Several men were riding home together in a tramcar on their way from business, and were discussing their health, as so many people do nowadays. They were all looking tired and depressed, and on comparing notes found that they were all suffering from the same complaint, “nervous exhaustion due to overwork.” At least, that is what they called it. They were tired when they went to bed, and just as tired when they got up in the morning, and had no energy for their day’s work. Why the latter should have proved too much for them was a mystery, as their hours were not long by any means, and they were all in the prime of life.

As a matter of fact, they were not suffering from nervous exhaustion at all, but from poisoning, the result of a sedentary occupation and want of exercise. These men had an excess of waste products in their system, retarding their digestions and clogging their energies.

It is particularly at or just before middle age that the want of exercise so frequently manifests itself. Most people keep up their games or their walking until the age of thirty or forty. It is after that stage that they tend to settle down and take things easily. If they would only reduce their diet at the same time little harm might accrue, but unfortunately in many instances, as we have already pointed out, they begin to eat more instead of less. The result is that we are confronted with the problem of increased intake and diminished output. We often see men of strong physique who have given up games and reduced their walking to a minimum, and have become moody and irritable, sleepless and depressed.

This is because their systems have become loaded with a superfluity of waste matter. And the latter not only makes them headachy and tired, but if the accumulation is allowed to go on unchecked, it deranges the vital organs, the kidneys particularly, and before long may actually set up organic disease. After that the strain on the whole bodily functions becomes greater and greater, until the breaking-point is reached. For as people grow older their organs have less power of throwing off waste material, and become less able to support one another when any weakness appears.

These breakdowns are the most liable to occur in the case of athletes who have been accustomed to severe and active exercise all their lives. In them the system seems to have learned to depend, even more than in the case of other people, upon hard exercise to keep it in good condition. And when men of this type drop it too suddenly, the results are disastrous. Yet that is what so many of them tend to do. They are unable any longer to indulge in the violent games and training to which they have been accustomed, and they will not “lower themselves,” as I have heard it expressed, to take part in milder forms of recreation. Sometimes they even become too lazy to walk.

Of course, no man can be expected to keep up his running, or take part in boat races, or practise putting the weight after he has passed a certain age. Nor would it be good for him to do so. Once he has passed thirty he must begin to take things a bit more slowly, and avoid taking part in athletic contests. For racing in any form involves a mental as well as a physical strain, and few men beyond that age can stand the stress of the two combined.

Yet if he cannot race he can still row or run or whatever else it may be. Later on he may have to give these up also, and take to quieter forms of exercise. The secret lies in the gradual dropping off. And no man need complain, for there are plenty of outdoor games suited to every age and every constitution.

The great point is that everyone, men and women alike, must have exercise of some kind or other. For most of the vital of processes of the body depend upon it. It is the chief agent in burning up the waste matter in the system, reducing it to such a form as is most easily excreted by the different organs. It also keeps this waste on the move, and so brings it more freely into contact with those organs. Furthermore, it stimulates the action of the heart and lungs, and so invigorates the circulation, and supplies the respiratory tract with a more liberal allowance of oxygen.

Then, freed from the incubus of the presence of this poisonous matter, the digestion improves, and the nervous system regains its wonted vigour once more.

To be efficient, exercise must be steady and regular. A long tramp or a violent burst of tennis or some other game once a week can never make up for days of comparative inaction. More than that, it is almost dangerous. The waste products have meanwhile accumulated to such an extent that, if they are suddenly stirred up, they are apt to produce a severe headache or a bilious attack. People are often puzzled and discouraged when after a long walk on a Saturday afternoon they feel so done up as to be unfit for anything for the next twenty hours.

The exercise should be daily, so that the waste matter is eliminated regularly. To realise the difference between this method and the one we have just been discussing, notice the effect of dusting a room once a week compared with doing it each day. It is the difference between an almost imperceptible quantity of dust and a cloud that fills the room and threatens to choke you.

There is one result of irregular exercise that needs to be referred to here. It is cramp. This painful complaint is due to a deposit of waste matter in some muscle, which it causes to contract violently owing to the local irritation set up. It is liable to occur after hard or prolonged exercise of any sort, especially in those who only take it now and then. Sometimes, however, it is found in those who never take part in games, as in elderly people, for instance. In this case it is often due to the habit of walking beyond the ordinary pace. There are some temperaments which never allow their possessors to walk quietly, even though age or some infirmity demands it, and such persons are very liable to wake up at night suffering from cramp.

The treatment is to avoid too violent exercise or to walk in a more leisurely fashion, as the case may be. When it has come on, the remedy is to rub the affected part vigorously, or put it into hot water if such is available.

Exercise, like all other indispensable things in this world, needs to be carried out with discretion. Because a lusty young fellow of twenty finds that a hard game, such as football, once a week, in addition to steady daily exercise, suits him, it does not follow that it is going to be of benefit for a man of forty. It is an important point in selecting a game to choose a suitable one. Golf is often advocated as the ideal recreation for middle-aged men. Yet one has known of cases where a round of golf left a man jaded and tired, but a game of bowls or tennis did him a world of good. The one might require as much as the other, but for some unknown reason it was better adapted to the needs of the individual in question. At the risk of offending every golfer in the country—and that is about every other man you meet—I have no hesitation in saying that even if a man does not play it he may be “a man for a’ that.” And if it only worries and tires, instead of refreshing him, he is vastly better advised to leave it off, and take to something that suits him better and is more in accordance with his feelings.

Half an hour a day spent in walking, cycling or playing some outdoor game is sufficient to keep the whole system in good working order.

Games have the advantage of adding the stimulus of competition and complete change of thought, but there is no better exercise than that of walking. And after all the change of thought can be obtained equally well at the same time, if people have some outdoor hobby, as botany or natural history. It also provides change of scene, which is a fine mental tonic in itself.

The ideal form of recreation is to cycle to some spot, leave your machine there, and set out for a walk. By such means you get far away from your ordinary surroundings, and also receive the benefit of the pure air of the meadow or the mountain-top.

There are many people, however, who live in towns, and, in winter especially, cannot reach green fields or hills except when on a holiday. There are wet days too on which a country walk is hardly possible or even desirable, on account of the state of the roads. Yet there is another form of walking which is of great value under such circumstances. It is what we may term the “pavement tramp.” An hour’s brisk walk of this sort is an invaluable boon to town-dwellers on a dull day or a wintry night, when circumstances stand in the way of any other form of exercise.

At times even the state of the pavements, as in snowy weather, may render this impossible. In that case, if you are feeling stale and unprofitable, and longing for some active exercise, you may obtain it by walking briskly up and down the stairs. The servants will think you have gone mad, but as they probably think that already, this fact need not deter you from this form of invigoration.

When people who have previously neglected exercise start to take it, they are often met with one difficulty. They complain that after they have walked for a mile or so they are too tired to go any farther, and when they return home they do not feel refreshed but rather the opposite. Under these circumstances we need not hesitate to assure them that if they will but persevere, this feeling of fatigue will pass off, and a sense of enjoyment and lightness take its place. Once they have experienced the truth of this they are ready to continue the daily walk and exercises, and soon begin to wonder how they ever managed to live without them.

This acute fatigue is due to the stirring up of the waste matter in the system. If, however, they force themselves to keep on walking quietly, the exercise itself will help to eliminate these undesirable elements, and so fulfil its most important function.

This question of exercise calls for special mention in the case of women of the middle and upper classes. Too often their exercise for the day consists in shopping or paying calls, neither of which are conducive to health. The constantly recurring headaches from which many women of this type suffer might be cured, along with the observance of the other rules of health, by the observance of a daily walk and gentle exercises within their own homes.

Indoor exercise is the department in which so many people go wrong. A young man is convinced of the necessity of keeping himself fit, and the way in which as a rule he sets about it is to practise with a pair of heavy dumb-bells before breakfast, or else to buy a developer and use it, for the purpose of getting his muscles up.

Now Mr. Sandow himself has always been the first to warn people against the abuse or over-use of the developer, and against practising with heavy dumb-bells. I was once amazed to hear that great authority say that he could keep his muscles in perfect condition with two-pound dumb-bells. Little wonder, therefore, that men of ordinary physique find themselves, after a quarter of an hour with seven-pound ones, stale and tired for the remainder of the day.

We have to bear in mind that the most important muscle in the body is the heart. Cases are not uncommon in which young fellows have developed their limb-muscles at the expense of this vital organ, with the result that they have been more or less incapacitated ever afterwards. It may be very delightful to possess a biceps twice as large as your neighbour’s, but beyond the gratification of contracting it for their approval there is nothing to be gained, unless you are going to be a navvy, that is to say. And that is not likely to be the case with any of my readers, for navvies are not in the habit of perusing books on health. They do not need to do so.

If a man needs certain muscles specially strong for his work, his work will develop them for him. Otherwise they are of little use to him, and he had better conduct his exercises on a sounder principle.

The main object of physical exercise is to keep the whole body fit. In choosing suitable ones, therefore, it is necessary to select those which call upon all the muscles of the body without any undue strain upon any particular set. If any one group is over-used there will come a time when they will begin to waste away. It is well known that in certain occupations which throw great strain upon any one part, such as the arms in the case of porters, who have to be lifting heavy loads constantly, the muscles of these regions enlarge enormously at first, but often degenerate after a time, until at last the limbs in question may be reduced almost to skin and bone.

The best form of exercises for purposes of general health are those known as Swedish. No dumb-bells are required, though many people find it easier to practise them if they have a piece of wood in each hand. The number of systems included in this category is legion, and people are often perplexed to know which one to choose. Some friend recommends one set, then another comes along and says that he has derived great benefit from a different set, and a third strongly advocates some other. The fact is there is no advantage in any one over the rest. All are equally efficacious; the great point is to do exercises of some sort. You can easily plan out a set of your own, which will do quite as well as any other.

Whichever are chosen, it is well to do them gently at first, and for a short time only, gradually increasing them as you become more accustomed to the movements.

A good selection to start with is as follows. Stretch out the arms in front, with the finger-tips touching those of the opposite hand. Swing them slowly backwards as far as they will go. Stretch them out again in the same way, and try to touch the toes, keeping the knees straight. Place the hands on the waist and bend the body forwards as far as possible and also from side to side. Lie on the floor and raise the body without the aid of the hands and with the knees stiff. Stand erect and raise one leg slowly, balancing on the other foot.

A few simple exercises such as these are quite sufficient to keep the whole system in good order. Complicated or difficult ones are never necessary. The one great point, more important than all else, is to attend carefully to the breathing while making the movements. Take deep, slow breaths, expanding the chest fully and exhale slowly, always breathing through the nose. If you get out of breath you are either doing the exercises wrongly or breathing in an incorrect manner.

In addition to the above, you can devise fresh ones as you go along. A good plan is to take each joint in turn, and exercise it. Thus, start with the fingers, clasping and unclasping the hand. Then clench the fist and move the wrist up and down. Do the same with the elbow and shoulder, and with the different joints of the lower extremities. Then bend the body backwards and forwards, and the head in the same way. After all that, there will be few muscles in the whole body that have not received their due attention.

The value and the enjoyment of these exercises can be increased very much by getting other people to join you in them. It is easier to persevere with anything if we have the society of others to encourage us. There is a spirit of emulation introduced which is always conducive to success.

If you are so fortunate as to have an empty room or shed, there is nothing better than to practise an imitation of some outdoor game, such as playing tennis against a wall. There is a zest about such exercises which makes them more profitable than those which are carried on merely from a sense of duty. One of the finest forms of exercise is that of skipping, both for men and women. The former need not look upon it as a feminine pursuit, seeing that some of the best-known athletes and boxers employ it as a means of training.

It is simply astonishing what a difference exercise, either outdoor or indoor, makes to those who carry it out systematically. After a few weeks pale, languid people begin to acquire a healthy colour and a sense of vigour they have never known for years; dyspeptic ones may forget that they ever had a stomach; whilst headaches that have been a curse for years are sometimes seen to disappear like magic. Life becomes brighter, for health and happiness go together, and the whole outlook becomes more cheering.

All these are active forms of exercise, but there is another sort which needs mention, viz. the passive, or massage, as it is termed. Some people either through general weakness or some infirmity are unable to take exercise for themselves, and in such cases massage is of great benefit, acting in the same way, but without any exertion on the part of the patient. The full consideration of this subject would need a volume of its own, and this is hardly the place to discuss it in greater detail. One important fact, however, requires mention. It is imperative that a prolonged rest of an hour or two at least should be allowed after each rubbing. One hour of massage is equivalent to several hours of active movement.