Daily News from New York, New York • 256

exercise -or die Health clubs are crowded with men convinced that physical activity prevents heart attacks II ,3 id i one other fellow besides myself had not suffered a coronary." Lyon spends almost two hours during each visit to a Shelton Health Club. "I usually go dur-in the lunch period, and concentrate on swimming. In my business, there's tremendous tension and I find a swim and a rubdown help calm me and keep me fit. I'm at the dangerous age of 50 and I know that exercise is vital in preventing a heart attack." Another Shelton Health Club member adhering to a steady physical regimen is Frank Banks, resident manager of the St. Regis Hotel.

"I'm tied down to a desk job, and I think it essential that I get my heart moving by engaging in some form of physical exercise. I usually stop in at the club twice a week Sunday mornings and some day during the middle of the week. My favorite exercise is swimming. I don't go in for either the weight lifting bit or calisthenics. My main concern is to stimulate my heart.

I know it's a muscle and therefore must be kept in peak condition." The importance of physical activity in preventing fatal heart attacks has many advocates among leading cardiologists. More than a few believe that exercise could be the key to the entire heart disease picture. Perhaps the best known of this group is Dr. Paul Dudley White, who gained world fame among laymen when he treated former President Eisenhower following his heart seizure. "The greatest challenge of public health today is keeping the middle-aged physically fit," Dr.

White has said. "Physical activity is just as necessary to life as food, air and water. People live by activity. The only time they do not need exercise is when they are dead. Physical activity helps keep your muscles in tone as nature intended them to be.

It aids respiration, digestion, blood circulation and the elimination of body wastes. It is a law of nature that your organs as well as muscles grow stronger with use, weaker with disuse." The 81-year-old heart specialist believes there are few exercises as beneficial as walking and bicycling. In fact, White has said: "I would like to put everybody on bicycles, not once in a while, but regularly as a routine. That is a good way to prevent heart disease." It's not Dr. White's contention that a middle-aged man should train like a fighter preparing for a championship match.

"I don't think it necessary to undertake vigorous exercises every day. A couple of times a week, or even once a week would be enough. Even the weekend exerciser may be all right, may be helping himself. If one wanted to have a perfect plan, one might recommend an hour of exercise a day." Dr. White's personal preoccupation with exercise sometimes borders on the fanatic.

One wintry evening in New York City some years ago, he felt the need for a long walk. It was after By BOB LARDINE The pale, paunchy business executive walked wearily into the registration office of the YMHA's 92d branch. "I'd like to sign up for your physical fitness program," he said, and then a note of urgency crept into his voice. "When can I begin? Tomorrow?" The clerk sadly shook his head as he repeated the same lines he had been mouthing for months: "I'm sorry. We have a waiting list of 1,500 ahead of you.

I don't know when we'll be able" to accommodate you." Throughout the city, the situation is much the same. Other YMHAs and all YMCAs report crowded conditions. Even the pre-breakfast sessions at the Ys are packed with sweating, pot-bellied men. Popular urban spas such as the Shelton Health Clubs, Al Roon's Health Clubs and the Roof Health Club boast near capacity memberships. In fact, all 40 health clubs in the metropolitan area would welcome the opportunity to expand their facilities.

What has caused this stampede to health emporiums by middle-aged males? The answer seems obvious. They are scared. The American Heart Association message has gotten through. Heart disease kills men in their 40s and 50s in plague proportions. This year more than one million persons will succumb to the nation's number one scourge.

To many men, it's simply a case of exercise or die. They realize that a controlled diet and smoking abstinence can help keep them alive. But they also know sitting behind a desk all day and walking only enough to get to the car contributes to out-of-shape condition and invites heart seizure. Herbert Lyon, one of the city's busiest criminal lawyers, typifies the New Yorker bent on preventing his own early demise. "I go to a health club at least once a week because I want to stay alive," he says.

"It's as simple as that. There's a terrific mortality in the legal profession, and every one in it is acutely aware of the heart attack danger. Just last week, a colleague of mine dropped dead in the courthouse. And when I attended a lawyers' dinner not too long ago, I mentally made the observation that only midnight, but that didn't bother the hardy doctor. He set out in his brisk jogging stride for the Queensbo rough Bridge.

When he was a little more than half way across, a police car pulled alongside him. The officers seeing the thin white-haired oldster dashing across the bridge in the middle of night feared he might be an eccentric out to harm himself. It took Dr. White some time to convince the cops that he was just out for a little stroll. An enthusiastic supporter of Dr.

White's views on physical activity is Dr. Thomas K. Cureton, director of the physical fitness research laboratory at the University of. Illinois. He's appalled at the statistics that reveal one out of every two people will die of cardiovascular disease before they reach age 60.

(Last year, 36,781 New Yorkers fell victims to coronary disease.) Dr. Cureton, a pioneer in researching effects of exercise on the heart, cateuorically states: NEW YORK SUNDAY NEWS MARCH 24. 1968 page ao.