Business Men’s Health

THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADAHEAD OFFICE, MONTREAL

November, 1947

B USINESS men, who pay large sums in taxes todefray the cost of public health services, anddonate millions of dollars every year to health

causes, are too often negligent about looking aftertheir own well-being.

It is not a fair attitude. Even if they don’t care,personally, whether they live to a green old age (andsome really act as if that were true) every man owessomething to his family, his firm and his country.The more successful and enterprising he is, the greatergap his passing will leave in many lives.

This article is to suggest that it is time to pause andask: "How fast am I going- and where ?" It willnot attempt to tell what you should or should not do,and it is not a prescription for whatever ails you. Itwill simply point to some features about health, andhint at a few things that may add happy years toyour useful life.

Not all ailments can be pinned down to bodilyillness, and much of this Monthly Letter will beabout upsets originating in the mind. It is an indis-putable fact that these two- mind and body- goclosely in harness. For this reason physicians aremore and more breaking away from the last centuryidea of treating a patient’s body as a kind of phenom-enon in a vacuum. Symptoms of illnesses must belooked upon as being the result of the patient’s pastlife, present environment, economic, social andcultural experiences.

Throughout this letter, when a distinction is madefor the sake of clarity between body and mind mech-anisms, it should be recalled that man is a totalitywhose sorrows and ambitions, fears and hopes, allshare in determining his physical condition.

The ChangedPace of Life

Some are inclined to brush off efforts to improvetheir health with the statement thatbad health is the inevitable result ofthe changed pace at which !ire is lived;

Earlier civilizations had, relative to their stage ofdevelopment, just as onerous conditions, just asexciting and worrisome experiences, but they wereforced, by the lack of modern inventions, to haveperiods of inactivity.

As illustrations, consider the following:

The absence of adequate artificial light forced manyprojects to be confined to daylight hours: now theyare carried on into the night.

The slowness of transportation gave much moreleisure in travelling, though there was less comfort.

The slow rate of communication forced transac-tions to be spread over a longer period of time.

The dearth of professional entertainment --stage,screen, radio and others- left time for meditationand thought.

The dispersal of a smaller population over ruraldistricts provided fewer social contacts than arenecessitated by today’s urban crowding.

As a prominent physician said to us when discussingthis subject: "Not so very many years ago the words’meditation’ and ’contemplation’ commanded a gooddeal of respect. Some people published their ’Medita-tions’, and ’The Contemplative Life’ was consideredto be quite respectable and not without value to thecommunity. Since then, in our Western civilization,the fashion has grown of putting more emphasis on’doing’ rather than ’thinking’. Many people haveformed the habit of filling every waking hour with’doing something’, so that they are incapable of spend-ing an hour alone with their thoughts without beingbored and unhappy."

Throughout the change one principle holds true:whatever the strain or crisis, whipping a tired horsemay make it go faster for a lap or two, but it doesn’thelp the horse’s physical well-being. On occasion,such as in time of war, men and women becomeexpendable and are used up at a fast rate. In normaltimes no man owes it to himself or to anyone else towhip himself into physical or nervous exhaustion.

People, of course, deny that they are under tensionor strain. They think that to admit being upset wouldbe somehow degrading. They keep piling up grainsof irritation, like the drunl~en Rip Van Winkle inJefferson’s play, who excused himself for every freshtipple by saying: "I won’t count this one." Well, he

may not count it, but it is being counted none theless. Down among the cells and tissues the count goeson, registering, and storing it up to be used againsthim. "Nothing we ever do," said Professor James,"is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out."

Emotions

It is wrong to look upon emotional states asmerely reflecting bodily states. Theyquite as often determine the well-beingof the body. Not hard work, but

bottled-up emotion is the corrosive force eating awaymany a man’s health and tranquillity.

We are told by a Montreal physician that evidencefrom scientific investigation suggests that the emo-tions arise from the region of the inter-brain, an areabelow the cerebral cortex which is concerned mainlywith thought and intelligence. They make manifesttheir effects through the involuntary nervous systemwhich is mainly distributed to internal organs of thebody, such as the heart and blood vessels, the kid-neys, the stomach and intestines, the glands of internalsecretion and involuntary muscles. Therefore, as onemight suspect, the effect of emotions is mainly feltby these organs.

The location of the centre for emotions being belowthe cerebrum or "thinking" part of the brain suggeststhey developed at an earlier stage in our evolution.It is believed that they were important means ofdefence which enabled our remote ancestors to survive.For example, anger marshalled all the powers of thebody to fight; fear caused flight from danger; loveperpetuated the race.

The function of the emotions has been partiallytaken over by the intellect, and the thinking part ofour brain is able to modify them to some extent, butnot completely. Thus we cannot stop growing angry,feeling afraid or being in love, but we can control theeffect of our emotions to a considerable extent.

These emotions which were so useful and necessaryto our ancestors are quite often a nuisance and adanger in our present civilization, although they arestill of definite value. Perhaps the most difficult taskevery man has to face during life is to modify andcontrol his emotions so that he will preserve theirvalues and avoid their ill-effects.

Worry

Let’s mention worry as one ingredient in tension.Everyone knows that a man inlaughing, cheerful, kindly, happymood is less likely to be sick or

fatigued than if his mood is one of discontent, griefor despair, but many persons who are doingimportant jobs find themselves in need of" treatmentbecause their moods are getting them down.

It is generally conceded that worry can be beatenif problems are honestly sought out, faced up to,and analysed. If the problem is actually your business,don’t brush it aside. Tackle it. If you solve it, youhave nothing more to worry about; if it is a problemyou can’t solve after honestly trying, then you mustwrite it off as you do a bad debt. Should the worry

be about something that is not your business, or some-thing remote about which you can do nothing, makea clean sweep of it out of your mind.

Some people will say: "It’s easy enough to talklike that, but not so easy to do." Right there is wherethe danger lies. Just as soon as a useless worryshows signs of seizing a firm hold upon you is thetime to abandon appeasement and take grim measures.The resulting effort will not be nearly so difficultas you think, nor so depressing as the effect of allow-ing worry to degenerate into nervous breakdown.

HeartDiseases

Heart diseases account for more deaths in NorthAmerica than the total of the nextfive major causes of death. The fatal-istic acceptance of this situation may

be caused by an apathetic "it can’t be helped --it’spart of human nature" outlook, similar to the waYpeople looked upon plagues in the 14th and 15thcenturies.

Dr. Hans Selye, whose recently published volumein the monumental "Encyclopedia of Endocrinology"is hailed as a great contribution to medicine, hasmade interesting" statements regarding heart ailments.Dr. Selye, whose laboratory is in the University ofMontreal building, has conducted ten years’ intensiveresearch, and just a few months ago he told a Mac-lean’s Magazine writer he believes diseases of theheart and circulatory system are the result of continualworry, fear and overwork. They are diseases practi-cally unknown among animals in their natural stateand among primitive peoples living an agrarian life.However, once affected, the heart needs treatment,and Dr. Selye is attacking this clinical part of the jobin hospitals in both Canada and the United Statesby both diet and medication. Dr. John A. Oille, oneof Canada’s leading heart specialists, contributed anarticle on "Exercise the Heart" to a recent issue ofthe magazine "Health". If given reasonable work todo, says Dr. Oille, the heart will perform in a way toput the best man-made machine to shame.

"NothingOrganicallyWrong"

Many of us become puzzled when, feeling badly,we visit the doctor and he tells usthere is nothing organically wrongwith us. Certainly, the sufferinR seems- v

real enough to us. If it keeps up, even after the phy-sician’s assurance, it probably means that we are thevictims of tension.

Trouble in your stomach or a pain in your neck orthe feeling that you are coming down with pneumoniamay all result from emotional unrest, and this, ifneglected, may lead into nervous disorders of variouskinds. Probably no affliction is more misunderstood.in spite of its widespread nature. In an article inNation’s Business tbr June entitled "You [)on’tHave To Cut Paper Dolls", Lawrence Galton pointsout that nervous breakdown is mowing an ever widen-ing swath through the ranks of big and little businessmen. Actually, he says, it is just an emotional crackup,of which the cause is not work or weariness but worry.

The remedy sometimes suggested is to return tothe simple life. It is said that while modern inventionhas relieved physical drudgery it has increased the

nervous strain. Dr. William Harvey, renowned asthe first authority to describe the circulation of theblood (in 1616) contributed in an interesting way this thought. Dr. Harvey carried out an autopsy onThomas Parr, who died at the rather advanced ageof 152 years and 9 months after working hard untilhe had passed his 130th birthday. Dr. Harvey at-tributed Parr’s death to the change from a frugal dietof subrancid cheese, milk and coarse hard bread tothe rich feeding he received in London, and to thechange from the healthy air of Shropshire to thefoggy climate of the metropolis. He also dwelt uponthe important fact that Parr, by leading a peasant’slife, free from care owing to its simplicity, contributedto his very advanced age. Parr, who left a son wholived to be 127, was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Parr’s kind of "simple life" has little appeal to menof affairs, and today’s people would not be willing toexchange the variety and pleasure of their way of lifefor the chance of living to 152 in the dullness of Parr’svillage. And yet, many of these selfsame modernscould increase their enjoyment of life and keep livingfor a longer time if they brought into their lives justa little bit of the calmness, regularity and sensibleeating and drinking usually associated in our thoughtswith a country village.

It is not necessary to return to the "simple life"of former times completely and permanently, but itmight be wise to make an occasional and partialreturn. This might well be done on annual holidays orweekends.

Leisure hours are frequently not used in a manner togive health and relaxation. The city club, the golfclub, the summer home in the country, and even theholiday itself are too often used for business enter-tainment and the promotion of business affairs andcontacts.

Each person must work out his own salvationregarding the kind of holiday that will do him thegreatest amount of good, but if he gives the mattersome thought he is likely to do better than if he justblindly follows custom.

What to doAbout Health

The first thing is to start both prevention and cureearly, a principle emphasized tnevery one of our articles dealing withhealth. It isn’t necessary to have a

complete breakdown ol the works betore seeking anoverhaul job. Even if all that is wrong is a personalitykink, it’s better to get it straightened out before itties itself into a hard knot. Frightening pains andsymptoms often do not arise until the damage isexrensi ve.

If, however, something has happened, and it is toolate for prevention, then action must be taken torecover the lost ground and prevent further slipping.Self-prescribed medicines, fads and cults may beharmless diversions, but they do not cure. Onlyanalysis of the situation and discovery of the causecan lead to treatment which will effect a permanentcure. Only a skilled physician is competent to diagnoseyour condition.

There are a few simple things people can do to helpkeep their bodies and minds in good working condition.They should slow down and relax every once in awhile. Relaxation isn’t magic, but it does give thebody a chance to pull itself together.

Next to rest comes exercise. Persons who havecontinuous and heavy responsibilities need to engagein outdoor activity. Watching a game creates tensmn:participating in it is relaxation, but it is just the bestkind of serious and responsible persons who eitherhave no time for exercise or content themselves withattending games as spectators. The kind and extentof exercise to be taken depends upon age, weight, andstage of fitness, and if you have not kept in trainingdon’t start in suddenly without consulting yourdoctor.

Nutrition is important. We have it on authority ofDr. C. Ward Crampton, at one time chairman ofpreventive medicine of the New York County MedicalAssociation, that whether a man at 60 will be asvigorous as the average man of 40 or decrepit andmiserable as the average octogenarian depends largelyon diet. Men and women in middle life hesitate to askfor food different from that of the rest of the family,and as a consequence they often get too little calcium,iron and protein, and eat too much starch and sugar.If there is a lack of calcium, for example, the bloodwill rob the bones to get what it needs, and hencethe bones of old people break easily. It is well tocheck with a medical practitioner whether your bodyis using eflqciently the food you are eating. The mostperfect food is useless if your digestive system doesnot absorb it.

The habit of self-medication with sedative drugssettles nothing, heals nothing and gives only fictitiousease. At the annual meeting of the American Psy-chiatric Association in Montreal this year it wasreported by a New York psychiatrist that overindul-gence in bromides leads to four principal varieties ofpsychoses, sometimes piling up one psychosis on topof another. Simple bromide intoxication is charac-terized by dullness, sluggishness, forgetfulness andirritability. The administration of some few drugs,if given under the direction of a skilled and competentphysician, may be of temporary benefit and thusenable the patient to be more capable of giving calmand thoughtful consideration to his problems.

Making BusinessLife Easier

Many factors enter_ into making a gpod businessman, but probably the bamc need ~sphysical and mental health. Alertnesshas to be coupled with sober judg-

ment and clarltv of thought. 111 guiding his subordin-ares ~ve," obstacles and past dangers, the executivefaces a demand upon his energy that only virility ofbody and keenness of mentality can supply.

An important feature about the lives of successfulbusiness men is that they have schooled themselvesto save themselves. The executive who takes thingscoolly has, apparently, plenty of time. He does notseem burdened by his task, yet he gets througla morework with less fuss than the man in the next officewho says he can spare you only two minutes. The

first man has learned to channel his steam throughthe cylinders where it does the most effective work;the second lets it go through the whistle, making alot of noise but wasting its force. The busier and moreefficient the man, the clearer his desk, the clearer hismind, and the better prepared he is to tackle newproblems.

A rational plan of living would ease the tension ofbusiness life greatly. Contrary to what was confidentlyexpected back in war years, the pressure of businesslife has not eased off. It may be time for a slow down,time to defend yourself against subordinates whoseprincipal job in life seems to be building molehillsinto mountains for you to dispose of; time to dispensewith impossible standards, such as that of beingperfect in everything. The executive who is right mostof the time is doing very well, and if he is content tobe right most of the time he is keeping his mentalbalance. It is time to abandon the flashiness of greatbursts of speed, impressive though they may be, infavour of steady work at a moderate pace. It is timeto recall that behaving excitedly does not pay off inresults for an executive nearly as well as carryingout his task in a calm manner. No mere mask ofcomposure will do. It is the inward peace and relax-ation that counts in your health, not the pretenseassumed to create an impression.

More MenLive Longer

More men are living well into their second fortyyears than ever before. Half a centuryago the average life expectancy atbirth was between 45 and 50 years;

today it is nearly twenty years longer. Much of theincrease is due to control of diseases which formerlytook great toll of young people. The science of medi-cine, the spread of good sanitation, and strides inagriculture have contributed to longevity.

Our population is getting older. Between 1921 and1941 the number of people from 0 to 19 decreasedfrom 43.4 to 37.5 per cent of total population, whilepersons 65 and over increased from 4.8 to 6.7 percent of total population. Here are the figures forCanada, abstracted from census reports twenty yearsapart:

Interpretation of the significances in that lastcolumn must await another time. They affect all ofsocial and economic life, the strength of the nationnow and in the next generation. In this Letter we areconcerned mainly with the thought that so manymore persons are living into ages which, as regardshealth, were always referred to as the "dangerousages". It is commonplace to have people say: "Oh,well, after 40 you can’t expect . . ." this and that.

It is true that science has not found an injectionthat provides renewed youth at forty, but it can showhow to continue some of the advantages of youthinto these later years.

The Artof Living

There are four main components of life from ado-lescence on:work, recreation, physicalhealth and mental health. Whenthese four are balanced, and lead us

along creative lines, then life can be very satisfyingand will be enjoyed longer.

How are we to achieve this balance ? First of all itis necessary to recall that the factors are closelyrelated. If you are emotionally upset, unhappy inyour work, deprived of an outlet for your creativeurges, your depression may cause pain symptoms inyour body.

Next thing is to realize that no hocus-pocus is goingto make you over. Get competent advice, start period-ical medical examination, and believe your physician.Don’t shy away from new practices just because theyare different from those to which your grandparentswere accustomed.

It is not so many years ago that "psychology"was a highbrow word whose users were looked uponas faddists. Today every high school child knows thatit means the science that deals with the human mindand its activities, a science which has yielded know-ledge of boundless value to people of this era.

Similarly, "psychoanalysis" was a new word notlong ago, and because of misunderstanding and abuseit fell into disrepute. Since it means simply a studyof the subconscious mind there need be nothing fear-some about it, and just because a few followers yearsago garbled the teachings of Freud is no reason tobrush aside a useful aid to mental health.

There has recently come into use another expressionwhich conveys a truth of vast importance to man-kind--the connection between mind and matter.It is "psvchosomatic (psyche --soul; soma --body)medicine."

The business man having made up his mind thatthough he feels no aches and pains he had bettertake ordinary precautions by having a medicalexamination, may learn that he needs somethingmore than medicine. He will find today’s physiciansqualified in this field. More and more people aregaihing relief at the hands of regular physicians whodevote themselves to rational psychotherapy.

The world does not owe anyone health or wealth:they have to be earned. Everybody wishes so to livethat he shall extract the greatest satisfaction fromliving, and it is in this pursuit that the art of livingmanifests itself. Many people fail in the quest becausethey never clearly think out just what the most satis-factory things for them may be.

Human beings lead all other animals in the abilityto deceive themselves, and it is a common experiencefor men to devote much time and energy to gainingsomething which proves in the end to be not whatthey wanted at all. To live wisely and well is indeedan art and he who gains skill in this greatest of allarts is favoured of the gods.

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