貧乏ゆすりが健康にいい？/ エッセイ書きました！（レッスンのことなど）

今回は、貧乏ゆすりがテーマです。ある生徒さんの同僚と、取引先に車で向かった時の笑い（？）話や、貧乏ゆすりの健康効果、座りすぎの現代人の生活、私自身の習慣など、色々と英語で書いてみました。英文エッセイの後に、少しばかり日本語でも書いております。以前習っておりました、合気道のことなども書いておりますので、ぜひお読み下さい。

Is fidgeting good for health?

By Toshihiro Kimura

What happened in the car

A couple of years ago, one student, who was in his late 50's, told us in our lesson about what happned one day when he was in a car with some of his collegues. They were on their way to see thier clients in Shikoku island. He was sitting in the front seat of the car. They were going over a big bridge when something happened. Their car started shaking! He was surprised. But he thought he knew what was happening. One of his colleagues is a fidgeter who constantly shakes his legs while sitting at his desk in the office. That man was sitting in the back seat. He thought, "there he goes again. He is fidgeting, this time in the car!" Then he looked back. He was ready to tell the man to stop shaking the car. To his surprise, the man in the back seat was just sitting still. He was not moving his legs. It was not him. It was an earthquake that was shaking the car! He got really scared, because they were in the middle of the bridge. The bridge shook a lot. So did the car.

This is the story our student told us when he read an English article about the health benefits of fidgeting (→Why Fidgeting Is Good Medicine /The New York Times ). You may wonder if fidgeting is really good for health. What is good about fidgeting?

Always sitting

The article explains fidgeting is a very good way to improve your blood flow. People spend too much time sitting. That's pretty bad for all of us. As for me, sitting is part of my life. When I teach, I sit. When I make teaching materials, I sit. When I eat meals, I sit, exept when I eat udon noodles at noodles stand where you have to keep standing while you eat. Anyway, I spend most of my time sitting. The same probably goes for many other people, I guess.

How oversitting affects blood vessels

Sitting all day is not good for our health, especially for our heart. Spending all day sitting can cause many health problems. Experts say oversitting may harden and narrow your blood vessels. That's a big problem, because you have blood vessels all around your body, and your heart sends blood to every part of your body through the blood vessels. Those blood vessels may become harder, narrower and less flexible. Moreover, we'll have cholesterol that accumulates in the blood vessels. If we have higher cholesterol levels and have a lot of cholesterol in our blood, what will happen? We will have bad blood flow. Blood won't run smoothly. We may suffer from arteriosclerosis, which means you may have harder, narrower and less flexible blood vessels. If you don't do anything, your blood vessels will be narrower and narrower, and your blood flow slows down. In the end, the vessels can be blocked. Then your blood stops running. You will be in trouble if it happens.

We all sit most of our time

Most of us sit for a long time every day when we watch TV, have meals, take a train and attend meetings. When people work, they sit at desks all day and stare at computer screens. That's bad for your eyes and bad for your heart, too. Fidgeting can be a good exercise for all the busy people who don't have time to do exercise. You can fidget secretly with no one around you, or you can fidget when you have nice people around you who understand why you make such strange movements. I hear fidgeting is recommended for elderly people who have trouble walking. You see how good fidgeting is!

How animals shake their bodies to survive

You will have good blood flow when you shake your legs. It's easy to imagine that, because when you feel cold, you shake with cold. Your body shakes to creat heat so you can keep yourself warm. You have better blood flow when you shake, so you feel warm. That reminds me of some animals that sleep through winter. We read an article before about hibernation in our lessons. They go into deep sleep when they hibernate in winter. While they sleep, they lower their body temperatures to save energy. But once every 10 to 20 days, their bodies wake up a little and shake. That way they can keep thier temperatures from going down further. It's amazing to know how their bodies work to keep them alive through the winter!

Anyway, shaking is good for our blood flow, as squarrels show.

Fidgeting and Aikido

Fidgeting is good, experts say. And I know it is good. Because I've been a kind of fidgeter for a long time. I practiced Aikido when I was young. Aikido teaches that you become stronger if you can relax. When you learn Aikido, you learn how to relax deeply. You do a lot of breathing exercises and learn how to move your body smoothly and effectively. One of the interesting ways I learnt to relax was to shake the whole body, literary from head to toe. I know it looks so funny. You shake all parts of the body very hard. And I practiced it pretty hard so I could relax the whole body. This was an exercise to relax and improve the skills of Aikido. From my experience in Aikido and many other unique exercises, I know the importance of shaking and fidgeting.

Look before you fidget

Earlier I said I spend most of my time sitting. That is true. But I don't think I like sitting for a long time. I get tired easily and I get a backache if I sit for too long. Your legs get tired and your eyes get tired. When it happens, I start shaking my body secretly when there is no one around me. I have "practiced" fidgeting for a long time. So I am an "expert" fidgeter. When I fidget, I probably look like running while sitting on a chair! (Practiced fidgeting? Or is it just one of my bad habits?)

Sometimes my wife catches me fidgeting and asks me to stop shaking, especially when she is writing a letter or something at the same table. She says she can't write when the table is shaking! Then I sit still, till she finishes her writing.

Fidgeting is good, as long as you don't shake the table or a car. Oh, was it an earthquake that shook the car?

ある日、車で取引先に向かっていた時の話

ある生徒さんに、英語で貧乏ゆすりの記事を読んでもらいましたら、かつて同僚と四国の取引先に向かっていた際のお話をしてくれました。車で、橋（明石大橋？）を通過中に、車が揺れ始めたとのことで、助手席に乗っていたその方は、即座に、後ろに乗っている人が、いつもの癖で、また貧乏ゆすりを始めたなと思ったそうです。またかと思いながら後部座席に目をやると、その同僚は、じっと座ったままだったそうです。なんと、車が揺れていたのは、貧乏ゆすりなんかではなく、地震だったというお話です。橋の上だったので、大いに揺れて、怖かったそうです。

さて、読んでもらった記事は、The New York Times からで、貧乏ゆすりの健康効果ということで、本当に？とも思われるでしょうが、学者が真面目に貧乏ゆすりを学術的に分析し、効能を証明しています。

座ったままの生活で、血流悪化、ひいては脈硬化や諸々の疾病を引き起こしかねない現代人の生活ですが、貧乏ゆすりがその救世主となりますかどうか。

私なども、英語をお教えしている身ですが、授業の時も、準備の際も、はたまた食事の際も、立ち食いソバを食べる時以外は、座ったまま、というような感じですが、我々現代人は、電車やバスに乗ったり、仕事でも、会議でも、座ったままが多いのが現状でしょう。たかが貧乏ゆすりですが、歩行が難しい、ご老人の運動にも効果的と聞きます。

以前にレッスンにて、動物の冬眠に関して、読んでもらったのですが、冬眠中のリスが、数日おきに体を震わせて、体温維持をすると記述があり、体を揺らすことは大切だなと、個人的に思いました。

学生の時に習っていた合気道で、リラックスするのに、全身を揺らすのが大事だとのことで、よく揺れる稽古（？）をしていましたが、今でも、座っていて、疲れてくると、体を揺らすことが多いです。ある意味、私もfidgeterなのでしょう。人がいたら、しませんが、妻が何かを書いている時に、揺れてしまうと、注意され、しまったと思う時があります。いくら健康にいいとはいえ、あまりに机が揺れれば、怒られます。次は「地震だ！」とでも言ってみましょうか。