Working Through The Pain

[poliphilo]

Work is a wonderful anaesthetic. I went for a walk round the fields and hauled some branches about and the pains- which were considerable- more or less disappeared. I made me understand how before there was modern medicine people used to get by on a regime of working and working and drinking and drinking and then falling into bed at the end of the day. Arthritis and rheumatics and all those diseases of advancing age can be toughed out.

I thought we'd got through last night's storm without major damage but I went to the bottom of the lower field- not visible from the house- and found that a neighbour's tree which was right up against the fence had come crashing onto our land, falling into the gully down which the streamlet flows. Matthew said it would be the next to go and he was right.

Comments

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

"Arthritis and rheumatics and all those diseases of advancing age can be toughed out." Sometimes they can, and sometimes they can't. If I were to go for a walk round the fields and then haul some branches, I'm fairly sure the pain would become unbearable and would stay that way for days. Believe me, I tried. My dad tried, too. He eventually had to go in for surgery because the pain was so bad he couldn't work anymore. And as far as "drinking and drinking and then falling into bed", that was my mom's strategy. She died at 56 of cirrhosis of the liver.

It's good that you are at a stage of health where you can do that, but that is not true for everyone, and it may not always be true for you.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I might have added that the people who lived that way didn't usually get to make old bones...

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

I was trying to find another article I read recently to link to here, but this one about how exercise prevents Alzheimers will have to do.

The one I wanted was a Scandiwegian(?) one the upshot of which is that hauling branches and doing quite strenuous exercise keeps your mind in better shape than the gentle exercise and stretching etc normally suggested for the over seventies, and that strenuous exercise can actually rejuvenate muscle tissue and stimulate the production of human growth hormone which keep your brain tickety boo.

I am pretty sure that anything strenuous wuth a visible result must be psychologically better than gym style stuff. I mean, if someone made me pull on and pick up quoits for an hour, I'd be bored stiff. Weeding for the same time fills me with satisfaction.

I listened to a fascinating paper at a conference years ago about the observations a French country doctor in the 1860s (Google isn't helping me, but I shall fnd it eventually). Lots of his haute bourgeoise female patients were seeking his help with nervous disorders and severe menstrual pain. He also attended, pro bono, to the local peasantry. He noted that the working class women had easier confinements, generally, and much less painful menses than the wealthy, idle ones.

He suggested to some of his richer patients that they should eat less meat and more vegetables, eat brown bread like their servants and do some light work in their gardens or houses or take long walks in the sunshine. He was ridiculed, reviled and ultimately bankrupted for his failure to recognise the delicacy of proper ladies and for assuming they shared the animal natures of the lower orders.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't find this surprising. Real work with a purpose is infinitely more satisfying that anything you can get up to in a gym. By the same token a proper run (or, even better, a proper walk) through real countryside or real streets is going to be a lot more stimulating than a run on an exercise machine.

I hate gymns. I haven't seen the inside of one since I left school.

It's unnatural not to work.