p. 119 | GOOD HEALTH

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 18, 1878

GOOD HEALTH.

Labor Produces Long Life.

In view of the short duration of life entailed by some occupations, it must be regarded as a consoling fact, that labor in general does not tend to shorten life; but on the contrary, by strengthening health, lengthens life; while on the other hand, idleness and luxury are productive of the same results as the most unhealthy occupations. Dr. Guy, an Englishman, in calculating the average duration of life in the wealthy classes, arrived at the very surprising result, with regard to adults, that the higher the position in the social scale, the more unlimited their means, the less the probability of a long life.

We have so long been accustomed to consider the possession of riches as the best guarantee for physical welfare, that many will be surprised to hear from Guy that "the probability of the duration of life lessens, with regard to adults in each class of population, in the same degree as the beneficial impulse for occupation is lacking. If a person who for a long time has lived an active life retires from business, it may be taken for granted, with a probability of ten to one, that he had seized the most effective means to shorten his life." We may smile at the soap maker who, after having fortunately retired from business, went, nevertheless, on each day of soap-boiling, into his workshop; but it must also be acknowledged that his instinct did not mislead him. Of all conditions of life, idleness is the hardest for nature to combat; and this is especially true of persons who have accustomed themselves to a busy life. —Sel.