Why couch potatoes live longer

Eisha Sarkar
Posted On Times Wellness on Thursday, April 23, 2009

Book Review: The Joy of Laziness
By: Peter Axt and Michaela Axt-Gadermann
Publisher: Orient Paperbacks

In many ways, The Joy of Laziness is a revolutionary book. While the title does its bit to grab your attention from the corner of a bookrack in a store, the first few lines of the authors' introduction prod you to read further. Before you know it, you are well into the first chapter and you are very sure that there is no way you will be putting this book down until you finish the last page.

In their bid to make people understand 'why life is better slower and how to get there', authors and health researchers Peter Axt and Michaela Axt-Gadermann literally shake the cartful of health guides propunded by nutritionists, physiologists and health and fitness experts worldwide.

Fatal fitness

You think keeping an intense fitness regime will help you live longer? "Not," scream the authors as they pull out cases of excellent athletes who died of heart attacks at the relatively young age of 60. They cite the example of Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong who had to fight cancer at the young age of 25 years, in spite of having a tough fitness regime. "The dose makes the poison," the authors say as they advise readers to exercise moderately (and try peripatetic meditation) instead of over-exerting themselves and causing the body to release chemicals that may be harmful in the long run. That explains why most centenarians have been generally lazy and couch potatoes are likely to live longer than most of their active counterparts.

Dangerous diets

Do you think eating five small meals a day is healthy? Once again, the authors refer to scientific data that shows that burning your energy reserves to digest food is certainly not a wise thing to do. Instead, they suggest, eat fewer calories everyday and even fast a whole day each week. The body's geared up for the low-calorie intake and fasting can kill even cancer, they suggest, citing that all major religions - Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism - advocate such rituals. When God's on your side, can anything really go wrong?

It's all in the head

And you don't have to worry about putting too much effort to relax those tense muscles that can literally be a 'pain in the neck'. All you need to do is just 'imagine' that the knots are getting unwound to feel better. Nothing can beat human imagination after all.

Quoting various research works, the authors put forth suggestions that would help people live longer, healthier lives. The basis of these suggestions is the theory of metabolism (life energy), first introduced by Max Rubner, a German physiologist in 1908, who determined that every organism is provided with a limited amount of life energy and when it's used up, life simply ends.

The suggestions the authors make in this book are meant for healthy individuals and not for pregnant women, kids or people who suffer from certain disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. The rest too, should make their choices accordingly and with some opinion from their doctors, if necessary.

In conclusion

While the authors have tried their best to quote from a variety of research sources (as described in the Endnotes) and statistical data (in the Appendices), to prove their point, the question will remain on how many sources have been withheld or left unquoted simply because they did not favour the writers' point of view. There are a lot of scientific data that back many of today's popular health and fitness formulae, therefore they can't be simply discarded just on the basis of what this book suggests. The authors here have derived their views from just a single theory and that you must in mind while referring to this book for solutions to health problems.

However, the book makes for a very good read. It is racy, almost unpredictable, entertaining and yet factual and it demolishes some of the most popular beliefs with respect to health and fitness. The authors have thoughtfully put BMI, calorie and weight tables and listed recommendations for vitamin dosage at the end of the book, giving readers adequate reasons for regularly referring to the book.

So curl up on the couch with this book, slow down your biochemical processes and do your bit to live longer.