WALKING TO HEALTH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4618, 29 October 1923, Page 4

WALKING TO HEALTH.

An unusually large number of people appear to be complaining at present of what most of them call ‘eye-strain,’” writes the medical correspondent of the Times’ Trade Supplement. “ They feel some uneasiness in the eyelids, and are aware of a sense of weakness in adapting their vision from long to short'distances The .attacks were espec ally frequent during the blazing weatbsr of the early days* of August, but the return to colder conditions does not seem to have abolished them completely. There is no doubt that, in the present year, our eyes! have been subjected to many and great stresses. In a single fortnight the degree of intensity of the sunlight in London was nearly trebled. Such a change represents a severe stimulus to the optic nerves. Granted that the poisons of a sedentary life or a passing ailment increase the excitability of the nervous system, it is obvious that a heat wave must become a formidable test of our sight—and not of /'fht only. For the eye possesses a mernanism of adjustment to light and another mechanism of adjustment to distance ‘Eye-strain’ as at present experienced is an indication of the need of a holiday. Green fields are more restful than city streets. They are free from But it is not the eyes which need the change so much as the whole body. Poisons accumulate in city living. They can be got rid of only, by adopting a freer and more strenuous form of existence. That is why, after a week at the seaside or in the country, the strained feeling so often passes away. The nervous system has lost its excitability, and the eyes no longer convey shocks to the brain. Until that stage of recovery is reached it is a good form of recreation for those whose eye? are tired. One sees too much too swiftly in the modern car. The old fashioned walking tour is still probably the shortest cut to health—and few there be who take it. It is worth taking, for its leisure soothes the mind while its gentle exercise cleanse® the body. But it must be taken slowily, without stress, above all without a set programme of miles per day or, worse still, miles per hour. The appetite induced by that form of recreation is real, it represents an actual body need, and so expresses health. The (Sleep, top, which follows these steady days is Nature’s tonic.”