The Benefits of Activity

Action is a law of our being. Every organ of the body has its appointed work, upon the performance of which its development and strength depend. The normal action of all the organs gives strength and vigor, while the tendency of disuse is toward decay and death. Bind up an arm, even for a few weeks, then free it from its bands, and you will see that it is weaker than the arm you have been using moderately during the same time. Inactivity produces the same effect on the whole muscular system.MHH 130.1

Inactivity is a fruitful cause of disease. Exercise quickens and equalizes the circulation of the blood, but in idleness the blood does not circulate freely, and the changes in it, so necessary to life and health, do not take place. The skin, too, becomes inactive. Impurities are not expelled as they would be if the circulation had been quickened by vigorous exercise, the skin kept in a healthy condition, and the lungs supplied with plenty of pure, fresh air. This state of the system throws a double burden on the excretory organs, and disease is the result.MHH 130.2

Invalids should not be encouraged in inactivity. When there has been serious overtaxation in any direction, entire rest for a time will sometimes ward off serious illness, but in the case of confirmed invalids it is seldom necessary to suspend all activity.MHH 130.3

Those who have broken down from mental work should have rest from wearing thought, but they should not be led to believe that it is dangerous to use their mental powers at all. Many are inclined to regard their condition as worse than it really is. This state of mind is unfavorable to recovery and should not be encouraged.MHH 130.4

Ministers, teachers, students, and other brain workers often suffer from illness as the result of severe mental taxation, unrelieved by physical exercise. What these persons need is a more active life. Strictly temperate habits, combined with proper exercise, would ensure both mental and physical vigor and would give power of endurance to all brain workers. Those who have overtaxed their physical powers should not be encouraged to forgo manual labor entirely. But work, to be of the greatest advantage, should be systematic and agreeable. Outdoor exercise is the best; it should be so planned as to strengthen by use the organs that have become weakened. And the heart should be in it. Manual labor should never degenerate into mere drudgery.MHH 130.5

When invalids have nothing to occupy their time and attention, their thoughts become centered upon themselves, and they grow morbid and irritable. Many times they dwell upon their bad feelings until they think they are much worse off than they really are and wholly unable to do anything.MHH 130.6

In all these cases well-directed physical exercise would prove an effective remedial agent. In some cases it is indispensable to the recovery of health. The will goes with the labor of the hands, and what these invalids need is to have the will aroused. When the will is dormant, the imagination becomes abnormal, and it is impossible to resist disease.MHH 131.1

Inactivity is the greatest curse that could come upon most invalids. Light employment in useful work does not tax either mind or body but has a beneficial influence on both. It strengthens the muscles, improves the circulation, and gives invalids the satisfaction of knowing that they are not wholly useless in this busy world. They may be able to do but little at first, but they will soon find their strength increasing, and the amount of work done can be increased accordingly.MHH 131.2

Exercise aids a person with indigestion by giving the digestive organs a healthy tone. To engage in severe study or violent physical exercise immediately after eating hinders the work of digestion, but a short walk after a meal, with the head erect and the shoulders back, is a great benefit.MHH 131.3

Many people neglect physical exercise in spite of all that is said and written concerning its importance. Some grow obese because the system is clogged. Others become thin and feeble because their strength is exhausted in disposing of an excess of food. The liver is burdened in its effort to cleanse the blood of impurities, and illness is the result.MHH 131.4

Those whose habits are sedentary should, when the weather permits, exercise in the open air every day, summer or winter. Walking is preferable to riding or driving, for it brings more of the muscles into exercise. The lungs are forced into healthy action, since it is impossible to walk briskly without inflating them.MHH 131.5

Such exercise would in many cases do more than medicine to improve one’s health. Physicians often advise their patients to take an ocean voyage, go to some mineral spring, or visit some place with a different climate, when in most cases if the sick would eat temperately and take cheerful, healthful exercise, they would recover health. Plus, they would save time and money.MHH 131.6