WIL Weekly 5-Point Review #4
Unconventional Sleep Hack, Muscle's Brain Boosting Power and more.
This is my free weekly newsletter covering 5 interesting points from the week. Subscribe if you’d like to get it in your inbox each week!
1. Unconventional sleep hack
I haven’t looked deeply into how this acupressure mat works but my brother got me one of these and it’s been great. Allegedly it relaxes you “by stimulating meridians along the back.” It’s very uncomfortable at first, but after a couple minutes it stops feeling painful and you indeed become very relaxed. I usually pass out within about 10 minutes. I usually only use it for naps, but last night I was having trouble sleeping for a good 40 minutes, so I went and got the stabby mat, laid on it in bed and was passed out in no more than 12 minutes.
2. How Muscle helps keep your Brain healthy
I just released an article titled You’re not too fat, you’re under-muscled where I present the idea that we should focus more on having healthy muscle more than trying to lose fat. One thing I didn’t talk about was Myokines.
There are multiple studies like this one that find an association between lower cognitive functioning and lower muscle strength and muscle mass. Better muscle, better brain function.
Contracting the muscle is a major source of neurotrophic factors. (Neuro meaning “brain” and trophic meaning “growth.”) This paper explains that “the literature suggests that sarcopenia and cognitive decline share pathophysiological pathways,” meaning that the process that is having older people lose their muscle is also degrading their brain.
What many people don’t realize about muscle is that it’s not just a bunch of rubber bands that get bigger when you lift weights - muscle is an endocrine organ. Stimulating the muscle with exercise facilitates the release of proteins called myokines that have endocrine and cell-signaling functions. Myokines are fantastic for health - they help you regulate your weight, lower your inflammation and even improve cognitive function.
Dr. Fabio Demontis gave a talk titled Myokine-based interventions to contrast muscle and brain aging where he presents yet another way exercise is good for the brain (and eyes).
His work shows quite simply: Exercise is a stress on the muscle and, as a result of the muscle responding to this stress, myokines are released. These myokines have the eventual effect of protecting the retina and brain from aging.
3. Eye roll inducing headline
Despite the fact that this narrative that cows are bad for the planet was unsubstantiated from the start, the demonizing of beef continues…
4. Look for discrimination and you’ll find it?
A 1980 study lead female subjects to believe that the study coordinator had used cosmetic makeup to apply a scar to their faces. (In reality they didn’t leave a scar on their face). They then had them sit down and talk to someone for a couple minutes. Afterwards, they were asked questions about how they thought the other person was perceiving them. They assumed that the person they were talking to was patronizing them, was tense around them, and had perceived them as less attractive.
In the present case, for example, individuals who thought that they had a scar were more likely to focus on the gaze behavior of their interactants … These results are obviously consistent with an expectancy notion. Subjects presumably entered the experiment anticipating how others might respond to various forms of physical deviance and, when placed in interaction with a peer, readily found evidence consistent with these expectations. (Emphasis is mine.)
Moral of this particular story is that if you assume someone is going to discriminate against you, you may pluck out of thin air evidence that they are discriminating against you. Keep this in mind for point #5 …
5. Racism in Japan?
A couple days ago, someone posted on twitter an image of a sign posted outside of a Japanese salon. It said that they don’t speak English so they can only serve you if you speak Japanese. “Since we can’t understand what you saying, we aren’t able to cut your hair. …As a professional we want make our customers satisfied.”
I didn’t think this was noteworthy. As of 2022, Japan ranks #80 on the EF English Proficiency Index. They’re classified as “Low Proficiency” and are just 8 ranks away from entering the “Very Low Proficiency” zone. This sign on the salon just seems like common sense. People are very particular about their haircuts, the salon prides themselves on their work, if you can’t communicate then you can’t communicate. (TBH I suspect they had a bad experience in the past where someone who didn’t speak Japanese made a fuss about the haircut they got.)
In the tweet’s replies was someone’s delusional take that the police should be called and the hair salon should be sued “due to psychological distress.” The fact that this person lives in Japan makes it more disappointing.
I don’t think tourists would get the impression that Japanese people are discriminatory at all as they’re very welcoming and even random people on the street try their best to help out a confused tourist with their limited English.
Though, the comment from Daniel on twitter made me think of the handful of Western people living here who complained about Japanese people being racist or discriminatory. (Let me point out that I think this impression is rare, even for people who don’t speak Japanese.) Those that complained about Japan often weren’t trying to learn Japanese.
From my perspective, the communication culture in Japan is a somewhat nuanced dance, there’s a particular way to do things that might be hard to understand for Americans or Europeans. Further, many Japanese people are simply uncomfortable when they are not sure if they communicating properly. They may not want to continue engagements if they’re not confident in their English ability.
One time I tried entering a bar in Shinjuku when the owner promptly waved his hands saying in broken English: “Japanese only!” I responded to him in Japanese and he switched to Japanese saying: “You speak Japanese? come on in.”
The rare times where I felt Japanese people were against me could all be chalked up to my own dumb fault - either my behavior wasn’t appropriate for the situation or I wasn’t communicating properly.
People are big sticklers for the rules here and there are a lot of them. A lot of the reason Japan is so safe, convenient, organized and generally a fantastic place to live is because of all the little rules … that people don’t break. People rarely jay walk here unless it’s a second or two before the light turns green. Sometimes people won’t even jay walk if there’s no cars and the distance to cross is only like 2 meters. Japan ranks #9 on the Global Peace Index while America ranks #129. Some rules are really annoying and don’t make any sense at all, but nonetheless, rules have done well for Japan.
I would bet the people who claim Japanese people are prejudiced either have poor Japanese language skill or are not paying attention enough to the rules and social norms. If you want to say the culture is hard to decipher and takes a lot of effort to fit into as a Westerner, I’d say that’s fair enough assessment. However, if you’re committed to understanding and respecting the culture, Japanese people will appreciate that and you’ll do just fine.
*The one notorious exception is that some apartment listings are not available to foreigners. However I’ve heard from real estate agents that a lot of apartment owners exclude Japanese people from Okinawa or West Japan as well. They prioritize married or engaged couples to single men et cetera. I suspect the “no foreigners” is partly due to the worry that foreigners either don’t speak Japanese or might not know the rules. With a couple listings my agent got the “OK” for me after he explained that I’ve lived here for 12 years and speak Japanese well.
Of course this is a nuanced topic. Yes, like with any country there are bound to be some racist people in Japan. However, I don’t think it’s common at all. I have heard of some cases from friends that by American standards would be pretty clear examples of racism but IMO could also be interpreted as simple ignorance.
The thing about Japan is so true.
When I visited, I remember walking into a restaurant where the waitress became extremely flustered and apologized in broken English that there was no English menu. I told her in Japanese that it was fine and everything immediately relaxed. This seems perfectly human to me.
I find it abhorrent how bad Americans and even people in the west in general are so culturally ignorant of other cultures. And its worse when they don't go into other cultures with a humble learning attitude and assume their way is the only way.
I would enjoy segments on how other cultures operate differently, as it exposure is definitely a huge help with the problem. Also it's interesting to know how Americans verses Japanese rank differently on the peace scale.