ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AJ Jacobs - Author
Immersing himself in alternate lifestyles and long, hilarious experiments (usually with himself the guinea pig), writer AJ Jacobs tests the limits of behavior, customs, culture, knowledge -- and his wife's sense of humor.

Why you should listen

AJ Jacobs' writings stand at the intersection of philosophy, Gonzo journalism and performance art. Stubbornly curious and slyly perceptive, he takes immersive learning to its irrational and profoundly amusing extreme -- extracting wisdom and meaning after long stints as a self-styled guinea pig. For his widely circulated Esquire article "My Outsourced Life," he explored the phenomenon of outsourcing by hiring a team in Bangalore to take care of every part of his life -- from reading his emails to arguing with his wife to reading bedtime stories to his own son. A previous article, "I Think You're Fat," chronicled a brief, cringe-inducing attempt to live his life in Radical Honesty, telling all the truth, all the time.

Jacobs is author of The Know-It-All, which documents the year he spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, uncovering both funny and surprising factoids but also poignant insight into history and human nature. In 2007 he released The Year of Living Biblically, in which he attempted to follow every single rule in the Bible as literally as possible for an entire year. His recent book The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment is a collection of numerous personal experiments. including living according to George Washington's rules of conduct, outsourcing every single task to India, and posing as a woman on an online dating site. 

More profile about the speaker
AJ Jacobs | Speaker | TED.com
TEDMED 2011

AJ Jacobs: How healthy living nearly killed me

AJ雅各布斯:健康生活可致命

Filmed:
2,005,709 views

AJ雅各布斯喺一年內參照所有健康建議,例如搽上一個小杯酒份量嘅太陽油,或者去購物嘅時候戴安全帽。喺TEDMED(醫學)唧講臺上,佢同參加者分享咗佢好多意外嘅發現。
- Author
Immersing himself in alternate lifestyles and long, hilarious experiments (usually with himself the guinea pig), writer AJ Jacobs tests the limits of behavior, customs, culture, knowledge -- and his wife's sense of humor. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I've spent the last decade同你十年
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我花咗過去10年
00:17
subjecting使 myself自己 to pain痛苦 and humiliation屈辱,
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飽受痛苦同屈辱,
00:20
hopefully希望 for a good cause原因,
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就喺為咗一個好嘅原因:
00:22
which is self-improvement自我改進.
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自我提升。
00:25
And I've done this in three parts部分.
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我從三個方向入手,
00:27
So first I started初時 with the mind介意.
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首先喺由個腦入手。
00:30
And I decided決定 to try to get smarter
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我決定要睇晒大英百科全書
00:34
by reading閲讀 the entire整個 Encyclopedia百科全書 Britannica百科全書
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嚟令自己變聰明啲
00:36
from A to Z --
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我由字母A到Z
00:38
or, more precisely正是, from "a-aka ak" to "ZywiecZywiec."
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更準確啲,係由a-ak到Zywiec都睇晒。
00:41
And here's呢度有 a little image圖像 of that.
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依張喺全系列書嘅相。
00:43
And this was an amazing驚人 year.
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依個喺好精彩嘅一年,
00:45
It was really a fascinating迷人 journey旅程.
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而且亦係一個好有趣嘅旅程,
00:47
It was painful痛苦 at times,
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不過都有痛苦嘅時候,
00:50
especially尤其係 for those around me.
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特別喺對於果啲喺我身邊嘅人。
00:52
My wife妻子 started初時 to fine me one dollar美元
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每次我係傾計時候加入無關嘅冷知識,
00:55
for every irrelevant無關 fact事實 I inserted插入 into conversation談話.
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我老婆就會罰我1美金,
00:58
So it had its downsides缺點.
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所以依個旅程其實都有缺點。
01:02
But after that,
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不過之後
01:04
I decided決定 to work on the spirit精神.
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我確定要開始我嘅精神提升。
01:06
As I mentioned提到 last year,
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上年我講過
01:08
I grew增長 up with no religion宗教 at all.
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我一直都無信仰。
01:10
I'm Jewish猶太,
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我喺猶太人,
01:12
but I'm Jewish猶太 in the same相同 way the Olive橄欖 Garden花園 is Italian意大利文.
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但喺就好似“橄欖花園”喺意大利餐廳一樣。
01:15
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
01:17
Not really.
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其實唔係。
01:19
But I decided決定 to learn學習 about the Bible聖經 and my heritage遺產
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我決定要通過親身經歷
01:22
by actually講真 diving潛水 in
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嚟學習《聖經》
01:24
and trying試圖 to live it and immerse沉浸 myself自己 in it.
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同埋我嘅民族歷史。
01:26
So I decided決定 to follow遵循 all the rules規則 of the Bible聖經.
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我跟足《聖經》同《十誡》
01:29
And from the Ten Commandments
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入邊所有嘅規矩,
01:31
to growing增長 my beard鬍子 --
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譬如話留鬚 --
01:33
because Leviticus says you cannot唔可以 shave剃鬚.
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因為《利未記》提到唔畀剃鬚。
01:35
So this is what I looked like by the end結束.
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依個就係我留咗一年鬚嘅樣啦。
01:38
Thank you for that reaction反應.
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多謝你哋嘅反應。
01:40
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
01:43
I look a little like Moses摩西, or Ted泰德 Kaczynski卡钦.
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我望落有啲似摩西,或者泰德·卡欽斯基,
01:46
I got both of them.
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兩個都有啲啦。
01:48
So there was the topiary修剪 there.
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修剪過後就咁嘅樣。
01:51
And there's the sheep.
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仲有隻綿羊。
01:54
Now the final最後 part部分 of the trilogy三部曲
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到三部曲嘅最後一部,
01:56
was I wanted to focus重點 on the body身體
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我想將重點放喺身體,
01:59
and try to be the healthiest健康 person I could be,
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我嘗試活得健康,
02:01
the healthiest健康 person alive活著.
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成為最健康嘅人。
02:03
So that's what I've been doing the last couple夫婦 of years.
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我過去幾年就喺做緊依樣嘢,
02:06
And I just finished完成 a couple夫婦 of months ago.
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幾個月前啱啱結束。
02:08
And I have to say, thank God.
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我想講:感謝上帝!
02:10
Because living生活 so healthily健康 was killing me.
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因為咁健康咁生活真喺好攞命。
02:13
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
02:15
It was so overwhelming壓倒性,
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真喺好難頂,
02:18
because the amount of things you have to do,
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因為你要做好多好多嘢,
02:20
it's just mind-boggling令人難以置信的.
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多到難以置信。
02:22
I was listening to all the experts專家
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我聽取所有專家嘅意見
02:24
and talking講嘢 to sort排序 of a board of medical醫療 advisers顧問.
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仲同好多醫學專家傾過計,
02:26
And they were telling話畀 me
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佢哋個個都話我知
02:28
all the things I had to do.
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我要做嘅嘢。
02:30
I had to eat right,
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我要正確咁飲食、
02:32
exercise運動, meditate冥想, pet寵物 dogs,
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做運動、冥想同埋養狗,
02:35
because that lowers降低 the blood pressure壓力.
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因為咁做可以降低血壓。
02:37
I wrote the book on a treadmill跑步機,
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我喺跑步機上邊跑邊寫書,
02:39
and it took me about a thousand miles英里
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用咗我大概跑1000公里嘅時間
02:41
to write the book.
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嚟寫一本書。
02:43
I had to put on sunscreen防曬霜.
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我仲要搽太陽油。
02:45
This was no small feat壯舉,
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好大工程。
02:47
because if you listen to dermatologists皮膚科醫生,
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如果你聽皮膚科醫生嘅話,
02:49
they say that you should have a shot拍攝 glass玻璃 full of sunscreen防曬霜.
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你需要搽一個細酒杯嘅份量,
02:52
And you have to reapply重新 it every two to four hours小時.
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而且每四個鐘就要補搽一次。
02:54
So I think half一半 of my book advance進展
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我估有一半寫書嘅時間,
02:56
went into sunscreen防曬霜.
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係用咗嚟搽太陽油。
02:58
I was like a glazed釉面 doughnut甜甜圈
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我變成一隻上咗油嘅東甩
03:00
for most of the year.
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有差唔多一年。
03:02
There was the washing of hands.
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然後到洗手。
03:04
I had to do that properly.
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我要好認真咁洗。
03:06
And my immunologist免疫學家卡尔·琼 told me
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我個免疫醫生話,
03:08
that I should also wipe down
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我仲要抹乾淨
03:11
all of the remote遠程 controls控制 and iPhonesIphone in my house房子,
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屋企所有遙控同手機,
03:14
because those are just orgies狂歡 of germs細菌.
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因為佢哋都喺細菌嘅樂園。
03:17
So that took a lot of time.
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用咗我好多時間。
03:19
I also tried試過 to be the safest安全 person I could be,
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我仲開始好小心咁生活
03:22
because that's a part部分 of health健康.
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因為佢係健康嘅一部份。
03:24
I was inspired啟發
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我受到
03:26
by the Danish丹麥文 Safety安全 Council.
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我受到丹麥安全局嘅啓發,
03:28
They started初時 a public公眾 campaign運動
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佢哋推廣一個運動, 倡議:
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that says, "A walking helmet頭盔 is a good helmet頭盔."
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“步行安全帽係一頂好帽”
03:33
So they believe you should not just wear穿 helmets頭盔 for biking騎單車,
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佢哋認為唔單止踩車嘅時候要戴安全帽,
03:37
but also for walking around.
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行路嘅時候都要。
03:40
And you can see there
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然後你睇
03:43
they're shopping買嘢 with their佢哋 helmets頭盔.
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佢哋去行街都戴安全帽。
03:45
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
03:47
Well yeah, I tried試過 that.
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係呀,我都試咗。
03:51
Now it's a little extreme極端, I admit承認.
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宜家我承認係有啲極端,
03:53
But if you think about this,
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但係如果你諗諗,
03:55
this is actually講真 -- the "Freakonomics魔鬼經濟學" authors作者 wrote about this --
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正如“魔鬼經濟學”嘅作家所寫 --
03:58
that more people die on a per mile英里 basis基礎
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每公里,因為飲醉酒
04:01
from drunk walking
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而死嘅行人
04:03
than from drunk driving.
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仲多過因醉酒駕駛而死。
04:05
So something to think about tonight今晚
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如果你飲咗啲酒,
04:07
if you've had a couple夫婦.
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咁你今晚就要諗下喇。
04:10
So I finished完成,
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我最終都完成咗依個計劃,
04:12
and it was a success成功 in a sense.
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而亦可以話喺成功嘅。
04:14
All of the markers標記 went in the right direction方向.
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所有指數都朝住正確嘅方向發展,
04:17
My cholesterol膽固醇 went down, I lost失去 weight重量,
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我嘅膽固醇降低咗,體重減少咗,
04:20
my wife妻子 stopped停止 telling話畀 me that I looked pregnant大肚.
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我老婆唔再話我好似有咗咁。
04:24
So that was nice.
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所以幾好,
04:27
And it was successful成功 overall整體.
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總體嚟講幾成功。
04:30
But I also learned that I was too healthy健康,
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但係我都意識到我太健康喇,
04:32
and that was unhealthy不良.
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而咁樣其實係唔健康。
04:34
I was so focused集中 on doing all these things
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我太專注做所有嘅嘢,
04:37
that I was neglecting忽視 my friends朋友 and family家庭.
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而忽略咗我嘅屋企人同朋友。
04:40
And as Dan BuettnerBuettner can tell you,
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好似丹·拔拿講咁
04:42
having a strong social社會 network網絡
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一個強大唧社交網絡
04:44
is so crucial關鍵 to our health健康.
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對我哋嘅健康非常重要。
04:46
So I finished完成.
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最後我完成咗,
04:48
And I kind一種 of went overboard離譜
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不過喺計劃後嘅一個星期後,
04:51
on the week after the project項目 was over.
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我變得有啲過火,
04:54
I went to the dark黑暗 side一邊,
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有啲瘋狂。
04:56
and I just indulged沉迷 myself自己.
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我已經過份沉迷。
04:58
It was like something out of Caligula卡里古拉.
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好似係暴君統治下釋放出嚟咁,
05:00
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
05:02
Without the sex part部分.
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不過唔包括性行為,
05:04
Because I have three young年輕 kids孩子,
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因為我屋企有三個小朋友,
05:06
so that wasn't唔係 happening發生.
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所以無乜可能,
05:09
But the over-eating過度進食 and over-drinking過度飲酒, definitely絕對.
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不過我絕對有暴飲暴食。
05:12
And I finally最後 have stabilized穩定.
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最後我穩定落嚟,
05:17
So now I'm back
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宜家我回復正常,
05:19
to adopting採用 many好多 -- not all; I don't wear穿 a helmet頭盔 anymore --
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當然仲維持住好多
05:22
but dozens幾十 of healthy健康 behaviors行為
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過去一年嘅健康行為,
05:25
that I adopted採用 during my year.
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不過唔包括戴安全帽。
05:28
It was really a life-changing改變生活 project項目.
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依個計劃改變咗我嘅生活,
05:31
And I, of course課程, don't have time to go into all of them.
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我無時間同你哋一一列舉
05:34
Let me just tell you two really quickly迅速.
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等我簡短咁講兩點。
05:37
The first is -- and this was surprising令人驚訝 to me;
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第一, 亦係令我好意外,
05:39
I didn't expect期望 this to come out --
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我無諗過會發生嘅 --
05:41
but I live a much quieter安靜 life now.
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就係我宜家嘅生活更安靜。
05:44
Because we live in such a noisy world世界.
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我哋生活喺一個好嘈嘅環境,
05:47
There's trains火車 and planes飛機 and cars汽車
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火車、飛機同汽車,
05:51
and Bill條例草案 O'Reilly奥赖利, he's very noisy.
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仲有比爾·奧萊利,佢都好嘈。
05:54
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
05:57
And this is a real真正 underestimated低估, under-appreciated欠讚賞 health健康 hazard危害 --
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好多人都低估咗、忽略依個健康破壞者。
06:02
not just because it harms危害 our hearing聽到, which it obviously顯然 does,
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佢好明顯會影響我哋嘅聽力
06:05
but it actually講真 initiates啟動
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而且仲會引起
06:08
the fight-or-flight戰鬥或飛行 response響應.
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應急反應。
06:10
A loud大聲 noise譟聲 will get your fight-or-flight戰鬥或飛行 response響應 going.
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一下好大嘅聲響會引起你嘅應急反應,
06:13
And this, over the years,
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幾年之後
06:16
can cause原因 real真正 damage損傷, cardiovascular心血管 damage損傷.
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就會造成真正嘅破壞,例如破壞心血管。
06:19
The World世界 Health健康 Organization組織 just did a big study研究
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世界衛生組織最近進行做咗一項大研究
06:22
that they published發表 this year.
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今年啱啱發布。
06:24
And it was done in Europe歐洲.
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依項研究喺歐洲進行,
06:26
And they estimated估計
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佢哋估計
06:28
that 1.6 million years of healthy健康 living生活
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每年歐洲因為噪音污染,
06:32
are lost失去 every year in Europe歐洲
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一百六十萬年既
06:35
because of noise譟聲 pollution污染.
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健康生活會消失。
06:38
So they think it's actually講真 very deadly致命.
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所以佢哋認為噪音可以致命。
06:41
And by the way,
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另外,
06:43
it's also terrible可怕 for your brain大腦.
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噪音對個腦都唔好,
06:46
It really impairs損害 cognition認知.
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佢會破壞你嘅知覺。
06:49
And our Founding成立 Fathers老竇 knew about this.
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就連美國嘅“建國之父”都知道,
06:51
When they wrote the Constitution憲法,
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當佢哋撰寫《美國憲法》嘅時候道,
06:53
they put dirt污垢 all over the cobblestones石春 outside外面 the hall大堂
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佢哋喺大堂外嘅石卵上鋪滿泥土減噪道,
06:57
so that they could concentrate集中.
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等佢哋可以專心撰寫。
07:00
So without noise譟聲 reduction減少 technology技術,
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所以,如果無減噪技術,
07:03
our country國家 would not exist存在.
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美國可能唔存在。
07:06
So as a patriot愛國者,
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作為一個愛國者,
07:08
I felt覺得 it was important重要 to --
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我覺得戴耳塞同護耳耳機
07:10
I wear穿 all the earplugs耳塞 and the earphones耳機,
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非常重要,
07:12
and it's really improved改進 my life
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而且佢仲好意外咁
07:15
in a surprising令人驚訝 and unexpected意外 way.
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改善我嘅生活。
07:18
And the second第二 pointD I want to make, the final最後 pointD,
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第二點,亦都喺最後一樣我想要講嘅
07:21
is that -- and it's actually講真 been a theme主題 of TEDMEDTEDMED --
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依個亦係 TEDMED 嘅主題
07:26
that joy喜悅 is so important重要 to your health健康,
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就係快樂對於健康好重要,
07:30
that very few幾個 of these behaviors行為
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正如我維持咗好少健康行為
07:34
will stick堅持 with me
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除非佢哋
07:36
unless除左 there's some sense of pleasure快樂 and joy喜悅 in them.
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會令我覺得開心。
07:41
And just to give you one instance實例 of this:
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舉一個例子:
07:44
food食品.
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食物。
07:46
The junk垃圾 food食品 industry行業
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垃圾食物行業
07:49
is really great
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係非常擅於
07:51
at pressing our pleasure快樂 buttons
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激起我哋嘅快樂感覺,
07:53
and figuring盤算 out what's the most pleasurable愉快.
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同埋知道咩可以令我哋最開心。
07:56
But I think we can use their佢哋 techniques技術
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但我認為我哋可以將佢哋嘅技巧
07:58
and apply應用 them to healthy健康 food食品.
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利用喺健康食物之上。
08:00
To give just one example例子,
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譬如話
08:02
we love crunchiness口感, mouthfeel口感.
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我哋好喜歡脆口、有口感嘅嘢,
08:05
So I basically基本上 have tried試過 to incorporate crunchiness口感
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所以我嘗試將香脆口感
08:09
into a lot of my recipes食譜 --
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融入我嘅食譜
08:11
throw in some sunflower向日葵 seeds種子.
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例如放啲瓜子。
08:13
And you can almost爭 D trick把戲 yourself自己
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可能你會以為
08:15
into thinking思維 you're eating DoritosDoritos.
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自己食緊粟米片。
08:17
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
08:19
And it has made作出 me a healthier健康 person.
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咁食法仲可以令我變得更健康。
08:21
So that is it.
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就喺咁。
08:23
The book about it comes out in April四月.
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依個計劃嘅書會喺4月出版,
08:25
It's called "Drop下降 Dead Healthy健康."
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叫做《Drop Dead Healthy》。
08:27
And I hope希望 that I don't get sick生病 during the book tour旅行.
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我希望喺新書宣傳途中唔會病倒,
08:29
That's my greatest最大 hope希望.
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呢個我最大嘅願望係,。
08:31
So thank you very much.
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多謝各位!
08:33
(Applause掌聲)
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(掌聲)
Translated by Xun Lin
Reviewed by Michelle Poon

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AJ Jacobs - Author
Immersing himself in alternate lifestyles and long, hilarious experiments (usually with himself the guinea pig), writer AJ Jacobs tests the limits of behavior, customs, culture, knowledge -- and his wife's sense of humor.

Why you should listen

AJ Jacobs' writings stand at the intersection of philosophy, Gonzo journalism and performance art. Stubbornly curious and slyly perceptive, he takes immersive learning to its irrational and profoundly amusing extreme -- extracting wisdom and meaning after long stints as a self-styled guinea pig. For his widely circulated Esquire article "My Outsourced Life," he explored the phenomenon of outsourcing by hiring a team in Bangalore to take care of every part of his life -- from reading his emails to arguing with his wife to reading bedtime stories to his own son. A previous article, "I Think You're Fat," chronicled a brief, cringe-inducing attempt to live his life in Radical Honesty, telling all the truth, all the time.

Jacobs is author of The Know-It-All, which documents the year he spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, uncovering both funny and surprising factoids but also poignant insight into history and human nature. In 2007 he released The Year of Living Biblically, in which he attempted to follow every single rule in the Bible as literally as possible for an entire year. His recent book The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment is a collection of numerous personal experiments. including living according to George Washington's rules of conduct, outsourcing every single task to India, and posing as a woman on an online dating site. 

More profile about the speaker
AJ Jacobs | Speaker | TED.com