There is a craze today for all manner of exercise machines, from contrivances which are pedalled to those which are rowed. The idea that exercise is possible without such aids is rarely entertained, apparently.
The notion that health might be achieved or maintained by means of treadmills, potters' wheels and grinding grain in hollow stones with a flat pestle was, of course, not current among our ancestors, who thought of such activities as performing a useful social function, but no more. Yet there is a significant overlap of functions here.
Not many years ago pharmacists were aware that the prolonged manipulation of a heavy pestle in a mortar could be relied upon to develop strong arm muscles in the hapless juniors who were given the task of comminuting various drugs prior to their incorporation into medicines. And in the domestic sphere of activity the rubbing of clothes on a scrubbing board, the mangling of the soppy articles and their hanging out on a clothes line were not generally regarded as valuable health-building exercises, but simple coping with life.
I well remember as a small child turning the mangle for my grandmother and finding satisfaction in it. But I also remember some of my uncles who, disdaining humble domestic tasks, preferred to seek exercise deliberately by attaching a powerful elastic gadget to the door handles and tugging at it until, occasionally, the handle gave up the struggle before the uncle did, and the uncle admired his rippling biceps.
Such equipment, a mere foreshadow of what was to come, has undergone vast changes in our own day, when climbing over bars, throwing heavy objects about in a padded gymnasium, or operating complex machinery for an hour or two daily is taken for granted as the only form of exercise worthy of the name. Yet while we delight in propelling specially designed bicycles over mountainous terrain, we tend to choose a press-button, fuel-powered machine when we want to get to work or the shops. We cannot move from our comfortable chair to operate a light or a piece of electronic equipment, but must juggle with a hand-held remote control. The entrepreneurs who offer us various gadgets in the name of health are doing very well out of it. And by introducing an element of competition into our exercise schedules they are turning everyday physical activity into sport.
A number of letters published in the British Medical Journal for January 15 have raised the problem of keeping fit among the elderly. They argue that to decrease morbidity and mortality attributable to ageing it is not necessary to go to the extreme of participating in sessions of muscular activity, such as are designed to increase and maintain cardiovascular fitness. The essential element of physical activity need not be vigorous, but can be ensured through regular household chores, gardening, moving from place to place, mild sports or hobbies.
The fact to remember is that an expenditure of energy amounting to 150kcal per kg body weight daily will reduce the risk of life-threatening disease of a cardiovascular nature, always assuming a sensible and adequate diet. Social activities and productive creative hobbies reduce the risk of death in the aged. To have no occupation which involves moving and planning - that is to say, to become a couch-potato - is the recipe for disaster. There is no need to stagger to the gymnasium for planned sessions.