Posted on April 23, 2021 at 10:51 pm
If you don’t find this article sui generis, I enjoy doing kou gai – but barely enough to resort to seppuku, also called hara-kiri. However, if you think the article is really unique, I will be full of joy.
I’ve always liked using way out words, including obscure foreign words that occasionally appear in our language. But you can’t, so I’ll start over again.
Unless you find this article the opposite of ordinary – to the extent that it is in a class of its own – I am frustrated and angry, but not nearly ashamed enough to perform the ritual unbundling for which samurai atone create shame . However, if you find the item particularly unique, I’ll be thrilled.
While you may not share my interest in weird words, reading this column suggests that you are interested in exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and improving your mental state.
So I want you to learn more about three foreign words that are very important to health and fitness.
Fartlek
This Swedish noun is loosely translated as “Speed Play” (with an emphasis on “Play”) and came to the US as a direct result of the running boom in the 1970s.
A 1979 study by Yankelovich, Skelly, and White, Inc. even estimated that 40 million U.S. adults – half of those who voted in the 1976 presidential election – slapped the sidewalk a few times a week. While many experts argued the estimate was inflated, they couldn’t deny it.
Regardless of their number, these recreational runners tended to do too many runs at the same pace, often resulting in boredom, injury, or both. So some experts suggested that American runners should do a fartlek once or twice a week.
I once compared that to driving a gearshift car on a serpentine road, just for fun – and still adhering to the speed limit.
So if you’re feeling warmed up while running and the little boy comes by on a bike, you can put another gear into gear to catch him. A quarter of a mile later, and just because it feels right, you might be walking harder from one telephone pole to the next again. After doing this two or three more times, you can take advantage of the “free speed” from this exit two blocks in front of your house to try to go faster than between the poles.
While the running boom has come and gone, a Fartlek’s speed game can be applied to any cardiovascular exercise. For example, it’s a great way to break the monotony of that half hour that you do on the elliptical three times a week. But contrary to what you can find on the internet, a real Fartlek cannot be preconceived and written down.
If so, it is really this other form of training that only those who are really preparing for the competition need: structured intervals.
Hara Hachi Bu
More than 400 years before the birth of Christ, Confucius advised eating up to “eight parts full”, hara hachi bu. Because a less than full stomach digests food faster and reduces the likelihood of digestive problems, this has become the norm across the Far East.
It is still widely persecuted on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Studies of today’s Okinawans have shown that Hara Hachi Bu does more than just improve digestion. Compared to other areas, Okinawa has one of the lowest rates of heart disease, cancer, and stroke in the world, and one of the highest life expectancy rates.
In addition, Okinawa has the highest percentage of centenarians in the world, at around 50 per 100,000 people. Their seniors have a collective BMI that is more than 15 percent lower than seniors in the United States
Nothing
When asked about the current levels of stress in adults and adolescents in the United States, one healthcare professional responded with one word: “discouraging”. When stress has a stranglehold on you, a little Niksen can simply break its grip.
A source cited in a July 12, 2019 Time Magazine article written by Sophia Gottfried explains that this Dutch word means “do nothing, be inactive or do something without use”. Examples are examples of sitting around the house, listening to music, and letting your mind wander.
While Niksen seems like a way to escape work and problems, the result is often the opposite. A 2013 study published in Frontiers in Psychology and cited in the Time article showed that a little Niksen provided inspiration and clarity about upcoming actions in the subjects studied.
In addition, allowing your mind to wander while your body is doing “nothing” – which includes things you can reflexively do, such as doing “nothing”. B. Knitting – stress free time for the former and recovery time for the latter.
Attend Niksen regularly and you will slow down the aging process and strengthen your immune system.
