Exercise is Good for You

[MichaelJH]

Well we all know this but I am going to tell you about someone who lived to a good age with no exercise.

Today is the anniversary of the death of William Sharp who died on 1856. William was a farmer's son who at the age of 29 was stood up at the alter. He returned home and took to his bed where he remained for 49 years until his death. Apparently he grew quite fat in that time and his final words were "Poor Bill, poor Bill, poor Bill Sharp"! Obviously he had a severe form of mental illness as most was not recognised then. Quite sad really and not recommended...

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

On the subject of exercise is good for you, my local cardio rehab team put an article on their Facebook site yesterday showing the written guidance for how to deal with Heart Disease from 1945

The first item reads:-

Enforce complete bed rest for six weeks

and the final item suggests an amount of phenobarbitol for sedation, or more if necessary to keep the patient quiet!😲

Basically tuck up in bed and chemically cosh the patient!

Phenobarbitol, in a very prue form, is I believe used as the lethal injection on death row in the US.

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

It has been used as a seditive for about a decade prior to the main drug which causes respiratory arrest. If the person were not out of it it sounds horrendously cruel!

[Calliope153]

For various reasons Florence Nightingale took to her bed aged 37 and stayed there for eleven years..... makes her achievements even more impressive. She died aged 90.....

[Milkfairy Heart Star in reply to Calliope153]

Maybe she had chronic fatigue syndrome, myalgic encephalomyelitis ?

[Calliope153 in reply to Milkfairy]

you can take your pick from all sorts of explanations..........

[Alison_L in reply to Calliope153]

Her family would probably call it "a touch of the vapours"!

[Calliope153 in reply to Alison_L]

which would have been kinder than some of the things suggested by historians..... I tend to go with the diagnosis of brucellosis - she spent her time honing her skills as a statistician and raising money for her charities. Surprisingly her book on nursing was still being issued to trainee nurses up to 1974..... Remarkable woman.

[Gladwyn]

Poor guy..... Jilted and broken hearted. 🙁