Many people today worry about how to find time to keep fit and healthy in the midst of their busy lives. Believe it or not, but this was also a problem in ancient times.
So, how did ancient people deal with it?
A universal problem
The physician Galen, who lived from around 129 to 216 AD, dealt with thousands of patients in the city of Rome.
He used to complain some people didn’t devote enough time to keeping fit. In his treatise, Hygiene, Galen wrote one of his patients, a philosopher called Premigenes, was such a workaholic he stayed inside all the time writing books. Because of this bad lifestyle, Premigenes got sick.
Galen said Premigenes needed to work less, and devote more time to getting exercise and some sun.
Some 2,000 years later, most of us will be able to relate to this. The World Health Organization has a number of recommendations for the amount of exercise one should do each week. But it can be difficult to balance work and other commitments with our health and fitness. …..more
