GENERAL CARE OF THE BODY: EXERCISE AND SPORTS

Many people obtain all the exercise they need on the job or walking to and from work. In the matter of exercise, perhaps more than any other subject taken up in this chapter, the factors of individual likes and dislikes and bodily reactions are tremendously important. If you think of trying something new, such as squash or tennis, talk it over with your doctor, particularly if your are entering the middle or later years of life. Some people can safely engage in very strenuous sports and exercises, even until they are very old. Others need to start cutting down relatively early in life. On the basis of his knowledge about your own medical condition and the history of illness and longevity in your ancestors, your doctor can advise you.

Choice of sports and athletics

Few people will stick to dull, routine exercises. The fun and competition of an athletic game stimulate interest so that you enjoy your exercise. However, too many young people, especially young men, become proficient only in those sports that cannot be carried into later life. Some of these, such as boxing, carry the continual threat of body injury. Highly competitive sports, including football, basketball, rowing and athletics, do not serve a useful purpose in the individual health programme in later life. Either they are too strenuous, or they require too many participants. A busy adult with job and family can rarely get up a neighbourhood football game.

It is wise for the athletically inclined to take advantage of their local high school and university facilities to become proficient in one or two of the following sports. Some that can be carried into middle and even late life, to the benefit of body and muscle health, strength, and good posture are swimming, golf, tennis, canoeing, hiking, badminton, squash, horseback riding.

These are desirable because they require only one or two people. They lend themselves to weekend relaxation. Married couples can enjoy them together, later participating in them with their children.

Hiking and swimming are good sports for persons of all ages, especially those who enjoy the outdoors. Many communities have indoor pools so that it is possible to swim regardless of the season. Neither of these sports needs to be expensive.

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PSORIASIS

As far as we know, psoriasis is not an allergic condition. In fact, its cause has not been found. We do know that it is not due to an infection, and it is not catching. It does not appear to be related to diet. It may run in families. It seems to bear some relationship to lack of sunlight, as it is less common in the tropics, rarely appears on the exposed parts of the body such as the face, and usually gets worse in winter. Emotional factors may also play a part in this disease.

In psoriasis, rounded or scalloped red patches, with sharp borders, appear on the skin. They are covered by layers of shiny, silvery, dry scales resembling the scales of mica. They appear most frequently on the elbows, knees, lower back, and scalp. The hair is apt to fall out in the affected scalp areas, but, fortunately, it usually grows in again. The soles of the feet, folds of the body—in fact, any place—can be covered with these patches, and often they must be bandaged to prevent the clothing from sticking to them.

Psoriasis is resistant to treatment; it may be chronic or acute; even if it clears up, it is almost bound to recur. There is no known cure. But a doctor experienced in treating this condition can do a great deal for the itching and disfigurement.

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IF YOU NEED TO GAIN WEIGHT

All kinds of chronic infections and other illnesses can result in loss of weight. Finding the cause is your doctor’s concern. It is your responsibility to watch your weight and that of your children. If you notice a definite loss of weight, report it to your doctor or to a hospital clinic. They, and not you, will be able to track down the cause and prescribe the treatment.

How to tell if you are underweight

Usually, you need the help of a doctor, even more than the overweight person does, in deciding whether or not you are actually underweight. If you are 10 to 15 pounds below the figures given in the table in the encyclopaedia entry on obesity, and if the bones stick out all over your body or the muscles do not cover the back, thighs, and buttocks with resilient protection or your face is thin and drawn, you are very likely to be underweight. But the figures in this table cannot always answer your question. Let your doctor decide.

What to do about it

If your extreme thinness is not due to ill health, it is due to a failure to eat enough of the right food.

Having decided your diet is inadequate, your doctor will try to discover whether you have a psychological resistance to eating. Although such attitudes may be deep-seated, I have had quite a few patients whose appestats were low because they had been told it was wrong or greedy or wasteful to eat unless they were really hungry, or that it was fashionable to look excessively thin.

Just as your doctor can work out ways for your obese friend to consume fewer calories, he will help you to take in—and really want—additional ones.

Gaining weight without medical supervision

As in the case of those who are moderately overweight, people who are somewhat underweight can work on their own towards a more sensible weight if they have been given a clean bill of health by their physicians. But be sure to consult your doctor if, for example, cutting down on bulky, low calorie vegetables makes you constipated. Do not take laxatives or mineral oil, which may deprive you of some of the vitamins you need.

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EATING AND WEIGHT CONTROL: FOOD FADS

Vegetarian diets

There are three types of vegetarian diets: (1) the strictest, which excludes all animal products in addition to the flesh and organs of all animate creatures; (2) the intermediate, which permits the eating of such animal products as milk, cheese, eggs, etc.; and (3) the mildest, which permits, in addition, the eating of fish and shellfish. Vegetarian diets, particularly of the first type, can be inadequate and even harmful because they lack sufficient protein.

Doctors have been unable to find any virtue in vegetarian diets except for the fact that people who adhere to them are apt to be lean, which is usually a good thing. For every vegetarian who attributes his healthy old age to his diet, we have seen an even older person who gives credit to something else.

Diets as cures

We constantly hear about diets that will prevent acid or alkaline stomach, cure constipation, skin disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and tooth decay, or increase virility and guarantee long life.

Some special diets are sound. For example, a special diet is essential in diseases such as diabetes. Other diets may be helpful in constipation, anaemia, acne, and so on.

Nevertheless, I would not think of saying that everyone with a poor complexion should cut out sugars, starches, and fats, or that people with a low haemoglobin count should eat additional portions of liver. Before I recommended such diets, I would find out what was causing the condition. The anaemia could be due to the constant loss of blood from haemorrhoids (piles), and the poor complexion might be an allergic reaction to some scented soap.

If you need a special diet, your doctor will tell you so, making certain it is good for you and not just for a possibly imaginary symptom. The diets outlined on page 31 provide everything the normal person needs to maintain good health. Do not try anything else without consulting your physician.

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GENERAL CARE OF THE BODY: MEDICINES, DRUGS, AND NARCOTICS

In the 1950′s and 1960′s, a revolution took place in the field of medicine. It meant that the public could be protected against and cured of many ailments that, in the past, had been disabling or fatal, or had taken tedious weeks or months to recover from. But there have been some bad effects accompanying the new cures. A new category of disease has arisen, called iatrogenic disease, caused by the administration of medicines and drugs. More than 250 such ailments have been recognized by medical authorities.

More than ever, it is necessary to use only those medicines your doctor recommends for you and to use them exactly as he directs. Your doctor knows of the dangerous side effects of many medicines. The habit of using an old medicine months or years later when apparently similar symptoms occur, or of taking a medicine prescribed for a friend who had the same thing, is worse than foolish. It can be extremely dangerous, sometimes resulting in death.

I want to warn pregnant women especially to stay away from all medicines except those ordered by their own doctor. Even a seemingly innocent preparation may harm the woman or her growing baby. A particularly shocking example occurred in the early 1960′s, when the medicine thalidomide was used by thousands of women. It was created to bring about a deep and restful sleep, and in some countries, particularly Germany, it was sold without prescription. Its effect was soon apparent. New-born babies had deformed or rudimentary arms, sometimes little more than flippers. An Australian gynaecologist, Dr. William McBride, was the first man in the world to link thalidomide with deformities in new-born babies. Due to his efforts, Australian manufacturers withdrew the drug from sale, making Australia the first country to suspend the drug. But not before thousands of deformed infants had been born in a score of countries.

It is not only the new prescription medicines that can cause trouble. Even vitamin D has been fatal when taken in an extremely high dosage over a long period of time.

Also, such seemingly harmless remedies as aspirin and bicarbonate of soda should not be taken indiscriminately. Aspirin, for example, causes peptic ulcers to bleed. While there is no need to fear medicines, they should never be taken regularly unless your doctor tells you to do so. Pain, indigestion, and other symptoms may be nature’s warning signals of a disease or bodily malfunction that should not be obscured by self-medication.

Sleeping tablets should be taken only upon a doctor’s prescription. They cannot be obtained without one. This is a wise provision, as they can be extremely dangerous.

Pills containing caffeine or Benzedrine to keep you from getting sleepy or to pep you up can also be very harmful.

Pain-killers such as codeine (related to morphine and opium) are habit-forming. Only a physician knows when more powerful narcotics such as morphine and cocaine should be administered to relieve intolerable pain. There is no such thing as a safe, small dose of any of these narcotics except when a doctor prescribes them. Otherwise, even the most high-minded individual runs a very grave risk of becoming a drug addict, with resulting deterioration of body and mind. For example: some years ago, a group of young scientists became addicted to cocaine as a result of repeatedly experimenting on themselves in their search for a local anaesthetic; only one of them, after undergoing terrible agony, was able to conquer the habit and complete the work, eventually becoming the outstanding surgeon of his day. (See also the entry drug addiction in the encyclopaedia section.)

If you feel a desire to use these drugs, or if you do use them or have used them in the past, you should talk over the matter very frankly with your doctor. He will pass no moral judgement on you, but will advise you how to prevent or to overcome the habit before it is too late.

‘Only one to a customer’

Your body is the one machine that is unconditionally guaranteed to last a lifetime. How long and good a lifetime this will be depends a great deal on you, on whether you neglect and abuse your body out of carelessness or ignorance or whether you treat it with the respect so wonderful an organism deserves.

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