My attention was grabbed this morning by two reports, one on prolonged use of painkillers like Ibuprofen which can increase your chance of a heart attack by 19% in the worst cases. I think we all knew that too many painkillers can be bad for you but this is a timely warning using concrete evidence gained from investigation of a large number of people to beware of getting into the painkiller habit.
Then I saw another report from University College London, another very large study which has reached the conclusion that many youngsters have hearts that are comparable to those of sixty year old people. The cause of this is mainly put down to obesity and lack of exercise. This really interests me because of my own experience and my knowledge of history.
I have always been derisive of the people who say things like “Hard work never did anyone any harm!”. Usually these people have never done a day of hard work in their lives. I have always said that whilst it might not harm you, it can make you a funny shape! However, I also recognise that hard physical work combined with good food has its benefits. A lady once asked me if I 'lifted weights', meaning of course in a gym. I told her no, I didn't need to because my bosses paid me for exercising all day. The result of this was that I had good bone mass, was strong and fit as a butcher's dog until I was forty and eased off a bit at the mill.
These days, work lifting weights like that is illegal under Elfin Safety and on the whole a good thing to but I often wonder if we have gone a bit too far. Very few shifts at work can be described as an eight hour work-out. Think of the number of young people in their formative years from mid-teens to middle age who never do any hard work, many being in sedentary jobs. Look at the number of older schoolchildren who are under-developed with no muscle bulk and arms and legs like pipe stems. Even at that young age they are losing out. We used to be roaming, climbing and building stuff at every opportunity. Many a time we would set off on Saturday morning with a jam butty in our pocket and instructions not to come home until we got hungry! Our parents had no idea where we were and a good job too because we got into some dangerous places. This not only kept us fit but encouraged a degree of common sense because we never had a serious accident.
So, on the whole I feel sorry for the young, they are missing out on early play and exercise at work. It doesn't surprise me to see that in later life it is having an effect. It's one of those rare cases where 'The Bad Old Days' were a positive benefit.
Very heavy work at the foundry.
