Danish hygge has become a genre unto itself, as The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well turns into a bestseller.
While there is hardly an English equivalent for the Danish word hygge, we can simply feel it, and forget about its translation. An oft-quoted idea of hygge is a bike ride in the pouring rain with a candle on the heads. Or eating cakes.
To coin my own way of hygge from scratch, I grabbed my running shoes right after waking up at six today. More hobby than workout, and more pleasure than chore, running in Copenhagen is simply something I heartily recommend myself for hygginess. As I weaved through the scenic trails in the park, I didn't keep track of my pace, learning to make peace with the natural environment instead of the stats.
The park is lively, picturesque, and makes me feel hygge. I saw many birds, and funnily enough, quite a lot of snails. To make sure we're feeling hygge, I didn't broach the subject who's running faster. I ran past a snail, reminding myself not to step on the creature, and sped up.
It wasn't long before I met another animal. A deer. I rubbed my eyes. A wild deer. And then it struck me like a revelation. Running together with a wild deer, obviously, is an instant hygge.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Meal
If I were to choose a meal to skip it would be the lunch.
If anything, breakfast should be the last one out.
To understand how breakfast gets in the way of keeping us healthy, we should take a look at the scholarly medical literature. A growing body of evidence shows that breakfast has important effect on the expression of "clock genes" that regulate our body's post-meal glucose and insulin responses. The field of body's inner clock, including molecular mechanisms controlling our circadian rhythm, is in fact the subject of this year's Nobel Prize for Medicine.
The case for a breakfast has been elegantly demonstrated by a Tel Aviv University study, in which 18 healthy volunteers and 18 obese diabetes volunteers took part in a test day featuring breakfast and lunch, and then a separate day featuring only lunch. In both healthy and diabetic subjects, having breakfast jump-starts specific "clock genes" that lead to better glucose control and more efficient weight loss. Breakfast skipping, on the other hand, has dire consequences on the clock-controlled gene expression.
In short, breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day.
For many, it's often well-nigh necessary to have three meals to keep the brains well-stoked all day. I'm not so sure. From time to time, lunch slows me down, rather than speeding me up. I had raw carrots for lunch before my running yesterday, for example, and ended up cursing it for the stomachache during the race. I tried sandwich today but could not beat the post-lunch slump during the medical conference. In the end, I should probably skip lunch to get away from the dip, I told myself.
If anything, breakfast should be the last one out.
To understand how breakfast gets in the way of keeping us healthy, we should take a look at the scholarly medical literature. A growing body of evidence shows that breakfast has important effect on the expression of "clock genes" that regulate our body's post-meal glucose and insulin responses. The field of body's inner clock, including molecular mechanisms controlling our circadian rhythm, is in fact the subject of this year's Nobel Prize for Medicine.
The case for a breakfast has been elegantly demonstrated by a Tel Aviv University study, in which 18 healthy volunteers and 18 obese diabetes volunteers took part in a test day featuring breakfast and lunch, and then a separate day featuring only lunch. In both healthy and diabetic subjects, having breakfast jump-starts specific "clock genes" that lead to better glucose control and more efficient weight loss. Breakfast skipping, on the other hand, has dire consequences on the clock-controlled gene expression.
In short, breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day.
For many, it's often well-nigh necessary to have three meals to keep the brains well-stoked all day. I'm not so sure. From time to time, lunch slows me down, rather than speeding me up. I had raw carrots for lunch before my running yesterday, for example, and ended up cursing it for the stomachache during the race. I tried sandwich today but could not beat the post-lunch slump during the medical conference. In the end, I should probably skip lunch to get away from the dip, I told myself.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Run
When it comes to attending overseas conference, I'm basically a philistine butt-in-chair nerd. But here at Copenhagen - where I joined a four-day meeting in the field of kidney disease - the city is so attractive that it's called the world's most livable one.
One of the biggest temptations is the urge to sneak out and discover the city, unlocking the recipe for the Danes being ranked the world's most contented people. I'm lucky to learn about the official 5-km running race as part of the conference activity. That being the case, my running away from the lectures would seem to be more legitimate.
I joined the run without second thought. How can I resist it? Copenhagen, I'd been told, is a great city to be explored in a pair of running shoes. The running route, just a stone's throw away from the conference venue, turns out to be one of the most scenic ones in this capital city. Immediately after crossing the finish line, I told myself, "I better make sure to wake up an hour earlier tomorrow and come back to have another lap. An absolute must."
One of the biggest temptations is the urge to sneak out and discover the city, unlocking the recipe for the Danes being ranked the world's most contented people. I'm lucky to learn about the official 5-km running race as part of the conference activity. That being the case, my running away from the lectures would seem to be more legitimate.
I joined the run without second thought. How can I resist it? Copenhagen, I'd been told, is a great city to be explored in a pair of running shoes. The running route, just a stone's throw away from the conference venue, turns out to be one of the most scenic ones in this capital city. Immediately after crossing the finish line, I told myself, "I better make sure to wake up an hour earlier tomorrow and come back to have another lap. An absolute must."
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Marathon
Most "important" books aren't much fun to read. Most fun books aren't very important. But there is always exception. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink is exactly the case.
That's a book I'd waited for four months before my turn to borrow from the public library. And to be finished within two weeks, for that matter, before the due date. As it turned out, I learned so much from this book within two weeks. Nothing complicated. Nothing difficult. But completely fun. And practical.
I expect you want an example? Of course you do.
So often in my day-to-day conversation about running I was asked when it's my plan to lace up my shoes and run a marathon. I reacted the way I reacted to filing a tax return - sooner or later I'll do it.
I haven't yet.
It suddenly dawned on me, after reading Pink's chapter on Endings, that the last year of a life decade could have been the answer. I was introduced to Red Hong Yi (an artist who ran her first marathon when she was twenty-nine years old), Jeremy Medding (a diamond businessman who ran his when he was thirty-nine), Cindy Bishop (a lawyer who ran her first marathon at age forty-nine), Andy Morozovsky (a zoologist who had never run anywhere close to 26.2 miles until he'd turned fifty-nine).
Notice their age: twenty-nine, thirty-nine, thirty-nine, fifty-nine.
The best illustration of "9-enders" aiming to search for meaning before another new decade in chronological age, in fact, comes from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In an analysis of the age at which 500 athletes ran their first marathon, the 9-enders are overrepresented by a whopping 48 percent. What is the most likely age for us to run the first marathon? That's twenty-nine. (I'm out, okay, I know.) Twenty-nine-year-olds were about twice as likely to run a marathon as twenty-eight-year-olds or thirty-year-olds.
What next? That's forty-nine. Someone who's forty-nine (I shall wait for that, I guess) is about three times more likely to run a marathon than someone who's just a year older.
That's a book I'd waited for four months before my turn to borrow from the public library. And to be finished within two weeks, for that matter, before the due date. As it turned out, I learned so much from this book within two weeks. Nothing complicated. Nothing difficult. But completely fun. And practical.
I expect you want an example? Of course you do.
So often in my day-to-day conversation about running I was asked when it's my plan to lace up my shoes and run a marathon. I reacted the way I reacted to filing a tax return - sooner or later I'll do it.
I haven't yet.
It suddenly dawned on me, after reading Pink's chapter on Endings, that the last year of a life decade could have been the answer. I was introduced to Red Hong Yi (an artist who ran her first marathon when she was twenty-nine years old), Jeremy Medding (a diamond businessman who ran his when he was thirty-nine), Cindy Bishop (a lawyer who ran her first marathon at age forty-nine), Andy Morozovsky (a zoologist who had never run anywhere close to 26.2 miles until he'd turned fifty-nine).
Notice their age: twenty-nine, thirty-nine, thirty-nine, fifty-nine.
The best illustration of "9-enders" aiming to search for meaning before another new decade in chronological age, in fact, comes from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In an analysis of the age at which 500 athletes ran their first marathon, the 9-enders are overrepresented by a whopping 48 percent. What is the most likely age for us to run the first marathon? That's twenty-nine. (I'm out, okay, I know.) Twenty-nine-year-olds were about twice as likely to run a marathon as twenty-eight-year-olds or thirty-year-olds.
What next? That's forty-nine. Someone who's forty-nine (I shall wait for that, I guess) is about three times more likely to run a marathon than someone who's just a year older.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Albert River
Kids love water theme parks. Adults too. But after indulging in another plunge down yet another nautical plastic tube you might find yourself justifiably itching for something a little more authentic.
That's exactly what we did at Gold Coast Hinterlands this week. That means untamed destination where we can get a thrill from the water while still being at one with nature. During our farm stay, we had picnic lunch at Albert River, blending traditions with frenzied fun. There was no fast food shop (where price can jump crazily high at theme park) but prepacked sandwiches. There wasn't bracelet for day pass either, because we could play as many times as we wished in the wilderness. And no wonder. Few places on earth can match the natural beauty of a river in the lush forest.
When my daughter saw a rope tied on the treetop, her first impression was it should have belonged to Tarzan. Or flying fox. My eight-year-old dared not to try. Grabbing the string and swinging, and all the way splashing into the river: that's way too wild, and beyond her comfort zone.
Thankfully, the children around showed her the ropes (no pun intended). After watching their jumping poise - on par with athletes in the diving competition at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast - my daughter was tempted to try her hand. She mustered strength of every muscle fibre to swing into the icy cold water, swam back to shore. One rope swing after another. A feat that I couldn't have imagined. By putting all of her energy into the diving rope, my daughter had played so many times she forgot to have her sandwich.
The feel-good effect of endorphin and adrenaline release is what my daughter finds most amazing. "Dad, you should have written a blog post on this highlight of our trip," Jasmine looked up at me, after scrolling through my blog.
And here I did.
That's exactly what we did at Gold Coast Hinterlands this week. That means untamed destination where we can get a thrill from the water while still being at one with nature. During our farm stay, we had picnic lunch at Albert River, blending traditions with frenzied fun. There was no fast food shop (where price can jump crazily high at theme park) but prepacked sandwiches. There wasn't bracelet for day pass either, because we could play as many times as we wished in the wilderness. And no wonder. Few places on earth can match the natural beauty of a river in the lush forest.
When my daughter saw a rope tied on the treetop, her first impression was it should have belonged to Tarzan. Or flying fox. My eight-year-old dared not to try. Grabbing the string and swinging, and all the way splashing into the river: that's way too wild, and beyond her comfort zone.
Thankfully, the children around showed her the ropes (no pun intended). After watching their jumping poise - on par with athletes in the diving competition at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast - my daughter was tempted to try her hand. She mustered strength of every muscle fibre to swing into the icy cold water, swam back to shore. One rope swing after another. A feat that I couldn't have imagined. By putting all of her energy into the diving rope, my daughter had played so many times she forgot to have her sandwich.
The feel-good effect of endorphin and adrenaline release is what my daughter finds most amazing. "Dad, you should have written a blog post on this highlight of our trip," Jasmine looked up at me, after scrolling through my blog.
And here I did.
Monday, April 9, 2018
Lamington
Many a time while traveling I would look for ecotour rather than entirely self-guided tour. This is one of the best ways to learn about the wildlife.
I was lucky enough to find one gifted guide to bring our family to Lamington National Park. One of those very rare, special nature buffs who are as knowledgeable as Sir David Attenborough. By the way, my guide's name happened to be David, too.
Following David is like joining a field trip aboard Miss Frizzle's Magic School Bus. We learned everything from remnants of subtropical rainforest some 50 million years ago (when Australia was still part of Gondwana), to the whereabouts of our lost blue pegs and blue bottle tops (oh yes, they are pilfered by male satin bowerbirds to decorate their bowers for mating). It would have been impossible for us to find those blue "love hotels" ourselves at the World Heritage-listed national park.
On our way back, I asked David his major at university, and expected answers like biology or environmental science.
"No, I didn't study them at university. I know all these out of my own interest. The key is to have genuine interest in a subject, and not a major in the subject," David added.
I was lucky enough to find one gifted guide to bring our family to Lamington National Park. One of those very rare, special nature buffs who are as knowledgeable as Sir David Attenborough. By the way, my guide's name happened to be David, too.
Following David is like joining a field trip aboard Miss Frizzle's Magic School Bus. We learned everything from remnants of subtropical rainforest some 50 million years ago (when Australia was still part of Gondwana), to the whereabouts of our lost blue pegs and blue bottle tops (oh yes, they are pilfered by male satin bowerbirds to decorate their bowers for mating). It would have been impossible for us to find those blue "love hotels" ourselves at the World Heritage-listed national park.
On our way back, I asked David his major at university, and expected answers like biology or environmental science.
"No, I didn't study them at university. I know all these out of my own interest. The key is to have genuine interest in a subject, and not a major in the subject," David added.
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Rein
Our family is grateful to have farm stay vacation in the Gold Coast Hinterland this week. There's no shortage of entertaining activities for my daughter. Plenty of domestic and wildlife. And of course horse riding is always the winner.
That reminds me of The Naughtiest Girl books, in which Whyteleafe School allows students to keep pets, and even horses. After a second-term student Robert has promised not to be a bully, he is allowed to choose two horses under his special care, feeding them, grooming them, and helping younger children to ride them.
We aren't as skillful as Robert, of course. As a novice, I simply enjoyed the leisure ride around the picturesque field, ambling at a relaxed pace. I didn't even mind to have my grass-snatcher horse munching here and grabbing a bite there. I know I should have pulled the rein and stopped my horse from eating on the trail, but I didn't.
Isn't it the way to bring up our children? Pulling the rein too tight, and we lose rather than gain control. Think about Whyteleafe School, where the children make their own rules, hold their weekly meetings to hear grumbles and complaints, discuss and solve problems themselves. I can think of no better example of self-discipline.
That reminds me of The Naughtiest Girl books, in which Whyteleafe School allows students to keep pets, and even horses. After a second-term student Robert has promised not to be a bully, he is allowed to choose two horses under his special care, feeding them, grooming them, and helping younger children to ride them.
We aren't as skillful as Robert, of course. As a novice, I simply enjoyed the leisure ride around the picturesque field, ambling at a relaxed pace. I didn't even mind to have my grass-snatcher horse munching here and grabbing a bite there. I know I should have pulled the rein and stopped my horse from eating on the trail, but I didn't.
Isn't it the way to bring up our children? Pulling the rein too tight, and we lose rather than gain control. Think about Whyteleafe School, where the children make their own rules, hold their weekly meetings to hear grumbles and complaints, discuss and solve problems themselves. I can think of no better example of self-discipline.
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