“TOO STRENUOUS.”

Shannon News, 10 July 1925, Page 4

“TOO STRENUOUS.”

DOCTOR ON MODERN LIFE. PACE THAT KILLS. LONDON, June 2. Sir Thomas Horder, Physician-in-Ordinary to the Prince of Wales, told a gathering of 700 American and Canadian doctors to-day that he believed that the hustle of modern life and the pace at which people lived, coupled with nerve strain, had become a large factor in the incidence of disease, introducing many new types. He urged doctors, to induce their patients to return to a simpler life, and thus raise their general resistance to disease, and‘also raise their nerve tone. The Contrary View. An entirely opposite view regarding the effect of the modern hustling life is held by Dr. W. J. Mayo, one of the leading medical men of America, who while in Sydney 14 months ago, expressed the opinion that the human race was not so susceptible to disease as formerly. "Science," he sai<|, "is gradually eliminating many of the diseases which have ravaged mankind in the past. Statistics in the United States show that since the Civil War the average length of life has been increased by 12 years, being now 52 years instead of 40 years, and there is every hope that this increase will eventually be doubled.”

Then, last month, while participating in a controversy in the United States concerning evolution, he declared: "Twelve years have been added to the average man’s life in the past 40 vears, and the so-called fast pace has had much to do with it. The motorcar takes people into the open, and other modern inventions tend to better living. The short skirts women wear nowadays are much healthier than the old style of long ones." Dr. Purdy’s Opinion.

"There is no question that the old adage, 'early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy,’ even if it does not make him wealthy and wise,’" said the Metropolitan Officer of Health of Sydney, Dr. Purdy, endorsing the view reported in the cablegram. Dr. rui'dy is an old friend of Sir Thomas Horder, and endorses the latter.’s opinion. "The modern prevalence of neurasthenia,” he said, “is undoubtedly due to the bustle and hustle of city life. In Sydney, the noise from the trams alone must induce a considerable amount of nervous disturbance. People should / lead sober lives, and eat simple foods, especially fresh foods containing vitamines, such as letluce, white cabbage, tomatoes and i oits. Dr. Purdy added that, with care, there was no reason why people in a modern city should not live to 70, but the difference between city life and the simple life in tho country was instanced by statistics relating to Massachusetts, which showed that' the average life of agriculturists was 68 years, as compared with 39 for women employed in factories. Not Irreconcilable. The Director-General of Public Health, Sydney, Dr. Dick, says that the views of Dr. Mayo and Sir Thomas Holder are not irreconcilable. Modern civilisation has improved health in some ways and caused its deterioration in others. Diseases due to bad sa ’litation and lack of ventilation have decreased, but nervous diseases and excitability, due to the high pressure of modern life and the rush after pleasuit, has increased. The use of stimulants and narcotics has also grown. ‘‘The history of the world has shown that changing conditions tend to cremate other forms of disease," said Dr. Dick. “To-day, for instance, cancer is on the increase, while tuberculosis is on the wane.”