Age, Occupation, and Habit.—Physical exercises must be chosen with reference to the age, occupation, and habit of the individual. The young, the middle-aged, and the old will each, as a rule, require some direction as to kind, and some modification as to length and intensity, of the exercise.
Childhood and Youth.—Healthy children are never at rest except when asleep. This is the prompting of their nature. Their games and plays should therefore be directed, but not too much restrained. If, however, the natural increase in size and weight of a child’s body does not keep pace with its years, it would be well for the parent to inquire whether that result is due to excessive exercise, or to some other cause.
Proper habits of sitting, standing, and walking, if not attained during youth, are rarely acquired afterward. The habit of a graceful carriage and a manly or womanly bearing should be established before the age of sixteen. But the exercises that most closely affect the health are those which relate to the expansion of the chest. The lungs vitalize and purify the blood. The larger their capacity, the more satisfactorily will they accomplish their work. With a good supply of pure blood, the growth and health and vigor of the body will be largely provided for.
Middle Life.—While judgment and discretion in the kinds of exercises, and in the manner of doing them, are, at every period of life, desirable, persons from 20 to 35 years of age are able to undertake severer tasks and to withstand greater shocks to the system than the young or the old. Persons from 35 to 50 years of age may take long walks but should be cautious about rapid running. At this age exercises requiring endurance and persistence are better than those demanding intensity or violence. This is especially applicable to those whose occupation is sedentary. Any hereditary tendency to disease is apt to show itself during this period, and should be carefully watched by the individual and by his physician, for by it the kind and degree of the exercise should be determined.
Old Age.—Unless the habit of taking physical exercise has been pursued more or less constantly through life, persons in advanced years, especially if feeble, need to observe great caution in beginning it, on account of the unusual strain upon the heart and blood-vessels. Their native power of resistance being small, any severe shock or strain upon the system may be attended with serious results. William Cullen Bryant, at eighty years of age, took an hour of severe exercise, followed by a cold bath, before breakfast, then walked three miles to his office and back again, in all states of weather, but he had kept up his physical training through life, and found in it a pleasure as well as a benefit to health.
With increasing years, the duties and responsibilities of the busy man increase. Instead of the walk or the ride on horseback, the stately coach, which more fittingly represents his growing wealth, is now used for his afternoon recreation, the coachman relieving him of even the mental and physical stimulus of driving. Wealth is a menace to health, so far as it tends to discourage the simple living upon which health depends.
A much wiser course would be to keep the human machinery oiled and in good condition, by systematic exercise. Hinges of iron and steel must be oiled and used to keep them from creaking and rusting. The membrane that secretes the lubricating fluid and supplies it to the opposing surfaces of the bones and to the ligaments which surround them is stimulated to activity by the motion of the joint itself. Stiffening joints, sluggish circulation, and torpid liver are the sure penalties of inactivity.
Some years ago, two prominent business men, one sixty-four, the other sixty-three years of age, engaged in a walking contest. The younger walked 209 miles, the older 211 miles in three and one-half days, an average of sixty miles a day. James Russell Lowell was unwilling to ride when he could possibly walk. Gladstone was famous as an ax-man as well as a statesman, and continued this exercise nearly to the end of his life. Instances of great mental activity after seventy are almost invariably those of men who have kept up since early manhood a constant habit of vigorous daily exercise. It is only in this way that the arteries are kept from hardening, and that the brain is kept supplied with the blood to renew its cells.
Physical Culture for School Children.—In childhood and youth, bad habits are easily corrected and good ones established. If the chest is weak and flat, this is the time to remove the defect. If one shoulder is a trifle higher than the other, correct the default before it becomes confirmed. Build up the arms and shoulders and chest to be strong and well shaped. It is in youth, while the bones are elastic, that the perfect frame must be built. Accustom the muscles of the trunk and limbs to healthy and graceful action. This becomes easy and natural, when given proper direction, and will result in making a vigorous, well-built man or woman, capable of meeting the difficulties and discharging the duties that come alike to all.
Over-Study.—A prominent magazine recently devoted a page to brief statements of parents, teachers, and physicians, testifying in eloquent but most pathetic terms to the crying evils of over-study and the lack of physical recreation. In reply to the questions asked, one physician says, “Twelve children are under my professional care from over-study.”