The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-01
HINTS ON HEALTH
 AND EXERCISE
(By Mac Levy of Babylon.) }

(Mac Levy. the famous Long Island
 health farmer" has been engaged for
 eighteen years in the training of ath-
 letes and the building up of rundown
 people, and is a recognized authority
 on all subjects connected with athletes,
 physical culture and scientific exer- cise.)
 For nearly Q year have been sick
 and unable to attend to my business large part of the time. The doctor says have neurasthenia. A friend who is also said by his doctor to have neurasthenia has symptoms entirely different from mine. What is neur- asthenia, anyway? What causes 1t Can it be cured l? If so, how
 These rapid-fre questions are con- tained in a letter T have just received from one who has been reading my articles on health and exercise. What is neurasthenia ?.
 I don't know; and. as Samantha. AL len would say. Neither does Josiah What causes neurasthenia? don't know-for sure. I could
 name a hundred things that might be causes but they are as numerous and varied as the symptoms.
 Can neurasthenia be cured?
 You bet your boots.
 How?
 
 play in correct proportions, outdoor sports, congenial, cheerful companion- ship, right living and right thinking.
 baths, encouragement, the avoidance of work, proper environment, and the general development and strength ening of all the muscles and organs of
 the body. Nutritious diet, fresh air,
 pue water and plenty of it. internally
 and externally. exercise and sunshine are the physical essentials. The cuI- tivation of the will and an optimistic frame of mind are the psychic essen entials. Scarcely less important, are the considerations of human associa- ton and environment. The neuras- thenic should avoid, as he would the plague those ssfriends'' who sheer and 5eer at his ai1ment, and also those whose sympathy. real or affected, reachea the point of pity. : F am no doctor, but physicians have sent to me for training scores of men and women tagged .sneurasthenics.' : and scarcely one of them manifested the same symptoms, but practically all yielded to the same source of treat ment.
 Not long ago the London Medical Society held a meeting to discuss nerasthenia. Eighteen celebrated phy- sicians delivered addresses on the sub
 ject- In a report for medical mag agzine the writer said:
 .eItswill hardly do to say that they did not know what they were talking about, but it is certain that they were not all describing the same thing and their views were discordant, z
 When doctors disagree, 1t is no time 1 for mere physical trainer to butt in But, whatever neurasthenia may be, and whatever it's causes, it is no joke 1 to the victim. His despondency, his fears, his bashfulness or aversion to society, his nervous habits, may seem very amusing to unsympathetfc ob- servers, but the victim himself is us uaIly unable to extract a single gleam of humor from his situation. [ am convinced that improper home er1vironmAnt often defeats the best eff forts of the doctor and renders a, cure impossible. The neurasthenic is us ually person of sensitive and refined l disposition and his disease accentuates those characteristics The jeers of un- feeling relatives. who laugh at his symptoms; describe his trouble as purely imaginary, and advise him to i forget its' and seuse his wil1,'' only cause the neurasthenic to withdraw i'm l to his shell of reserve and give him. l self over to introspection. | Re1ataives of neurasthenfc who really have his welfare at heart will ] ignore his symptoms as much as pos sible Tn an acute attack they will be helpful and sympathetic, but they will consider the ssnerves' merely, as a l symptom of a purely physical ailment. l which will yield readily to treatment and in both cases they will doubtless be right. They will make mo distinc- l ton between nerves and any other. disease so. far as their attitude tow i ard the patient is concerned. They will 1 ignore his symptoms as much as pos sibIe encourage him to take part in outdoor sports and moor pastimes, seek to keep his mind occupied but 1 initiate frequent changes in the cur rent of his thoughts, and refrain as | far as possible from all mention or dis l cussion of his trouble
 There is this consolation for suffer CTS from this ai1ment-neurasthen usually aff1icts those who are superior in mentality to the average. Low l brows'' seldom know that they have nerves. It is a disease that afflicts the intellectual and refined. And l when they are finally cured, they I will be, if they adopt the proper meas l ures and stick to them. they will have 1 intelligence enough to avoid all the possible causes of their ailment, will l live in accordance or with the laws of nature, and will probably live to a ripe old age, and attend the funerals of those friendly but needless persons who jeePed at them.
 Sticktoitiveness is one of the main l clements in obtaining the mastery of l this disease. Months, even years, may be required to effect a complete cure, and the patient needs to keep con stantly in mind the compelling l thought that he is going to get we'll l that he is, indeed, the master of his fate" and the q.captain of his sou1.'' l Even after the physical causes of the l trouble have been removed, and the body restored to health, nervous symp- l toms which. have become habits may | These I mastered only by patient, persistent effort, but the time will inevitably come when these annoying nerve hab- it's will suddenly disappear, to return