Job related Health problems -stress-frustration-mental health

If your job brings you sufficient income but leaves you frustrated, bored, or otherwise unhappy, vocational guidance agencies may help solve the problem. 

It could be worthwhile, too, for you to have a frank talk with your physician who, knowing the importance of job satisfaction as a factor in good preventive medicine, may himself be able to help with some guidance or refer you to a psychologist or psychiatrist for help in discovering whether you should try to adjust yourself to your present job-whether there are things you can do to make a satisfying adjustment or find another.

A good job, too, should be as safe as modern technology and your own alertness, ingenuity, and awareness of potential hazards can make it. 

If you are frequently ill or have had accidents at work, it may be that you do not observe proper precautions, or it may be the result of poor conditions in your place of employment. After reading this chapter, you may be able to decide better which it is. If it is the latter-poor work conditions you can bring the fact to the attention of your employers, either directly (perhaps through a suggestion box) or through your foreman, supervisor, or union.

If this fails to produce improvement, the matter should be reported to the proper authorities, such as the department of labor in your state or the local or state health department. The fact is that while much has been done to improve occup.ulon.il safety in this country, in any year on-the-job accidents kill 10, 00,000 partially or completely disable 2,200,000 of the nation's 12 million workers. Another 5 million suffer lesser work injuries toll in pain and suffering, job-related accidents ,  $1.5 billion in lost wages and deprive industry of  $millions. This record is an improvement over residents killed nearly twice as many people in a work force half the size of todays, but it leaves much to be desired. 

HOW VALID ARE THE REASONS FOR DRUG TAKING?

HOW VALID ARE THE REASONS FOR DRUG TAKING?drug medicines, 

Youngsters today defend their use of drugs on the grounds of alcohol. Their thrust to anxious parents is:  answer to this as any has been made by Dr. of the National Institute of Mental Health.  Points out, it is pale. In the first place, the use of alcohol, persons above 21 is not against the law. Secondly, alcohol as a crutch by some people does nothing to other chemical means of 'copping out. 

Drinking and alcoholism are currently subjects of in research. Thirdly, the acceptability of moderate social drinking assumes that adults are mature enough to make mature decisions as to their behavior. And, finally, there is the irrefutable fact that the fresh young years of personality growth and development are dangerously inappropriate for any chemical means of confounding reality. "As authorities well recognize, neither laws nor awareness of the medical facts can themselves secure drug abuse prevention. 

Nor can we stop people from using alcohol or cigarettes as support or as a bandage for their psychic wounds. Ours is a drug-oriented culture. From aspirin to sleeping pills, from tranquilizers to the 'pill,' Americans of all ages are ingesting drugs in greater variety and number than ever before. "It is not so much the phenomenon of use, however, but the misuse and abuse of drugs that bears close investigation. 

Why do people choose to distort or to ward off reality through chemical means? Perhaps we deal with deep-rooted feelings of alienation.

 Alienation among the young has been characterized as 'rebellion without cause ... rejection without a program ... refusal of what is without a vision of what should be.' As scientists we are left to probe whatever reasons can be found for this sad anomaly.

NArcotics and Health Issues

NARCOTICS

Narcotic drugs include opium and its pain-killing derivatives such as heroin, morphine, and codeine, which are obtained from the juice of the poppy fruit. In addition, there are synthetic, or man-made, narcotics such as Demerol and nalorphine. 

Most used by addicts is heroin, also called junk, snow, stuff, and smack. Heroin is a brain and nervous system depressant. It reduces hunger, thirst, and sex drive as well as pain feelings.

Typically, heroin produces an easing of fear and a relief from worry as a first emotional reaction. It provides self-confidence and, as some addicts describe it, a kind of imperviousness to troubles which "roll off the mind." After this first reaction, there may be a period of inactivity that verges on a stupor us state. 

Heroin and other narcotics produce tolerance, so that increased dosage needed to achieve effects, and physical dependence. When an adult taking heroin, withdrawal sickness may include such symptoms, chills, shaking, diarrhea, nausea, sharp abdominal and leg.

Marijuana and its effects on health and work related issues

MARIJUANA

This is a drug found in the flowering tops and leaves of a hemp plant which grows in mild climates in countries around the world. Known variously as pot, tea, grass, weed, Mary Jane, hash, and kif, marijuana is smoked in short cigarettes or pipe-full made up of the leaves and flowers of the plant.

The smoke has an odor resembling burnt rope or dried grass. Marijuana produces certain clear-cut physical reactions: increase in heartbeat, lowering of body temperature, reddening of the eyes. In addition, the drug affects blood sugar levels, stimulates appetite, and tends to dehydrate the body. 

The effects on emotions and senses vary considerably not only with the quantity and strength of the drug used but also with the circum- stances, including the social setting and the expectations of the user, beginning about fifteen minutes after inhalation of the smoke and for as long as four hours, some users feel excited, some depressed, some experience no mood change.

Often, the sense of time and distance becomes distorted so that a minute may seem as long as an hour, a nearby object may seem far off. The drug affects ability to perform any task requiring clear thinking and good reflexes. Marijuana is an extremely controversial drug. There is a prevailing belief that it is harmless, but some investigators are convinced it is not. 

A recent survey of 2,700 doctors and other professionals in mental health practice disclosed that they had seen 1,887 patients with adverse reactions to marijuana in a period of eighteen months.

As some scientists note, "The very unpredictability of marijuana on different individuals and on the same individual at different times and under different conditions increases the risk to the user." Much still remains to be learned about the long-term effects and possible dangers of marijuana; and aided now by the recent synthesis of the drug's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, and investigations are being carried out. 

Only very recently has hashish, a drug known for centuries, become a major element in what has been called "America's drug subculture." Both hashish and marijuana come from the same plant. While marijuana is made from the tops and leaves, hashish is the dried resin of the plant. Hashish is often sold in chunks about one-inch square and one- quarter-inch thick and looks much like a clod of dirt. It has little taste -a hint of the household spice thyme.

 Users may put a tiny pebble of it in a pipe or sprinkle a few crumbs of it onto a cookie. Reactions are varied. Some users feel nothing but a slight drowsiness. At the other extreme, some go into panic and scream that they are losing their minds. Some authorities report that if there is a psychological disability, the drug tends to aggravate it and that large doses can cause the same kind of psychotic breakdown as LSD can produce. No one really knows the long-term effects of the drug. Users claim that there will be no permanent effects upon body or mind.

On the other hand, doctors in countries with long histories of hashish usage suggest that the user will become lethargic, apathetic. As this is written, plans are being formulated for the first United States scientific studies of hashish.

Drug addiction releif and benefits on sensory organs

There may be a sharpening of other senses-taste, smell, hearing, touch. And often various sensory impressions may appear to merge, so that colors, for example, may seem to have taste. Users report many other strange experiences, including simultaneous opposite emotions, being at once happy and sad, elated and depressed, tense and relaxed. 

At different times, there may be different effects for the same individual. Responses cannot be predicted, which is why users often describe their experiences as "good trips" and "bad trips." Some LSD users believe that since LSD heightens their senses, it makes them more creative. But this is not supported by the paintings, writings, and other creative efforts of drug users i in fact, in many cases, the works produced after drug use am poorer than before. How LSD works in the body is not yet thoroughly understood.

There is some evidence that it affects the amounts or levels of certain chemicals in the brain and changes brain electrical activity. Experiments with animals suggest that the drug may block a normal filtering process in the brain which then becomes flooded with myriad un screened sights and sounds. The dangerous effects of LSD are many. Hospitals report that some users, in a panic over their inability to cut off the effects of the drug, fear they are losing their minds. 

Some become paranoiac, developing in- creasing suspicions that people are out to harm them and control their thinking. Weeks and even months after LSD use has been stopped, some people have recurrences of the same experiences they had while using the drug and fear they are going insane.

Accidental deaths have been reported-instances of users walking in front of moving cars, convinced they were impervious to harm, and even leaping out of high windows because of a conviction they could fly. Medical experts report that the overwhelming fears and worries that may accompany an LSD experience can sometimes be disturbing enough to produce acute and even long-lasting mental illness.

Changes in chromosomes-the tiny threads in the nucleus of all cells which carry genetic information and guide reproduction-have raised concern. The changes found are actual breaks in the chromosomes, and the fear is that this may lead to birth defects in children of users. 

Drug Addiction and Curative Measures

RELATIVELY FEW readers of this blogs will have had any personal experience with illicit drug use. Yet it has become important for every concerned person-in term of children and other contacts-to be informed about that problem and what can be done to prevent serious consequences. Until fairly recently, illicit drug use and addiction were largely confined in the United States to the Skid Rows-to the hopeless, helpless, and disadvantaged of society. 

But in recent years, the scene has shifted dramatically to better neighborhoods and schools, to the respected and well-educated who, in increasing numbers, especially the adolescents, have been "turning on."

College and university students have been tempted to try drugs since 1962 when a Harvard instructor and some graduate students enthused over the virtues of a then little-known drug, LSD. Soon LSD became an "in" drug. It has also become an illegal drug, and even aside from its illegality, after a first surge of use it has become much less popular as it has become clear that taking LSD is playing a chemical Russian roulette. But the use of other drugs-marijuana, amphetamines, barbiturates, opiates-is widespread. And the penalties may be multiple.

 There are the legal punishments which may ruin the life of an offender. There are the possible threats of impaired development and alienation from life and society. And there are the risks to physical health. What scientific information is there available about the various drugs, their effects, and their hazards? Recently, pediatricians, psychiatrists, and other physicians, and the National Institute of Mental Health and other government and private agencies have been working to bring together all known facts.  Lysergic acid diethylamide is a man-made chemical first synthesized in 1938 from ergot alkaloids. Often called "acid" by its users, it is a mind-altering drug, classed legally as a hallucinogen.

A single ounce of LSD is enough to make 300,000 of the usual doses, each amounting to a speck, usually taken in a sugar cube or on a cookie or cracker. LSD, in an average dose, has effects that last eight to ten hours- increase of pulse and heart rate, rise in blood pressure and temperature, dilation of the pupils of the eyes, flushing or paleness of the face, sweaty palms, chills, irregular breathing, nausea, and distortion of the physical senses. Actually, the first effects of the drug may be on the physical senses. There are visual phenomena: walls appear to move, colors become more brilliant, unusual patterns unfold, flat objects become three-dimensional. 

Psychoanalysis and Psycotherapy for alcoholic patients

Psychoanalysis as a rule has produced disappointing results with alcoholics. In the view of many distinguished authorities, Alcoholics Anonymous is of first importance in the rescue and rehabilitation of alcoholics. "AA," says Dr. Ruth Fox, medical director of the National Council on Alcohol- ism, "is a pragmatic, simplified, spiritual approach to life, a prescription for living. For patients who can and will accept it, it may be the only form of therapy needed. 

There can be an immediate amelioration of symptoms as the isolated alcoholic feels that there is hope for him." Alcoholics Anonymous is an organization of individuals who have conquered or are trying to conquer their own habitual drinking and to help others with their problems.

From their own personal experiences, they have learned how to encourage and stimulate others in their desire to stop drinking. Meetings and discussions provide opportunities to air Drinking / 133 problems, and this is a most useful form of psychotherapy. The organization has branches in many communities across the country and members are welcomed wherever they may travel. 

A call to a local branch can bring immediate help. If abused, alcohol can be extremely dangerous. If used intelligently, it can have a place in the life of the healthy, well-balanced individual.

A good and simple rule for intelligent drinking is to restrict daily intake to one or two drinks, preferably long ones, at the end of the day. If alcohol is consumed at other times, it should be selective, not routine, consumption. By all means, limit the practice of lunchtime drinking and after-dinner drinking to special occasions. 

Count your drinks; limit their number; if you lose count, stop drinking. Don't order "doubles." Don't stop for "quickies" on the way home. Don't sneak drinks in the kitchen. Drink moderately, leisurely, not alone but with family or friends, to promote relaxation, sociability, a pleasant interlude after a day's hard work. 

HELP FOR THE ALCOHOLIC - who is alcoholic? symptoms and cure

Dr. Harry J. Johnson, President of the Foundation, goes on to urge, very soundly, that every heavy drinker should give himself a test to determine whether or not he is becoming an alcoholic. It's a simple test. It merely requires that the heavy drinker declare a semiannual alcoholic abstention period of not less than one week. 

If he can get through the week without unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, without a feeling of martyrdom, and with no obsessive desire to return to drinking when the rest period is over, alcoholism is not yet present. If, when time for the test period arrives, the drinker rationalizes and justifies a postponement for any reason whatever, he is entering the twilight zone of alcoholism and the point of no return may be near. Alcoholism is preventable. 

Even the heavy drinker, alert to the danger that he is traveling the road to alcoholism, often time to prevent development of the full-blown addiction and disease by limiting alcohol intake.

HELP FOR THE ALCOHOLIC

Once alcoholism has developed, the problem is difficult but not hopeless. It can be solved-and must be solved if permanent damage and possibly death to the alcoholic and incalculable damage to spouse and family as well, are to be prevented. If it is to be solved, it must be approached in no simplistic fashion. It must not be regarded as simply a form of neurosis. 

Every aspect of the problem, which means virtually every aspect of the alcoholic's life, must receive attention. An important part of the physician's job is to help the patient recognize, accept, and understand his illness. He must be made to feel not an outcast, a pariah, but a worthwhile person who has a definite sickness. 

Treatment-more properly, rehabilitation-must be multifaceted: physical, psychological, social, and spiritual.

On the physical side, for ex- ample, because an alcoholic often drinks instead of eating and may be seriously malnourished, lacking in essential vitamins, minerals and other basic nutrients, his diet must be carefully supervised. Many forms of treatment for alcoholism have been tried. There are medications which in some cases have stopped the abuse of alcohol and have prevented the complications of alcoholism. 

For example, for some well-motivated alcoholics, Antabuse, a drug that leads to uncomfortable reactions upon drinking, has proved useful. It may eliminate preoccupation with drinking, freeing the mind for other things, and giving the patient a lift through the feeling that he can live without alcohol. 

Although hypnosis has been found of limited usefulness in producing aversion to alcohol, it sometimes may help in teaching the nervous, anxious patient to relax and develop greater self-esteem. 

WHY SOME PEOPLE DRINK EXCESSIVELY? effects on blood and psycological problems

WHY SOME PEOPLE DRINK EXCESSIVELY

A drink or two can help to create an aura of relaxation and contentment, allowing cares and responsibilities to be forgotten temporarily, and encouraging sociability. Most people find this desirable--and recognize that it is desirable only as a temporary state. Some people, however, want to extend the state, cling to it, and accentuate it. When they yield to the desire, drinking more and more and even almost continuously, they become alcoholics, addicted to drink. 

Addiction involves an accommodation by the body to the presence of a drug. With the accommodation comes dependence. Details of the mechanism are not entirely clear, but it appears that the cells of the body may shift their metabolism.

They depend, of course, upon circulating blood for their nourishment. As they are exposed to alcohol in the blood, they accommodate to the presence of the alcohol. Once they have made the accommodation, they have, in effect, become as dependent upon alcohol being there as they once were upon it not being there. At this point, it is difficult to stop drinking. If an addict's alcohol supply now is taken away suddenly, he reacts with distressing symptoms which may include violent tremors, nausea, and headaches.

There is still no definitive answer to the question of what causes alcoholism. Both physical and psychological factors have been cited. Studies have failed to establish anyone specific type of pre-alcoholic personality. People who become excessive drinkers’ may or may not be immature or neurotic. Some, in early life, may have been well-adjusted only to regress, as the addictive process takes over, to immature behavior. As their addiction takes hold, all alcoholics, whatever their back- grounds, tend to become much alike in behavior.

It is as though the disease of alcoholism remolds them into a stereotype. The procurement of alcohol becomes their chief concern, superseding other interests, producing deterioration in their work, social life, and relationships with their families. One physician specializing in the treatment of alcoholics has reported that a battery of psychological tests given to 300 consecutive patients showed gross disturbance in every case. 

The patients did not conform to any single personality type and yet showed markedly similar character traits. All had low frustration tolerance and inability to tolerate tension or anxiety. All gave evidence of mental depression, withdrawal, low self-esteem, and a sense of isolation. In all cases, there was marked hostility.

Types of smoking- Tips to quit smoking

Along with determination to break the habit, you need deep motivation to sustain your determination. Think carefully and then write out for yourself a list of reasons why you smoke, and another list of reasons why you should give up cigarettes. 

Another Aid Get to know you-in terms of smoking behavior. You may well be able to place yourself in one of four categories of smoking behavior suggested by Dr. Silvan Tomkins:

1. HABITUAL SMOKING. If you are basically a habitual smoker, you may hardly be aware many times that you even have a cigarette in your mouth. Perhaps you once thought of smoking as a status symbol; now it is automatic.

If you fall into this category, it is important for you to become aware of when you are smoking; and knowledge of your smoking pattern will be a significant first step toward change.

2. POSITIVE EFFECT SMOKING. For this type of smoker, smoking seems to serve as either stimulant or relaxant. He or she may most enjoy handling of a cigarette or the sight of smoke curling out of the mouth. If you fall into this category and can persuade yourself to make the effort, you may find abandoning cigarettes relatively easy.

3. NEGATIVE EFFECT SMOKING. This is smoking to reduce feelings of distress, fear, shame, or disgust.

 If you are this type of smoker, you may not smoke at all when things go well-on vacations, at parties, etc.-but you reach for a cigarette when there are problems and when you are under tension. If you are, indeed, this type of smoker, you may find it relatively easy to give up smoking-only to reach for a cigarette on a tough day. For you, a strong substitute, such as nibbling ginger root, may be helpful. 

American Women smoking and the problems for non-smokers

 Women smoking a pack or more a day the risk is more than 4 times as great as the other women. Inhaling is a significant factor. Every smoker gets some smoke into his Lung, but purposeful inhalation multiplies the amount. Men who think they do not inhale or inhale only slightly have 8 times the risk and men who inhale deeply have 14 times the risk of lung cancer as against non-smokers. Women who do not inhale or who inhale only slightly have it and women who inhale moderately or deeply 3.7 times the risk in comparison with those who do not smoke. 

The earlier smoking starts, the greater the risk. Men who begin before 10 years of age have nearly 5 times as much risk as those who start after the women who start before 25 run twice the risk of women who start Liter. Although lung cancer sometimes does occur in nonsmokers, this is so relatively rare that it is estimated by authorities that at least 90 percent of lung cancer deaths would not occur if there were no smoking of cigarettes. Other cancers are associated with smoking.

The incidence of cancer of the larynx is 6 times as great and that of cancer of the esophagus 4 times as great in men cigarette smokers, aged 45 to 64, as in nonsmokers. Similarly, cancer of the pancreas is 2.7 times as great, cancer of the liver and biliary passages 2.8 times, cancer of the urinary bladder 2 times, cancer of stomach and kidney 1.4 times, and leukemia 1.4 times as great. 

Women smokers have death rates 1.8 times as high as nonsmokers for cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, and pancreas. Pipe and cigar smokers have rates for lung cancer twice as high as nonsmokers; for cancer of the oral cavity, 4.9 times as great; for cancer of esophagus and larynx, 3 to 4 times as high. While the cancer death rates associated with smoking are not as high in women as in men, it seems likely that they will catch up because of the great increase of smoking by women in recent years. 

IMMEDIATE SMOKING EFFECTS- How to avoid it?

IMMEDIATE SMOKING EFFECTS Smoking tends to reduce the appetite. There is also a dulling of taste and smell, and because of the tar the breath tends to become odorous.

Because of the nicotine, smoking produces an immediate feeling of stimulation which is followed by depression. The physical base for this is clear enough: nicotine causes the adrenal glands to discharge epinephrine (adrenaline), which stimulates the nervous system and other glands, producing release of some sugar from the liver. The result is a kind of "kick" and even some relief of fatigue-but this is followed by return of fatigue as the nervous system becomes quickly depressed again. With smoking, the heart rate increases. Occasionally, the heartbeat may become irregular, producing chest pain. Blood pressure usually rises somewhat.

Smoking also tends to constrict smaller arteries, reducing blood flow, and lowering skin temperature. Studies have revealed an average drop of about 5°F in finger and toe temperatures after the smoking of one cigarette. It is well known, of course, that excessive smoking causes cough, bronchitis, all of which usually disappear when smoking is stopped. Physicians have little trouble identifying a smoker by one look at the inflamed mucous membranes of the nose and throat. The cilia lining the passages to the lungs play an important protective rule.

 The mucous membranes in these passages secrete a sticky fluid which serves to trap dust and other particles in inhaled air; and the cilia, through a continuous whip like motion, carry the sticky fluid upward so it can be swallowed or expectorated. Thus the lungs are kept clean. Cigarette smoking slows, then stops, ciliary action and, if continued long enough, destroys the cilia. There have been studies with carefully controlled populations-in boarding schools, for example, where observations could be carried out over an extended period-showing that regular smokers have nine times as high an incidence of severe respiratory infections as do nonsmokers. 

Smoking life problems, ageing, breathing problems, cancer, lung cancer etc

By 1967, there was evidence that, including women, there were on any average day 800 deaths in the United States attributable to cigarette smoking: 175 due to cancer, 375 to diseases of heart and circulatory system, 250 to chronic bronchitis, emphysema, peptic ulcers, and other diseases. Cigarette smoking is the major villain, but studies do show some relationship of cigar and pipe smoking to coronary heart disease and circulatory system disease, and to cancers of mouth, pharynx, and larynx. 

The non inhaling mouth smoker, which is what the usual cigar and pipe smoker tends to be, must realize that there is still 25 to 50 percent absorption of nicotine from the mouth (compared to 90 percent from the lungs when smoke is inhaled) and for the heavy mouth smoker this can be a real hazard. But the overall death rate is much less influenced by cigar and pipe smoking. For example, for men smoking only cigars the death rate is 22 percent higher than for nonsmokers between ages 45 and 64, and 5 percent higher after 65. For pipe smokers, it is 11 percent higher than for nonsmokers between 45 and 64, 2 percent higher after 65.

  

THE HARMFUL SUBSTANCES

Tobacco smoke is made up of gases, vapors, and chemical compounds with the proportions varying depending upon the type of tobacco, how it is smoked, and the burning temperature. While a cigarette is being puffed, the burning zone temperature reaches about 1580°F (water boils at 212°F). One of the potentially harmful gases in cigarette smoke is a powerful poison, hydrogen cyanide. Another is carbon monoxide, which is present in a concentration 400 times greater than what is considered a safe level in industry. Carbon monoxide combines with hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying substance in red blood cells.

Studies indicate that as much as 6 percent of the hemoglobin in the blood of an average smoker is taken up and inactivated by carbon monoxide; in a heavy smoker, 8 percent. Taking the place of oxygen, carbon monoxide leads to shortness of breath on exertion. 

Swimming a great relaxation source

A swim should leave you relaxed and comfortable; if it does not, you have stayed in the water too long. Take a shorter swim next time.  Long swim, have someone row along beside you or go with and long good swimmer. And be sure both of you know life-saving technique. 

The most expert swimmer can get a cramp-and if he does, he would drag you down unless you know how to avoid desperate clutches and how to tow him to shore. No matter how well you swim, stay close to shore if you are swimming to an isolated spot. Any races you may have won in high school or college will not protect you against cramps.

Don't try to swim a long distance the first few times out. Your swimming muscles may have lost strength through inaction; give them time to get strong again before you tackle rapid currents, heavy seas, or long distances. Before diving in a new place, test the water for depth and hidden logs or rocks. Lakes and rivers change in depth depending upon rainfall; md in salt water, high and low tides have to be considered. 

Find out for yourself whether your dive should be a shallow one-rather than risk a broken neck. If you have trouble with sinuses or ears, give up diving and under-water swimming. Excessive water in the nose may wash away secretions that help protect against infection.

In addition, infections may wash into the sinuses through the nose or may even reach the middle ear through the Eustachian passage from the throat. 

Treatment for low weight category- How to gain weight

Weight Gain 

There is no doubt that smoking, particularly when excessive, can interfere with enjoyment of good food and may dull the appetite somewhat. It may help, if you are a heavy smoker, to at least cut down and, if possible, to avoid cigarettes just before and at mealtimes, best of all, stop completely.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Many people find that a drink, such as a glass of sherry, when sipped in leisurely fashion before dinner helps bring about relaxation and has a stimulating effect on the appetite. Alcohol should not be substituted for food, but its moderate use may be helpful.  

8 Physical Activity   corrected, and there is likely to be an improvement in general. Feelings of listlessness and fatigue are likely to be replaced by sensations of alertness and energy. Sleep will be more restful. And I here is likely to be improved ability to relax and to voluntarily reduce tension.

FATIGUE, AND TENSION PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PERHAPS NOTHING else is more important as a means of maintaining health and even warding off some major diseases than a reasonable level of physical activity. It is no exaggeration to say that exercise is good for al- most everybody and everything-that virtually no one but a bed-ridden person doesn't stand to benefit from it. There is a curious irony. New discoveries are constantly revealing the deep need of the body for activity, the values (some not even dreamed of just a few years ago) of activity in restoring health after serious ill- ness, the values for mental and emotional as well as physical well-being. 

Yet, at the same time, most of us have less and less routine opportunity for activity in our daily lives unless we deliberately seek it, and few of us seek it. On the job and off, most of us today lead soft lives.

Progress-as represented by power tools and automation, elevators and cars, TV sets and electric toothbrushes-contributes to an ever-continuing reduction of physical expenditures. We need to search out opportunities for activity, to understand the basic principles involved, and to apply them. It is very clearly worth the effort.