JOY OF A HEALTHY BODY

Present-day business is one of the most strenuous games we know anything about. Although it is true, as already mentioned, that good salesmanship should call for only about a tenth as much physical as mental effort, the combination of physical, mental and nervous application must continually be on the alert in a man or woman who is actually playing the selling game according to rules. Boxing, running, football, tennis, baseball, are all forms of strenuous exercise, but they do not call for the same endurance as the busy eight-hour day of retail selling. In spite of this, how many shoe salesmen are there who actually make it a part of the daily program to get and keep in condition for the business game?

During the war period, while some of the most important problems of the country and of the world were waiting to be solved, we would hear every once in a while of some chief executive going off to play golf or to spend three or four days on a hunting or fishing trip. These things were not done because the men were more interested in golf, hunting and fishing than they were in the problems of the day. They had actually been ordered away from their desks. The eye was beginning to lose its brightness, the complexion was fading a little, and the step, perhaps, was showing signs of lagging. Alert, vigorous, healthy men were needed, who could think quickly and clearly. Lloyd George, the British statesman, made the statement that he was a union man in everything except his working hours. Very often he has been known to work for sixteen or twenty hours at a stretch. This was possible only because he had taken the time and effort necessary to build and maintain a vigorous and healthy body. There is an added joy in living that only a man in condition can appreciate.

KEEPING “FIT” FOR BUSINESS

Ask any young lad to demonstrate how strong he is and he will immediately draw his arm up tightly and exhibit the knot of muscle. To him that is an indication of his physical condition. However, the business man and woman must have a different standard, and that standard is the basis on which all the parts and organs of the body work together and perform their functions. What good is a finely adjusted twelve cylinder motor if the gasolene flow is choked by a bit of dirt in the supply pipe? The physical machinery is exactly the same. The body must be healthy both inside and out, and to keep fit we must see that every part of the machinery is given the chance to do its work.

The young lady is much annoyed to find a pimple on her chin, but to make everything all right again she puts a little white powder on it and hopes the trouble will soon clear away. Or if the color is gone from her cheek she might take some from a box and put it where the natural color should have been. These things, however, can do her no good. Her trouble is from within and she is trying to remove the effect instead of getting at the cause. Put it down now as one of the first principles of health that if you have a headache or earache, a sore throat or a corn, that it is your notice that something needs to be fixed. It isn’t a prepared powder or some special kind of toothache drops you need—they simply aim to remove the effect. Get at the cause. You probably need more exercise or a change in diet in order to get at the cause of the headache. The toothache drop will not improve the condition of the tooth—it needs to be fixed. The corn is crying for more room—give it a chance.

All of these things are warning signals sent out by nature. Whenever you receive a notice, act on it promptly, get at the cause and remove it. Only in this way can you keep steadily fit.

FOOD

In considering the matter of food it is natural to associate with it the stomach. Too often we are likely to consider the stomach simply as a convenience to receive whatever we may feel in the humor of eating. Its main function, however, is to receive certain limited supplies of food, properly prepared, and to take from them the necessary elements required to sustain the body. We need certain foods, like eggs, meat, cheese, beans, to build muscle; starchy foods, such as bread and potatoes; sweets, such as those from fruits and certain vegetables, and also smaller quantities of oils and minerals. It is a good plan to so arrange the daily diet that a combination of starch, sugar, fats and muscle-building foods may be had. Most of us, however, do not have the time or experience necessary to analyze the food we eat to learn its construction and relative food value. Many excellent text books have been prepared on this subject with ready-made menus for the inexperienced. The American Red Cross Text Book on Home Dietetics gives not only proper food combinations but tells how to prepare the food. A copy may be found in any public library.

Dr. C. F. Langworthy has prepared a tabulation of common foods in the five important groups. For a well balanced diet, at least one article from each group should be represented in the meals each day.

It is most vitally important that we see to it that whatever we do eat is thoroughly chewed. If there should be a limit on the time we have for eating we could make no mistake by eating half as much and chewing it twice as well. Too much food, insufficiently chewed, can be nothing but harmful. In fact, the popular tendency is to eat too much on Sundays and holidays. This habit of forcing the stomach to work overtime on state occasions is probably responsible for most cases of indigestion. Eat to satisfy your hunger. Remember the old copy-book maxim: “We eat to live; we do not live to eat.”

The stomach is a delicate instrument, it is the center of a great many nerves, and it operates best only when these nerves are normal. Excitement, worry, over-exertion and the like, all have a bad effect upon the stomach. Under such conditions it would be better not to eat at all, for the time being at least, rather than to force upon the stomach a lot of food it is not in condition to digest. The suggestion, therefore, is to choose pleasant surroundings, free yourself of any nervous tension, and chew thoroughly.

Drink water. It acts as a drainage system to carry off waste matter of the body, and the more you drink the better. However, don’t use it as a means of washing down the food to save the trouble of chewing it.

FRESH AIR

People sometimes have the impression that colds, sore throat and pneumonia are associated in some way with the fresh air of out-of-doors. Following out the same thought they close themselves in from the outside air, bundle up in heavy clothes, and hope to be spared through the winter without an attack. The advice of a wise physician to his patient who was continually catching cold during the cold weather, was to take off a lot of wraps from around her neck and get out into the cold, fresh air.

A draft, that we are in the habit of fearing so much, is simply a circulation of fresh air. The reason it causes trouble is that it exposes the body when the blood circulation is not active enough to perform the extra duty required of it. Another physician is credited with the advice, “The way to avoid having colds is to get in a draft—and stay in it.”

Sometimes it is not possible to have a continuous circulation of fresh air in the shoe store or department. The location may make it difficult, or there may be an objection from some of the people present who would be unduly exposed. Under the circumstances it would certainly be well to make a special point of doing some extra open-air walking every day. A walk of a mile or even a half mile before dinner at night will do a person more good than all the pink pills that have ever been made. Open the windows when you go to bed at night and let the air sweep through. An extra covering will give all the protection needed. During some of the really cold nights you may even need to wear a woolen cap. Any sort of a covering will serve the purpose, only be sure to take advantage of the pure, fresh air—it costs nothing but is worth much.

SLEEP

“To be a success a man needs just two suits—a suit of evening clothes and a suit of pajamas.” The man who said this probably did not have to provide for making a living. His main object was evidently to have a good time, but you will notice that he recognized the value of sleep, even for a man who need not work.

Eight hours of conscientious work on the part of the shoe salesman means a steady wearing away of his energy, both mental and physical. He then needs relaxation so as to check the strain; he needs a change of surroundings—different thoughts to occupy his mind and different people to meet. This should come in his hours of recreation; but after that he needs his full measure of sleep. Most people should have regularly eight hours of sleep in order that they may be fully refreshed for the duties of the day to follow. Thomas A. Edison, the inventor, has been getting along with four hours’ sleep and twenty hours of work for the past twenty years at least. But he is the great exception that proves the rule.

Don’t try to beat Father Time at his own game. In other words, don’t try to crowd one day’s work and two days’ pleasure into twenty-four hours. You cannot drain out two measures of strength and expect to have enough left over to carry you through the following day.

Throw your cares and worries to the winds when you retire. Forget business, forget pleasure, forget yourself, and just sleep. There will be time enough to consider cares tomorrow when you are refreshed, and they won’t seem half so troublesome then.

LEARN HOW TO PLAY

For the man who has lost the knack of playing, life becomes just drudgery; he is then simply a work machine. A good, honest laugh is a tonic that stimulates certain organs of the body that rarely get exercise any other way. Business calls for a certain amount of serious consideration, but that isn’t any reason why we should overlook its pleasures and brightness.

There are all kinds of play. It makes little difference which we choose so long as we get into the spirit of it, change the line of thought to prevent getting “stale” and to develop an all-around human being. Some men gather canceled postage stamps or coins as hobbies; some play golf, others chess or billiards. Every person should have two or three hobbies, the more the better, so long as we do not let them run away with us. Those of us who have inside work, and that means every shoe salesman, should choose those hobbies that will take us out of doors as much as possible. Skating, walking, tennis, golf, baseball—they are all good. Oftentimes we think ourselves athletes when we become boxing, baseball or football fans, but just remember that the other fellow is getting the real fun out of it. Our cue is to get into the action.

CARE OF THE BODY

Some form of regular exercise is what we need. Ten minutes of arm and leg movements before an open window, both in the morning and at night, will do more than anything else to build a healthy body and to keep away the doctor for all time. The first few days of this may seem an awful bore, but give it a good trial and you will soon find that you get a lot of increased satisfaction out of it. Many excellent pamphlets on gymnastics have been prepared by experts and can be consulted at the public libraries.

Among the most commendable of these is one issued by the government which contains the “setting-up” exercises used in our training camps. It is called: Manual of Physical Training for use in the U. S. Army, and if it is not to be found among Public Documents at your library it may be bought for 50 cents from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

It is generally agreed that we should bathe at least twice a week in order to keep the body in best condition. In warm weather more frequent baths are required. Perhaps best of all is a cold bath or shower every morning, but it is not everyone that is able to do this. The warm baths are essential, however.

Until within the past ten or fifteen years people as a rule did not fully realize how vitally important it is to keep the teeth in good condition. The old idea was to allow a tooth to remain until it became necessary to have it removed. Today it goes without saying that the body cannot be kept well unless the teeth are kept in condition. One of the manufacturers of tooth brushes tells us that “a clean tooth never decays.” More than half the bills of dentists could be saved if we gave the necessary attention twice a day to our teeth. Doctors tell us that care at night before going to bed is even more important, both for the teeth and for the body in general, than the care we give the teeth in the morning.

WORK AND PLAY FOR THE MIND

The great advantage that the human animal has over all forms of lower animals is in the matter of mind development. Being blessed in this way he is able, in a large measure, to “work out his own salvation,” as it is sometimes expressed. He is not compelled to accept as final the conditions in which he may find himself, but may govern his career through the powers of reason, understanding and decision that have been given him. Upon the extent to which he exercises and develops these powers will naturally depend the measure of his progress.

There is no doubt whatever that the condition of our health is to a great extent controlled by the mind. The claim is made also that every condition of the body is governed by the mind; that every form of human ailment may be prevented or cast off at the direction of the mind. A great many people believe this and govern their way of living accordingly; others accept the idea only to a limited extent.

For our purpose we are interested only in so far as to recognize that there is a relationship between body and mind and that we are capable of using and developing this. To illustrate the effect that thought has on bodily condition, an actual instance is told of a man who touched his hand to a pipe that he had understood to be extremely hot. At once he had all the mental effect and sensation of the customary burn on his hand, not learning until later that the pipe was actually icy cold.

The mind must have its work and play; all of one and not any of the other is just as harmful for the mind as it is for the body. Most forms of recreation or play that serve for the body serve also for the mind. However, for a person who uses the brain steadily during business hours it is best to choose a kind of recreation that will allow the brain to rest. For example, under the circumstances, a game of chess, which calls for close application, would not be so desirable a change as bowling, basket ball or tennis.

The everlasting grouch is the man whose mind is running in a rut. He hasn’t exercised it enough or given it sufficient variety of work to do. We hear of musical comedies that are recommended especially for the “tired business man,” and that means a man who has been thinking along one line so long that he begins to grow stale. What the musical show does is to give him a couple hours of absolute change, as a result of which his mind goes through a series of gymnastics; it gets limbered-up and the man becomes normal again. Everything is good in its proper proportion, but too much work and not enough play, or too much play and not enough work, make a lop-sided man.

NERVES

Since the war we have seen all too much of “nerve” cases. What we have come to know as “shell shock” is illness of the nerves, caused, generally, by an over-strain they have had. Mild cases of “nerves” we all know. They are the people who cannot stand to hear someone tapping on the counter with a pencil, or who must insist that little Jimmie stop his whistling because it upsets their nerves. If these signs begin to show themselves it is time that we should begin to get more exercise, fresh air, and perhaps more sleep.

PERSONAL APPEARANCE

Everyone who has had occasion to come in contact with numbers of people of different classes, as have all shoe salesmen, has been impressed with the fact that men of affairs, those who are successful and those who are most highly regarded, are invariably well groomed. They have hands that are well-kept; not necessarily dainty, soft hands that look as though they had never been used, but regular man’s hands capable of doing an honest day’s work. The nails are clipped and they are clean, but if they shine too much we might get the impression that he spends too much time in the manicurist’s chair.

The successful man always has clean shoes, and of course, a clean collar. He makes a special point, as part of his daily program, to watch these things carefully. He knows that they are important because they are noticed by everyone he meets, and he cannot afford to run the risk of losing a point because of a false impression given by slovenly appearance. We give more credit to a person of good personal appearance, because we naturally associate the quality of their work with the kind of care they give themselves.

A successful business man from the West recently attended a play in New York in which one of the leading parts was that of a young, aggressive business man not yet thirty years of age. The part was played well; the man was well groomed but not overdressed. He looked every inch the American man of affairs. The business man, who happened at the time to be in New York to engage a sales manager for his company, later remarked that the part played was the exact type of man needed in his business. In other words, he had in his mind the picture of the man needed and, relying on his past experience, he associated ability with the man’s own respect for himself as shown by his appearance.

To be well dressed does not necessarily mean that a person must be expensively dressed. Indeed, it is by no means rare to see expensive clothes poorly chosen and poorly harmonized so as to give the effect of cheapness. When we see a light checked suit matched with a flaring red tie and a yellow shirt to back it up, although we might recognize the clothes to be of good quality, we could not give the wearer credit for being well dressed. Certainly we would not give him credit for being a substantial business man. Business people are not expected to be fashion models. A lot of frills and fancies are not part of a good business woman’s outfit. They are likely to become soiled or damaged during the day and will then give an impression of untidiness. The combinations of black and white and other subdued colors in clothes are always good. Furthermore these colors are serviceable and appropriate, in different combinations, for both summer and winter.

The secret of being well dressed is to wear clothes that match or harmonize so well that no one part of the attire is conspicuous. Often we recognize a man to have been well dressed but cannot describe the clothes he wore. The whole effect was pleasing, his shoes were polished, his linen clean and his suit pressed, but the effect was one of completeness rather than of attracting attention to individual articles of clothes.

For most people the question of neatness in dress can be very well taken care of by a liberal use of the whisk broom and shoe brush every morning, a clean collar daily and a suit pressing once a week.