Ted Talks Essay

                Washing your hands, brushing your teeth, using sunscreen – these  are things we usually do for our own benefit, what many of us don’t know is that doing these things in exaggeration can lead to death.. Many of us like to keep moving forward and like to get better at everything we do. For example, we like to be educated, healthy, informed and so on. I have to admit that it is hard to understand the fact that someone is trying extremely hard to be healthy, even though that can be unhealthy. When I first saw the title of the video it caught my attention right away: “How healthy living nearly killed me.”  This video is about an experiment from A.J Jacobs own life; I think Jacobs was very brave trying a new lifestyle for a long time and also for sharing it to the public. Although I agree with him about how too much healthy living can distract you and even hurt you, I believe Jacobs doesn’t have credibility about this topic, because of the humorous way he used to present it to the audience.

In the video, A.J. Jacobs starts talking about his experiment, how he started reading the whole Encyclopedia Britannica and this actually affected the relationship with his wife, he was always distracted. Another piece of this experiment was trying to live a Super Healthy Life. He tells how he tried healthy lifestyle for about ten years, and gives some examples of how he did it. For example, the use of sunscreen, washing his hands very often, and using a helmet every day. It’s hard to believe that he was doing this just to experiment and didn’t have a real disorder, especially knowing that it requires a lot of time and attention. Jacobs mentions how if you dedicate yourself to just being healthy more than likely you will lose friends, family members and your social life.

                I really dislike how he tries to be funny about this true fact of healthy living can actually kill you. Through the video he kept making jokes and made the talk humorous, maybe some jokes could have been accepted but not too many. After a while I got sick of it and I lost interest while he was still talking and I stopped paying attention. He shown some pictures to the audience and its totally okay because he’s the one who comes out in the picture but I’m sure the audience was being entertained rather than educated or aware of a serious health topic. He also talks about how he tried to follow bible amendments, but when he gets to this I’m already not buying his story. He never even provided a valid reason for trying the healthy living style. I can say he was disrespectful to those who really experience this healthy living disorder, because it is a big deal, it’s about someone’s life being in jeopardy, and he could of address the issue in a serious way to make people be aware of the situation. Maybe less funny moments throughout the presentation could have made this healthy living talk very successful.

                My mom actually has a friend who almost died because she was too healthy and clean. Her name is Esme, she’s a dentist. Every time she would go out with my mom, she would always be concerned about touching anything in a public place. She would always be disinfecting her hands or washing them. She was always paranoid of bacteria and anything dirty. I remember her telling me germs were bad for us and that’s why we had to be careful with everything we touched, at that time I didn’t pay much attention because I was young but now I can understand better, I can see that she had a healthy living disorder and that’s what made her risk her life not too long ago. She had a cold and she kept getting worse until she passed out. When her parents drove her to the hospital the doctors said she didn’t have anti-bodies, or what she would call bacteria, to help her fight the cold. Her family couldn’t believe it, she was supposed to be “healthy” and instead she was dying. When she recovered she had to sign up for therapy so she could learn how to live a normal life again. This whole process was very exhausting for her, I remember how she would want to give up, but her family and friends were very supportive and never let her quit.

                After few months of counseling and therapy Esme was able to pick her life back and enjoy it. She decided to change for the best, she learned how she was hurting her own self and that was hurting people around her as well. She doesn’t like to talk about her experience much, but when she does she always takes it seriously. I’ve never seen her make jokes; I’ve seen her cry when she talks about it though. I understand that she has a total different experience than Jacobs but the topic is serious no matter what. I know for a fact that Esme would be very upset if she sees this video because of her experience. I’ve seen how she gets offended when people are ignorant and judge her right away. She’s always aware of new groups or people who need help because she doesn’t want any of her loved ones to go through it like she did. She’s always willing to help and listen, she likes to be proactive.

                Jacobs had a great opportunity to present this strange health disorder to the public and make them understand is real and very serious, but he didn’t. He could have shown where to get help, maybe get some guest speakers to share experiences that are different than his. Talk about the symptoms and motivate people to help others. Some people freak out when they hear about this topic because they are not well informed, but by listening to people who have been through it would make people believe is real and they would be able to see that it’s possible to overcome this health problem. Support from a counselor would have been helpful too, because they know more about how to treat people who experience it and they actually work with them every day.

                After the video I just felt like I had to answer my own questions so I did some research about how healthy living can kill you. I found many support groups that are willing to help every single one who needs it. Like the Healthy Living group, Care 2, BCC and others. These support groups have hotlines that are available 24/7. This healthy living issue is not common but it’s very important to know what to do and how to treat it. Experts say that it’s good to be supportive and don’t blame the person who is experiencing this condition because they don’t want more pressure or don’t want to be judged. It’s a problem that needs attention as soonest possible but it is also something very delicate. There are cases that had end up in suicide because of people judging them. The best thing to do is listen to the person and try to get professional help for them right away. The hardest part for someone with this healthy disorder is to accept it because is hard to admit we are doing something that’s hurting ourselves.

                In conclusion, I still feel and think that this video was somewhat disrespectful because of all the sarcasm and humor used within the video, but I’m glad people are starting to find out about the healthy living problems.  I’m glad the problem is not hiding anymore. We just need to learn more about it and have a balance in our life. It’s good to be informed about germs and bacteria because when we fail to learn is when we suffer. Healthy living problems is definitely something that nobody wants but if someone is experiencing then it’s good to know that there’s a lot of help being offered.  

http://www.ted.com/talks/aj_jacobs_how_healthy_living_nearly_killed_me.html