF instances in the last twenty-five
wears. Under such conditions more
work is done and Of better quality.
II cost of labor is reduced, for there
IS less waste. less sickness: and there.
fore fewer Of the disadvantages that
come from being short handed.
Several American scientists, notably
Prof. F. S. Lee Of Columbus univer-
stty. have done much to throw liRht
on the subject Of muscular fatigue
to show what happens chemically
when a muscle is exercised. BY ex-
periments they have discovered that
there Is a sugar product (glycogen)
in the muscle. carried and stored
there by the blood, which is broken
down by exercise.
process. a process Of combustion. All
produces either heat or
light, or both. As a proof that mus
cular effort Is a chemical o we
have the phenomenon of heat in the
body with exercise-when we exercise
We perspire and have a feeling Of
warmth.
In all combustion there is a uniting
OF oxygen with some substance con-
sumed-coal. gas. etc. When the mus
Gle contracts there is a combination
OF oxygen, carried by the blood, with
the stored material Of the muscle, the
glycogen. The product Of this union
is heat and some kind Of an ash, as in
other conclusions. which the blood
must carry away as it does while we
rest. The s%hivering in cold weather
Is considered nothing but an auto
matte process by which the body sup.
plies itself with heat. Every contrac.
ton OF the muscle causes combustion
and a release of heat or energy. or
both.
The fact that We warm ourselves
by exercise is simple enough. The
other fact. that in doing this we set
loose certain waste products that have
further chemical effects upon us. ere.
ating fatigue or something worse, is
occupying the interested attention of
the mar in the laboratory, from
whose years of long investigations we
all could and should profit.
The glycogen which Is used up, con.
sumed in exercise, is a sugar. When
1t is used up We are fatigued. Can
we prevent this fatigue? It has been
proved by experiment that the use
Says F. W. Eastman in a magazine
article on IAN Antitoxin For Fatigue"
IN which he describes some of Prof.
Lees work: I'm the laboratory It has
been found that the total increase in
work on addition of sugar to q small
meal was from s to 80 per cent. Many
can testify to the beneficial
effects of the use of this common sub
at times Of great physical ex-
ertion. Perhaps the desire Of chill
dren o sweet things Is a normal
restore the glycogen destroyed BY
continuous activity"
An accomplished dietitian can pref
ty nearly estimate the amount Of en-
ersy he has added to his muscles by
eating a single cracker, whose nutri-
ents must be reduced by the digestive
processes to sugar before they can be
taken up by the blood. II human bod
les were as accurately stocked as en-.
gines. as they can be by those who
have learned how and will take the
nQIn0 hrA N0uynA
would be few or none. After the fuel
is used up no work comes from the
engine. Man can store a reserve, but
the wise man never uses this reserve
except in great emergencies.
The W man not only frequent
1y uses up his reserve and has to
start over again. as he would after
drawing all his money out Of the saw
ings bank. but more than this, he
supplies SO much fuel as to put out
the fire The muscles. which have
attention to caring for this excess Of
food.
We forget why we are hungry. and.
as an old writer says. do too much for
the entertainment of our mouths.
Hunger" says Metcnnikoff, 'is an
instructive sensation. like the desire
Tor sleep; but 1t is only felt when our
tissues have reached a certain state
OF exhaustion which we are not vet
able precisely to define.
1t ts not a small need, this, Of thu
muscles Of our body to restore what
they are constantly using up. Why?
For one thing. the muscles make up
43 per cent I think it is, or almost
half of u total bulk. ana seconA.
consider what they have to do. Not
only the heavy work, but all that ia
fine:.thought itself is function Of
muscle. At every step. every move
ment OF the finger or even or the eye.
10. every thought. We dissipate mus
Gle energy. When we use no more
energy than can be restored imme-
diately by normal processes we are
not tired, but when we use it at q
greater rate we are fatigued.
The greater part of the food we eat
Is consumed by the muscle cells. This
is why we need so much more of. the
energy supplying foods than Of the
others. The muscles consume this
food and give back not only work but
two-thirds of our vital heat,
II we car realize that thought itself
is a muscle function. that through
the muscles the brain is nourished
and built up. and that the brain is. as
1t has frequently been described, sim
ply a telephone exchange to carry
on the business Of the muscles. We
can see that to give attention to mus
Gle care 10 no minor business I'm life.
There are a great many poet pic.
lures OF the pleasures Of vigorous
exertion. These pleasures are real,
U they are impossible to the man
who has no reserve force or power