I don’t want to run like this anymore. It’s not doing me any good. More than that: it’s jeopardizing my health. I’m jeopardizing my health. And my joy of running is at risk too. I owe this realization to a gadget, not my own insight. But let’s start from the beginning.
Welcome to one of your typical workdays, filled with deadlines, meetings, and countless emails. Amidst the daily grind, it’s easy to forget about taking care of our physical well-being. But what if engaging in regular physical activity could not only improve our health but also make us more effective and creative in our jobs? A recent study published in Personnel Psychology suggests that incorporating physical activity into our daily routines might be changing our views on job performance and overall health.
Today, while running, a peculiar thought crossed my mind. Although, at first, it wasn’t really a thought but more of a feeling. The thought came a little later, but it hit me like a ton of bricks: my body no longer feels like an athlete’s body.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a sad but perfect opportunity to engage with mathematics. Suddenly, we were all confronted with incidence rates, overwhelmed with statistics, and had to deal with probabilities. On a very personal level, with the likelihood of getting infected or the question of how reliable the newly developed COVID-19 tests were. Questions that could decide on freedom, health, and for some even on life and death.
It’s been a strange irony that I, lying in my bed, should stumble upon a book that deals so intimately with the very thing that had brought me low. Covid had robbed me of my strength and left me short of breath, and yet it was in the midst of this struggle that I found distraction and, yes, a tune up.