Tag: Wall Street Journal

The End of Night

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the-end-of-night-Paul-Bogard…In our haste to embrace a 24/7 lifestyle that makes increasing demands on our time, nocturnal hours once reserved for sociability, reflection and rest have been usurped. “What art thou good for … but only for love and fornication?” the character “Night” is asked in John Dryden’s comedy “Amphitryon” (1690). Today, not only is one-fifth of the labor force employed in shift work, but many day-to-day tasks (grocery shopping, for instance) are performed after dark. Silence and solitude fall prey to around-the-clock television and the allure of the Internet. Texting teenagers take their iPhones to bed. Burning the candle at both ends, we struggle to streamline sleep with the aid of plush pillows and prescription drugs and, in the process, impair our age-old ability to dream, a wellspring of ideas as inspiring as a starlit sky.

~A. Roger Ekirch, a review on Paul Bogard’s book titled The End of Night.

Credits:

Belief in God = Morality and Good Values?

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values, generational, God, religion,morality,values

Source: Wall Street Journal Statshot: Carl Bialik, ‘The Numbers Guy’

Running. With Marc and Eddy Verbessem.

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Identical Twins, Euthanasia, Belgium

5:30 am.  59F. Birds up and singing in all their glory.  It’s still.  Very still.

I put on my Adidas running shorts.  Rachel’s scolding from months back surfaces: “I can see your tan line.  They’re too short.  Those are Perv Shorts.  Embarrassing. Go change.”  I growl.   Now, each time I put them on, I’m thinking Perv-Man.  Words. Killer.  What a delicate flower.

“What do you want to do for Father’s Day Dad?”
“I’d like to be left alone for the day.”
“Really?”
“Yes, if you could arrange for me to be sitting alone next to Thoreau, at Walden Pond, listening in on his thoughts, that would be a perfect Sunday.”
“Who? What?”
“Forget it Honey.  Forget it.”
“Have to say Dad, you have to stop your incoherent mumbling.” Continue reading “Running. With Marc and Eddy Verbessem.” →

Joy

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puppy, car ride, bliss, joy, happy, cute, dog

“Is happiness a lesser version of joy, or something totally different?  I’d argue it’s different and not only because it’s more prevalent. Many more things can cause happiness than joy. Also, happiness is somewhat within our control. We can create it through our decisions. Joy happens to you. It’s unruly. You submit to it. It usually comes as a surprise, as it did every morning with our newborns

…Certain experiences lift you out of yourself. They enable you to exist fully in the moment. (A singular serving of French toast in my late teens on the corner of 62nd and Lex at Burger Heaven; Christmas 1963, when Skippy, our first dog, popped out of a box pocked with ventilation holes.)

…What distinguishes joy is that it doesn’t come around that often. Indeed, you’re rather aware of its perishability, its evanescence, even when you’re in the midst of it.

…But it may be the thing that unites French toast and lifting a newborn out of its crib in the morning and bringing the child into bed with you. I’m not necessarily talking about one-on-one love, but the universal, John Lennon “All you need is…” variety that connects us to something beyond ourselves, and seems to be floating out there…

…We spend the majority of our lives worrying, even when we’re happy. We’re worried about catching the bus or subway or whether there’s a cab that isn’t off duty; we’re worried about our work; we’re worried we offended somebody; we’re worried about money; we’re worried about sleep; we’re worried about being worried.

…If there’s any dread, it’s in the way we create barriers, denying ourselves access to it (joy) more frequently.”

~ Ralph Gardner, Joy Spills Over, Wall Street Journal (Excerpts)

Sources: Image – BJLove.  Quote: Wall Street Journal

Run long and fast. At your peril.

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exercise, fit, diet, weight loss, run, running, gif, research, extreme

I’m giddy when new research supports my undisciplined behavior.  This time, it’s exercise.  Here’s a quick snapshot of new research reported in the Wall Street Journal:

  • Running too fast, too far and for too many years may speed one’s progress toward the finish line of life.
  • After age 50, pushing too hard is probably not good for one’s heart or longevity.
  • For a lot of older athletes: Running can take a toll on the heart that essentially eliminates the benefits of exercise.
  • The benefits of running may come to a hard stop later in life. Runners had a 19% lower death rate than nonrunners but among the runners, those who ran a lot—more than 20 to 25 miles a week—lost that mortality advantage.
  • There was no mortality benefit for those who ran faster than 8 miles per hour, while those who ran slower reaped significant mortality benefits.
  • Studies are finding cardiac abnormalities in extreme athletes, including coronary artery calcification of a degree typically found in the utterly sedentary.
  • Chronic extreme exercise appears to cause excessive ‘wear-and-tear’ on the heart.
  • If you are running more than 15 miles a week, you are doing it for some reason other than health.

Source: Wall Street Journal: One Running Shoe In the Grave.  Image: Crescent Moon