An Hour of Daily Exercise Is the Best Investment
After my child started winter break, I did not rush to arrange various academic catching-up projects, but instead took him and his mother out cycling once a day. The route was not far: from Zizhu Bridge to Xiangshan, then back from the foot of Yuquan Mountain, about 20 kilometers round trip. At our pace it took a little over an hour; my child rides fast and often finishes in an hour.
After about ten days of riding, he lost 2.7 kg, which is what pleased us most. With about 20 days left in winter break, I hope he can lose another 2.5 kg through exercise. Once school starts, we can only ride twice a weekend, and losing 1 kg a month would be good. My child is a bit overweight; these two years, with the pandemic reducing outdoor exercise, his weight rose noticeably. Now we no longer worry about the pandemic, and as long as our area remains low-risk, we keep riding outdoors.
Yesterday I saw a report that, spurred by the Winter Olympics, 300 million Chinese have now taken up ice and snow sports, which is truly good news. I hope more and more people love winter sports; Chinese people enthusiasm for exercise is near the bottom worldwide, and this sedentary lifestyle is driving the rapid rise of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer in China. Type 2 diabetes, over 95% of all diabetes, and over a third of cancers are linked to lack of exercise. Other studies also suggest depression is related to lack of exercise.
In the 1980s, China diabetes prevalence was below 0.7%; it rose to 3.2% by 1996, a fivefold increase; to 4.4% by 2002; to 9.7% by 2008; and to 11.6% among adults over 18 by 2010, reaching 114 million people, for the first time surpassing 100 million diabetic patients and making China a true diabetes superpower. Globally, 3.8 million people die of diabetes each year, and this number is rising sharply. Beijing leads the country in diabetes incidence, which relates to better living standards, long winters, and low physical activity among residents.
I value my family health. During winter break the school held an online parents meeting; I half-listened as teachers spoke about seizing the winter break to catch up. I did not take it seriously. The college entrance exam really is not that important, but unfortunately people have gone mad, desperately forcing children to study, every parent hoping their child gets into Tsinghua or Peking University. Over half of Beijing primary and secondary students are overweight, and diabetes is striking ever younger children, yet no one pays attention—truly bizarre. The old idiom drinking poison to quench thirst describes this phenomenon perfectly.
My son loves math and has bought himself several advanced-math textbooks to study on his own, and told me he plans to start preparing for graduate school exams as soon as he enters university. As his father I have no objection to these ideas; he can do as he likes. I only single-mindedly persuade him to exercise and lose weight with me. I failed to build exercise habits in his early childhood, which is my biggest regret, and now I must make up for it.
Because our parent-child relationship is good, he does not mind riding with us every day. Staying at school all year is dull; riding out not only exercises the body but also lets us see scenery. The route we choose is usually quiet, and most of the time only our family of three is on the road. As long as you overcome the fear of winter exercise, step out the door, and embrace nature, the feeling is wonderful. We enjoy sights many people never see.
This morning, the grandmother of a neuroblastoma patient told me that, under my guidance, her grandson had finally managed to temporarily control his severe cancer pain, and the lumps that had risen on his head had subsided. Before finding me, they had nearly ruined themselves treating this child, and his condition worsened daily. Now their hope has sunk to merely wanting the child to be free of pain.
While I grieve for this family, I also lament that most people only understand the value of health when they are already gravely ill. Until the damage to health manifests, no one cares; they single-mindedly pursue things they think matter: a better elite school, a higher position, more savings, a nicer house, a grander car, and so on.
Roman frost does not freeze the river in a single day; no chronic disease comes on suddenly. Looking coldly on, I can see that a considerable number of these hard-studying children around me will eventually be tormented by diabetes and cancer, and I wonder what the value of their striving is. For the sake of unimportant external things, we lose a bit of our health every day and form an irreversible habit of inactivity; over time, serious illness becomes inevitable. Prevent small faults early and choose a healthy lifestyle, sustained long-term, to avoid being plagued by dreadful disease. So no investment compares with investing in health; it can cost nothing financially, yet the returns are infinite.