How healthy living nearly killed me | A.J. Jacobs

Translator: Xun Lin Reviewer: Michelle Poon

I've spent the last decade

我過去 10 年

subjecting myself to pain and humiliation,

飽受痛苦同屈辱

hopefully for a good cause,

就係為咗：

which is self-improvement.

自我提升

And I've done this in three parts.

我從三方面入手

So first I started with the mind.

首先係由智慧入手

And I decided to try to get smarter

我決定由字母 A 到 Z

by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica

睇晒大英百科全書

from A to Z --

嚟令自己聰明啲

or, more precisely, from "a-ak" to "Zywiec."

準確啲嚟講 係由 a-ak 到 Zywiec 睇晒

And here's a little image of that.

依張相係全個系列嘅圖書

And this was an amazing year.

可以話，嗰年係好精彩嘅一年

It was really a fascinating journey.

亦係好有趣嘅經歷

It was painful at times,

不過都有痛苦嘅時候

especially for those around me.

特別係對我身邊嘅人

My wife started to fine me one dollar

每次如果我傾計時講咗無關嘅嘢

for every irrelevant fact I inserted into conversation.

我老婆就會罰我 1 美金

So it had its downsides.

所以依個方法有缺點

But after that,

不過之後

I decided to work on the spirit.

我決定要提升我嘅精神水平

As I mentioned last year,

上年我講過

I grew up with no religion at all.

我一直都無信仰

I'm Jewish,

我係猶太人

but I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian.

但就同橄欖花園係美國一間 賣意大利菜嘅餐廳一樣搞笑

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Not really.

其實唔係

But I decided to learn about the Bible and my heritage

我決定要通過親身經歷

by actually diving in

嚟學習《聖經》

and trying to live it and immerse myself in it.

同埋我嘅民族歷史

So I decided to follow all the rules of the Bible.

我跟足《聖經》同《十誡》 入邊所有嘅規矩

And from the Ten Commandments

to growing my beard --

譬如話留鬚

because Leviticus says you cannot shave.

因為《利未記》提到唔畀剃鬚

So this is what I looked like by the end.

依個就係我留咗一年鬚嘅樣啦

Thank you for that reaction.

多謝你哋嘅反應

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I look a little like Moses, or Ted Kaczynski.

我望落有啲似摩西 或者 Ted Kaczynski

I got both of them.

兩個都有啲似啦

So there was the topiary there.

剪過之後就咁嘅樣

And there's the sheep.

仲有隻綿羊

Now the final part of the trilogy

喺三部曲嘅最後一部裏邊

was I wanted to focus on the body

我想將重點放喺身體

and try to be the healthiest person I could be,

我嘗試活得健康、成為最健康嘅人

the healthiest person alive.

So that's what I've been doing the last couple of years.

所以我過去幾年就係做緊依啲嘢

And I just finished a couple of months ago.

而前幾個月我先啱啱完成依啲嘢

And I have to say, thank God.

我想講：感謝上帝！

Because living so healthily was killing me.

因為咁健康生活真係好攞命

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

It was so overwhelming,

真係好難頂

because the amount of things you have to do,

因為你要做好多好多嘢

it's just mind-boggling.

多到難以置信

I was listening to all the experts

我聽過所有專家嘅意見

and talking to sort of a board of medical advisers.

仲同過好多醫學專家傾過計

And they were telling me

佢哋個個都話我知我要做嘅嘢

all the things I had to do.

I had to eat right,

包括要正確飲食

exercise, meditate, pet dogs,

做運動、冥想同埋養狗

because that lowers the blood pressure.

因為呢啲都可以降血壓

I wrote the book on a treadmill,

我又喺跑步機上邊邊跑邊寫書

and it took me about a thousand miles

結果用咗我大概跑 1,000 英里嘅時間

to write the book.

嚟寫一本書

I had to put on sunscreen.

我仲要搽太陽油

This was no small feat,

搽太陽油係好大工程嚟

because if you listen to dermatologists,

因為如果你聽皮膚科醫生嘅話

they say that you should have a shot glass full of sunscreen.

你需要搽一個細酒杯嘅份量

And you have to reapply it every two to four hours.

而且每四個鐘就要補搽一次

So I think half of my book advance

我估有一半寫書嘅時間用咗嚟搽太陽油

went into sunscreen.

I was like a glazed doughnut

於是我變成一隻搽咗油嘅冬甩 有成差唔多一年

for most of the year.

There was the washing of hands.

然後到洗手

I had to do that properly.

我要好認真咁洗

And my immunologist told me

而且我個免疫醫生話

that I should also wipe down

要抹乾淨屋企所有遙控同手機

all of the remote controls and iPhones in my house,

because those are just orgies of germs.

因為佢哋都係細菌嘅樂園

So that took a lot of time.

又一次用咗我好多時間

I also tried to be the safest person I could be,

我仲開始用萬事安全嘅心態生活

because that's a part of health.

因為咁樣生活先至健康

I was inspired

丹麥安全局推廣一個運動

by the Danish Safety Council.

They started a public campaign

倡議「行路戴頭盔係好事」

that says, "A walking helmet is a good helmet."

So they believe you should not just wear helmets for biking,

佢哋認為唔單止踩單車嘅時候要戴頭盔

but also for walking around.

行路嘅時候都要

And you can see there

你哋睇下

they're shopping with their helmets.

佢哋行街都戴頭盔

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Well yeah, I tried that.

係呀，我都跟住做

Now it's a little extreme, I admit.

我承認我係有啲極端

But if you think about this,

但係如果你諗諗

this is actually -- the "Freakonomics" authors wrote about this --

正如魔鬼經濟學嘅作家所寫

that more people die on a per mile basis

如果以每公里計

from drunk walking

飲醉酒跌死嘅人多過醉酒駕駛死嘅人

than from drunk driving.

So something to think about tonight

如果你飲咗酒

if you've had a couple.

咁你今晚要諗下喇

So I finished,

我最終都完成咗呢三部曲

and it was a success in a sense.

而亦可以話係成功嘅

All of the markers went in the right direction.

所有健康指標都朝住正確嘅方向發展

My cholesterol went down, I lost weight,

我嘅膽固醇降低咗，體重減少咗

my wife stopped telling me that I looked pregnant.

我老婆唔再話我肥

So that was nice.

所以幾好

And it was successful overall.

總體嚟講幾成功

But I also learned that I was too healthy,

我都意識到我太健康喇

and that was unhealthy.

但咁樣其實唔健康

I was so focused on doing all these things

因為太專注做健康嘅嘢 令我忽略咗我嘅屋企人同朋友

that I was neglecting my friends and family.

And as Dan Buettner can tell you,

正如 Dan Buettner 話

having a strong social network

一個強大嘅社交網絡 對我哋嘅健康非常重要

is so crucial to our health.

So I finished.

最後我完成咗依個健康計劃

And I kind of went overboard

不過健康計劃結束之後嘅一個禮拜

on the week after the project was over.

我停曬所有健康習慣

I went to the dark side,

做返以前嘅自己，放縱自己

and I just indulged myself.

It was like something out of Caligula.

好啲似羅馬帝國卡利古拉暴君一樣

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Without the sex part.

不過唔包括性方面

Because I have three young kids,

因為我屋企有三個小朋友

so that wasn't happening.

所以唔會喺性方面放縱

But the over-eating and over-drinking, definitely.

不過我絕對有暴飲暴食

And I finally have stabilized.

但最後我做返健康嘅嘢

So now I'm back

宜家我回復正常

to adopting many -- not all; I don't wear a helmet anymore --

做返好多健康習慣

but dozens of healthy behaviors

that I adopted during my year.

不過我冇再戴頭盔行路

It was really a life-changing project.

依個健康計劃改變咗我嘅生活

And I, of course, don't have time to go into all of them.

但我無時間同你哋一一列舉

Let me just tell you two really quickly.

等我簡短咁講兩點

The first is -- and this was surprising to me;

第一，令我好意外嘅

I didn't expect this to come out --

but I live a much quieter life now.

就係我宜家嘅生活更加靜

Because we live in such a noisy world.

我哋生活喺一個好嘈嘅環境

There's trains and planes and cars

火車、飛機同汽車

and Bill O'Reilly, he's very noisy.

仲有電視機上 Bill O'Reilly 呢個人 都好嘈

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And this is a real underestimated, under-appreciated health hazard --

好多人都低估咗、忽略依個健康風險

not just because it harms our hearing, which it obviously does,

噪音好明顯會影響我哋嘅聽力

but it actually initiates

而且仲會引起戰鬥或逃跑反應

the fight-or-flight response.

A loud noise will get your fight-or-flight response going.

一下好大嘅聲會引起你嘅戰鬥或逃跑反應

And this, over the years,

幾年之後就會造成慢性嘅破壞

can cause real damage, cardiovascular damage.

例如破壞心血管

The World Health Organization just did a big study

世界衛生組織進行做咗一項大研究

that they published this year.

並且喺今年啱啱發布

And it was done in Europe.

依項研究喺歐洲進行

And they estimated

佢哋估計

that 1.6 million years of healthy living

每年歐洲因為噪音污染

are lost every year in Europe

令一百六十萬人損失咗一年嘅健康生活

because of noise pollution.

So they think it's actually very deadly.

所以佢哋認為噪音可以致命

And by the way,

it's also terrible for your brain.

另外

噪音對個腦都唔好

It really impairs cognition.

佢會破壞你嘅知覺

And our Founding Fathers knew about this.

就連美國建國之父都知道

When they wrote the Constitution,

因為當佢哋撰寫《美國憲法》嘅時候

they put dirt all over the cobblestones outside the hall

佢哋曾經喺大堂外嘅石卵 鋪滿泥土嚟減低噪音

so that they could concentrate.

等佢哋可以專心寫

所以，如果無減噪技術

So without noise reduction technology,

our country would not exist.

美國可能唔存在

So as a patriot,

作為一個愛國者

I felt it was important to --

我覺得戴耳塞同耳機非常重要

I wear all the earplugs and the earphones,

and it's really improved my life

而且佢仲好意外咁改善我嘅生活

in a surprising and unexpected way.

And the second point I want to make, the final point,

第二點，亦都係最後一樣我想要講嘅

is that -- and it's actually been a theme of TEDMED --

依個亦係 TED 醫學嘅主題︰

that joy is so important to your health,

就係快樂對於健康好重要

that very few of these behaviors

以我為例

家下我維持到嘅健康行為

will stick with me

unless there's some sense of pleasure and joy in them.

都係一啲會令我開心嘅

And just to give you one instance of this:

舉一個例子：食物

food.

The junk food industry

垃圾食物行業非常擅於帶畀我哋快樂

is really great

at pressing our pleasure buttons

and figuring out what's the most pleasurable.

同埋知道咩可以令我哋最開心

But I think we can use their techniques

但我認為我哋可以將佢哋嘅技巧

and apply them to healthy food.

用喺健康食物之上

To give just one example,

譬如話

we love crunchiness, mouthfeel.

我哋好喜歡脆口、有口感嘅嘢

So I basically have tried to incorporate crunchiness

所以我嘗試將香脆口感融入我嘅食譜

into a lot of my recipes --

throw in some sunflower seeds.

例如放啲瓜子

And you can almost trick yourself

雖然可能你會以為自己食緊粟米片

into thinking you're eating Doritos.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And it has made me a healthier person.

咁食法仲可以令我變得更健康

So that is it.

就係咁

The book about it comes out in April.

依個計劃嘅書會喺 4 月出版

It's called "Drop Dead Healthy."

叫做《Drop Dead Healthy》

And I hope that I don't get sick during the book tour.

我希望喺新書宣傳途中唔會病倒

That's my greatest hope.

呢個係我最大願望

So thank you very much.

多謝各位！

(Applause)

（掌聲）