| Show Danger of Work After Eating It has long been known that a man I is not at his best for hard mental work directly after a hearty meal but the 1 real dangers of work under such conditions i ditions are perhaps hardly appreciated I The tension is increased not only in the arteries oC the body but also in all probability In those of the brain and this makes it easy for a weakened poInt to give way The still unsettled question whether or not vasomotor nerves exist for the cerebral arterioles here suggests itself with the consequent conse-quent queries as to the regulation of the cerebral circulation It certainly does not appear that brain hypertension hyperten-sion Is materially relieved by any splanchnic diversion We recently have had a striking instance in-stance oC death from apoplexy occurring occur-ring In a prominent physician while making an afterdinner speech and the notable death of William Wlndoin a few years ago under similar circumstances circum-stances will be remembered and still other cases might be mentioned The dangers from this cause have not been recognized but when we remember that these public banquets Involve a pretty hearty ingestion of food and a consequent rise of bloodpressure it need not be wondered at that sudden deaths from apoplexy during after dinner speeches are often recorded Apoplexy is a wellknown possibility of mental strain the weak point maybe I may-be unknown to the subject himself and not revealed by any objective symptoms symp-toms The individual may have passed a lifeInsurance examination successfully success-fully only a short time before as is reported to have been the case with the physician above referred to but the special stress becomes too strong for some point of weakness and the result is fatal It Is not work whether mental men-tal or physical that kills Intellectual workers as a rule are among the longerlived but special stress under certain circumstances such as post convivial occasions when the normal tendency to rise of bloodpressure In the peripheral circulation is most marked may be disastrous This danger dan-ger of mental effort directly after cat InS is one that possibly needs to be emphasized Journal of the American Medical Association |
