Why are the danes so much fitter?

When Christina and I moved here we were surprised by two things. 

The first was how much thinner and fitter most people are. 

The second was how many more people seem to smoke. 

It appears that vanity rather than health is perhaps the main motivator for keeping trim.

There is a do it to be healthy campaign going on that great,

But... 

I think that it's human to care what people think and we need to embrace that information and use it as leverage. 

The Danish system is just much better set up to make staying trim possible with cycle lanes everywhere and shorter working hours. 

There is a question that I wrestle with more than most and please hold on to your outrage, it's a question. 

It's a difficult one but those are the ones the we most need answers for I think. 

So here it is.

Is it possible to be a smoker and not want to die more than you want to live? 

I grant you it expands to other things like sitting at a desk for 10 hours per day, being overweight, not sleeping enough or excessive alcohol consumption but with the exception of alcohol smoking is a direct thing... 

We light it, we put it into our mouths. 

I don't have a complete answer for the above but I do have this. 

Something is happening NOW that our brains perceive as more dangerous than smoking (insert negative behaviour). 

Social hierarchy is more important to us that how long we live. 

In fact more than half of us according to research don't ever think about life beyond 5 years from now. 

Now trumps then unless we force our thinking.

Having been a smoker, a heavy drinker, a crap eater, a non-investor I can tell you that I have been in tribes where these things have been rewarded and done them to fit in. 

I am also not naturally a long term thinker but have tried hard to frequently ask myself the question. 

What is the long term consequence of my current behaviour? 

and then like goal setting I try and vividly picture those consequences. 

If we can cultivate long term thinking and patience we win. 

We get to play the long game and live today to enjoy today but also look after the future. 

And sometimes we have to be prepared to change tribes and start at the bottom and work up.

Ed Ley

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