go The Soft Life Is Bad Medicine
If your legs never take you farther than
your garage, you are courting ill health, says this
leading exponent of outdoor exercise
By PAUL DUDLEY WHITE, M.D. as told to Curtis Mitchell
PRESIDENT KENNEDY, in speaking of
physical fitness, recently said that
we have become a nation of onlookers
instead of doers.
On the other hand, people who should know
better have said that exercise is unimportant.
It is important. It is important for. us to be
more than mere spectators of sports. We can
profit by enlarging our activities beyond those
of getting into and out of automobiles, buses,
trains, planes, and our easy chairs. We should all
start using our legs again.
As long as I can remember, I have sought
activity outdoors and have always been refreshed
thereby. One of my first ambitions was to be a
forester, and many of my early summers were
spent at Camp Becket in western Massachusetts.
One summer, I walked all the way from Becket
across the state of Connecticut to get a look at
Long Island Sound.
While still in college, I changed my personal
goal from forestry to medicine, but I have con
tinued to hike and to urge others to do so.
Fortunately, the means for such exercise, for
living a more active life, are coming into use
again. They are the bicycle path, the back road,
the mountnin trail, and the great parks in every
section of the country.
Adequate statistics relating health to exercise
are lacking, but certain advantages of exercise
are well-known to physicians. Many of us con
sider exercise just as essential as sleep and food.
First, exercise has an immediate effect on the
circulation. Good muscle tone in the arms and legs
maintains better circulation of blood through the
veins. Our veins are provided with one-way
valves, and their compression by the skeletal mus
cles helps pump the blood back to the heart. Hard
muscles do this job better than soft ones.
Exercise also improves the muscle tone of the
diaphragm the muscle that brings oxygen to
the lungs, removes carbon dioxide, and sucks
blood into the heart. Vigorous exercise aids these
processes. But if that is impossible, deep breath
ing several times a day is of some value.
There are other benefits from exercise, too.
Digestion and bowel function are improved. A
brisk walk before bedtime may help induce sleep
better than any kind of medicine, a highball, or
a tv show. Most important, adequate muscular
exercise is an antidote for mental fatigue. In my
own case, nervous stress and strain can be coun
teracted, even prevented, by regular exercise.
Sometimes, a walk can be the difference be
tween well-being and illness. Several years ago,
an aged patient of mine was forced to sit
about the house through much of the winter be
cause of grippe. By spring, his legs had begun to
swell and he was fearful of almost any move
ment. He had no heart disease or leg-vein throm
bosis, so I had him resume his former habit of
walking a mile or two each day. His swelling
disappeared, and he has suffered no more trouble
with his legs.
If walking is good, so is cycling. As a freshman
in college, I rode my bicycle about 10 miles a day
and thought nothing of it. My father sometimes
rode his bicycle 100 miles a day when he was a
young man!
While attending medical meetings abroad, my
wife and I have often found cycling an ideal way
to get acquainted with the people of an unfa
miliar country. On travels in Holland and Ireland,
we easily cycled 25 miles a day.
Here at home, Americans own more than 27
million bicycles, but we suffer from a short
age of safe roads and paths.
Fortunately, the public is at last becoming
interested in the problem. Recently, I visited
Homestead, Fla., "the City of Bicycles," where
I joined people of all ages in enjoying this health
ful mode of transportation.
In Massachusetts, we have formed the commit
tee for Safe Bicycling, Inc., which supported leg
islation that resulted in building a safe bicycle
path on the island of Nantucket.
Our group's current efforts include encourag
ing the residents of communities across the na
tion to develop safe bicycle paths from homes to
schools, to shopping areas, and to railway and
bus stations.
All healthy persons, no matter what their age,
should exercise. Man needs an efficient circula
tion with adequate reserve, not merely a sluggish
one. An emergency such as an acute illness or
accident can suddenly call on the full resources
of the body. Being in a state of positive health
rather than merely existing may mean the dif
ference between life and death.
The outdoors awaits. It is time for Americans
to pause and consider how they can take advan
tage of its health-giving pleasures.
'' " tit i
'Sj ' U I f 4 -A
Dr. While lakes his own good advice though 75, ho
ridus a bicycle regularly lo keep his body active.
COVER:
This lively couple, photographed by Glen
Fish back, nets the theme for this special
issue devoted to the great outdoors: vaca
tion, travel, recreation, and plain fun.
IEONARO S. OAVIOOW 7Vr., nl and Pitbtitlicr
WAITER C. DREYFUS l'ir.' f'mnrrrHt
PATRICK E. O'ROURKE .4(r. rtiiino PirrHor
MORTON FRANK Dirrrlor 0 PnblMrr Rrlatio
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