P.E. in Japan Showed Me I’d Been Thinking About Exercise All Wrong
Three life-changing lessons on exercise
From a young age in American public schools, as early as elementary school, my health teachers would talk about how exercise was good for building strong bones, making my lungs stronger, and preventing heart disease.
I didn’t think much of it at the time but reflecting on it, it’s such an odd way to encourage exercise. What fourth graders are thinking about preventing heart disease? In fact, it kind of freaked me out and made me more fearful than excited about moving my body.
Maybe there is a better way to think about why we should exercise.
Lesson 1: Joy over fear
It was only when I came to Japan where the narrative was not just “exercising regularly will prevent heart disease” but “exercising regularly will make you happier” that moving my body finally stopped being something I dreaded. Instead, it was something I looked forward to.
In a way, the messages are describing the same thing: We are happier when we are not ill. Yet taking care of ourselves to prevent disease is boring, maybe even fearful. It can make us stressed and obsessed. It can make us feel guilty for not doing the thing that we should be doing.
