What is Laziness?

We all have lazy days when we do not want to get up, drag taking a shower, getting dressed, and simply do not want to accomplish anything. Usually laziness occurs after we have completed a bigger project almost like a reward to ourselves, e.g. after acing a test, doing a good job at a major meeting, signing a big client, etc. We allow ourselves to relax and recover for a short period of time, recharge, and then get ready for the next challenge. However, for some people, laziness has turned from a temporary condition into a chronic condition or a life style. As obesity and physical inactivity are on the rise, laziness has also become an alarming health risk as it is responsible for about 5 million deaths a year that could be prevented.

Chronic laziness has nothing to do with recovery time. Instead, it happens when one would be expected to do something productive, but one cannot and doesn't even intend to do it. While procrastination and laziness share some commonalities since in both cases individuals do not do what they are expected to, psychologists have found that procrastinators intend to do them after a long period of avoiding them, whereas people with chronic laziness have no intention of achieving anything. In their world, the effort it takes to complete a task doesn't seem worth it, so they simply refuse to do it, without consciously deciding so. Laziness is the avoidance of physical and intellectual challenges, any kind of stimulation, change, or long-term goals. The only goal of the chronically lazy individual is the maintenance of status quo. A recent study by Vanderbilt University has detected that not only the minds, but also brain functions were altered in people with chronic laziness. They found that people with less motivation have a different brain activity from those that are highly motivated. Amounts of the chemical dopamine in three brain regions determine if a person is a go-getter or an avoider of work. The chemical does distinct things in different areas of the brain. So while high levels of dopamine in some brain regions were associated with a high work ethic, a spike in another brain region seemed to indicate just the opposite — a person more likely to slack off, even if it meant smaller monetary rewards.

Chronic laziness is like giving up. It is filling time in the most meaningless ways and refusing to live one's life. It is a life without direction, passion, purpose, and connection. Laziness is not only harmful for the body and the brain, but most of all to the self as it systematically reduces self-confidence, self-worth, happiness, and the individual loses the feeling of being connected to the world. As laziness cannot be conquered, the individual loses hope and stability and settles into the mindset of disappointment with himself/herself. This paralysis that chronically lazy individuals find themselves in leads to and is even further increased by lethargy. Psychologists have found that laziness is often connected to Dependent Personality Disorder. An individual affected by this has low self-confidence and doesn't believe in their skills at all so that they are more comfortable to ask others to do something for them, instead of doing it themselves. Laziness has also been linked to Avoidant Personality Disorder, in which an individual is afraid of others' judgment of their performance and thus would rather not do anything (and risk being perceived as ignorant or unskilled) than being judged. A non-psychological, medical condition that chronic laziness has been linked to is Upper Airway Resistance Problem (URAP). URAP is a condition where a patient has smaller than average airway openings that prevent them from getting enough oxygen while in deep sleep. Due to the obstruction of airways, they suffer from chronic sleep deprivation and consider themselves too tired to engage in any kind of effort and thus avoid it. 

An article in the medical journal The Lancet explained in 2012 that for lazy individuals, who get close to no physical activity, the health risk factor is comparable to that of a heavy smoker or someone who is obese. In fact, some current research shows that inactivity now kills more people than smoking, which means that chronic laziness has become even more alarming. It is estimated for the UK that only 7 our of 10 individuals aging 15 and up reach the recommended amount of physical daily exercise. For teenagers aged 13-15 years the numbers are even more dramatic: 4 out of 5 do not move enough. Lack of exercise causes an estimated six percent of coronary heart disease cases, seven percent of type 2 diabetes (the most common form) and 10 percent of breast and colon cancers. Reducing inactivity by a mere 10 percent could eliminate more than half a million deaths every year. In a global comparison, the levels of inactivity in adults were especially alarming in the UK: 63.3% of adults (with higher rates in women than in men) do not meet recommended amounts of activity, such as walking briskly for 30 minutes or more five times a week or taking more vigorous exercise for 20 minutes three times a week. Only the numbers for Serbia and Malta in Europe were worse than those of the UK. For the U.S., the numbers were only slightly better, but still alarmingly high: The Center for Disease Control found that in 2008 about 52% of U.S. adults were not getting the recommended amount of exercise, although these numbers differed greatly with regards to ethnicity, socio-economic status, and level of education. A study by the University of Missouri revealed that blood sugar went increasingly out of control, the longer individuals remained inactive, but if inactivity is the chosen way of life, this experiment showed that the knock-on effect is that the insulin loses its effect and individuals are on the slippery slope to ill health.

Here in the United States, a strong misperception persists about laziness. It is generally assumed that poverty is the direct result of laziness and refusing to work hard, but in most cases the opposite is true. Many poor people have to work extra hard, e.g. several jobs just to get by, some are single parents which adds even more to their plate. In the wrong argumentation people neglect to factor in that here in the United States the social system (although based on hard work) does not grant the same opportunities to all socio-economic classes and once you end up in poverty in a bad neighborhood and a poor school district, it is extremely difficult to ever experience social upward mobility. Historically speaking, it was always the rich people who were physically more inactive as they could afford to hire helpers for any possible physical jobs, like cooking, cleaning, gardening, child-rearing, washing clothes, etc. Throughout history, poor people worked the hardest as they had little or no education and thus had to work more for less money while still having to organize their own lives to keep their families alive and afloat. In social market economies, where the government has a more secure network in place to help people who cannot work (due to mental of physcial restraints), cannot find work (due to high unemployment rate) or cannot find the right kind of work, etc. you will find more cases in which poor people will reject to work for money and chose to solely rely on welfare. In that context, the common link between poor and lazy is a bit more adequate.

With our change to online-culture and increased time spent sitting, inactivity has become much more prominent in the last decade, even more socially acceptable. And although all major religions (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism) condemn laziness, it is still on the rise. All of them admonish their believers in their own way to stay on the religious path and stick to religious habits as a means to fight inertia and don't fall prey to sloth. Buddhism for example even distinguishes between three forms of laziness: 1. not wanting to do anything, 2. discouragement with the task at hand; 3. being too engaged in the world to remain conscious and reflective of oneself and the world. Buddhism also understands only experiencing superficial things and nothing profound (e.g. to many fun activities, but no focus in the self) as a form of boredom. In Hinduism inertia is one of the three ganas: 1. Sattwa = purity; 2. Raja = activeness, and 3. Tamas = inertia. The three ganas, Hindus believe, compete with each other and bind the self to the body. Each individual faces the challenge to keep inertia at bay. They believe that Tamas is born out of ignorance, causes delusion and strongly blinds the affected individual with miscomprehension, laziness, and sleep. In Judaism, time is perceived as sanctified and believers are constantly reminded of the fleeting character of time. Wasting time is considered evil and everyone is encouraged to make the most of every single moment. Similarly, in the Christian realm sloth is perceived as one of the seven deadly sins. "Idleness is the beginning of all vice," people believe. Despite the condemnation of laziness in all major religious and most cultural contexts, still millions of individuals die every year from the effects of physical and mental inactivity.

While chronic laziness has always been negative for one's health and mental state, throughout history the ambition to avoid hard work has served as inspiration for new inventions. Smart people who wanted to avoid physical work, always sought of ways to make life more comfortable and less physically challenging. Bill Gates is quoted having said that he would always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job, because he/she will always find an easy way to do it. In today's modern world however, the necessities and discomforts of survival have become so little challenging and almost non-existent that there is no requirement of physical activity, unless we create it for ourselves. This development requires a far more conscious and responsible individual who is willing to accept the challenge posed by this oversimplified world and consciously reject the path of least resistance. In many industrialized nations a good part of the population has become well aware (some by the "Sitting is the new Smoking" campaign) and try to integrate physical activity more and more into their daily lives. Some walk, run, or otherwise exercise during lunch break, add standing desks to their office furniture or bike or run to work to make sure that they get the recommended amount of physical activity. Next to that we also have to remember to keep challenging ourselves not only physically, but also intellectually, so that we don't fall into the trap of overindulging in time spent in passive, meaningless behaviors. We don't want to be remembered as the ones who did nothing of importance, wasted a lot of time, and died young, but as those who created great memories and added meaning and purpose to their own lives as well as that of others. It is especially important for parents to be role models and to protect their children from the patterns of inactivity, so that they can have a more fulfilling, active, and healthy life. We have to use the limited chain of moments on earth to do good and achieve something worthwhile for ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Is a Life Equal to a Life?

A life should be equal to a life, but it is not. Historically speaking, it never has been. In every society, especially those that we remember as great civilizations, there were sharp economic and social distinctions between those who ruled and those who provided the manual labor necessary for the state to function. The disadvantages of the lower socio-economic groups were always a calculated part of any state's system. While slavery in ancient societies was understood as a necessary evil, racial discrimination is a byproduct of modern day colonialism. 19th century racism not only undermined the cultures, traditions, and belief systems of colonized peoples by labeling them barbaric or "uncivilized", but also by introducing the white Western perceptions as the norm. Even though currently whites are clearly the minority with only about 16% of the total world population, beauty ideals, fashion designs, and white Western modes of thoughts still dominate global understandings today. Even in the decolonized world racism is still exists and is a big market for enterprise as e.g. skin whitening creams still are profitable products and in some rural peripheral regions a whiter skin color is still the sign of higher social status.

Here in the U.S. racial discrimination is illegal, yet it occurs on a daily basis. Not only are there still white supremacist movements plotting against African-Americans in various parts of the nation, but the recent unfortunate incidences in Baltimore and Ferguson (and elsewhere) have revealed that there is a much broader segment of society that not only believes in segregation, but even active attacks on African-Americans. A recent study has pointed out that it is much harder for African-American college graduates to find an appropriate job than for Caucasians. Their unemployment rate was twice as high as that of other college graduates. A different experiment investigated racism that job applicants faced with Hispanic and African-American sounding names. In both cases the call backs for an interview were significantly lower than for typical "Caucasian-sounding" names. The experiment clearly showed that candidates with Hispanic or African-American names do not have the same chances at getting a job interview as Caucasians. In fact African-Americans have 50% less of a chance at a call back than Caucasians. Research has shown that they get hit twice by discrimination, because it is not only harder for them to find a job, but also to improve their employability.

Countless other occasions of discrimination have surfaced in the social media since the death of Freddie Gray, on you-tube, twitter or Facebook. Here is this one example of an African-American father who walks into a mall to pick up his children from daycare. While walking around the mall, this man is being approached by a police officer asking to identify himself. The man knows his rights and replies that he has not done anything suspicious and he should not have to identify himself. He is repeatedly asked to show his ID, which he refuses insisting on his legal right. Suddenly more officers appear and the man is handcuffed as his two children watch. He is recording the entire incident and it is heartbreaking to see that even though he has done nothing wrong, he gets arrested. This highlights the well-known fact that racial bias is part of current police practices. Just imagine that it would have been a white man in his thirties who did not display any kind of suspicious behavior. Would police officers have asked to see his ID? Most likely not. Now imagine that it was a woman walking around in the mall (white, African-American or Hispanic). Would she have been suspicious? Would the police have arrested her for no reason? Probably not. Fact is that African-Americans and other non-white (e.g. Indian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic) looking men get stopped more by the police and asked for identification, even if they have done nothing wrong. Many more incidences of this kind of injustice have surfaced recently that illustrate a reality that is far off from equal to all citizens. What makes it worse is that the officials in uniforms who are supposed to uphold the laws of the nation and protect the rights of all citizens seem to be the ones who disregard the same laws and endanger African-American lives. Why has this developed into a string of incidences and why have the highest levels not been able to put a stop to this process? Considering that the first (half) African-American President is in power whose election campaign motto was "change", the development is more than sobering. Innocent, unarmed, non-suspicious people should not be attacked by the police, let alone arrested or killed. Period. And if it happens, there should be major consequences for the police officers involved. To prevent such injustices in the future, severe retraining and education of the police force should be a priority.

While these horrific developments are ongoing, there is still a weird taboo associated with talking about issues of race. It is an underlying, unspoken maze that stretches through all walks of life, but at the same time, it should not be mentioned. It seems that those who discuss it, get stigmatized as they destroy the generally accepted illusion that racism doesn't exist in this democracy. Maybe it is because discrimination and racism are illegally, that we feel it could be perceived as unpatriotic if we point out such blatant flaws in the system, but of course the opposite is true: In a democratic nation we have to assure that practices of discrimination and racism decrease and talk about them until they do. However, the media plays its part in promoting the status quo from which it benefits. If we keep pretending that everyone has the same opportunities and that success is just about working hard, we forget that the starting point for different social, economic, ethnic and other groups varies significantly. If we look at the well cited statistics for this issue, we have to admit that it cannot be a coincidence that the numbers of incarcerations, school drop outs, teenage pregnancies, single parentage as well as areas of severe gang activities all point to African-Americans in a highly disproportionate fashion. African-Americans only make up 13% of the total U.S. populations, yet they account for 37% of all the people currently imprisoned. For the age bracket of 27-34 year-old men this means that every 9th African American man is currently in jail. Taking out the men of this age groups robs the African-American community of the group with the most potential of social mobility, but also denies them to provide for their families adequately. It leads to disadvantaged future generations who have to grow up without a father present and without having sufficient male role models. Conservatives may argue that this trend indicates behavior patterns that feed into the vicious cycle and thus prevent any change to the status quo, but they clearly forget that the chances from the beginning were not equal and there is a major historic debt that needs to be paid up before equality can truly exist. In other nations, when there has been a history of unequal treatment of certain segment of society, politicians put quotas in place to guarantee that this specific group gains access to the same opportunities and slowly catches up with the rest of the society, like the women quota in many European nations or the quota for college admissions for students from India's lower castes.

Growing up as a German white girl in South Africa during Apartheid has confronted me with historic guilt on many levels and made me especially aware of discrimination and racism. As a child, I remember seeing unequal, unjust treatment of Blacks everywhere, but at the same time nobody was talking about it. It was an accepted reality that made no sense to me who was taught that all human beings were equal. What Germany's bad history of the Holocaust has taught us is that civic duty and responsibility in a democracy is a force that has to be applied and should not be underestimated or ignored. Citizens' critical thinking about the nation's reality and procedures are necessary to double-check the political path that the nation is taking. If citizens believe that minority rights are violated, people are mistreated, or specific racial profiling has become a standard procedure, people have to stand up and demand justice. If lives are lost, we cannot stand by and let it happen. If it happens repeatedly, then something needs to be fixed within the system to prevent further violations. We have to remember that in a democracy, the state apparatus is the instrument that enables the rule of the majority and whose role it is to protect the well-being of all its citizens, including the minority.

Recipe for Happiness

We all want to be happy, but sometimes, we get caught up in memories that we cannot let go of, feelings that we cannot change or situations, in which we feel trapped. At those times, it is hard to imagine happiness. We all know those dark moments. This is for those days of darkness and isolation. This is for making peace with yourself and others and moving on. This is my recipe for happiness.

1. Accept yourself. It is hard, but we have to accept ourselves, which includes the whole package that we are: our body, our way of thinking, our needs, our age, our worries, our internal contradictions, our unrealistic desires or expectations, our sometimes too high hopes, our complexities, our one-sided take-away from our past, our insecurities and talents. We cannot change who we are, but we have to live with ourselves, so we have to make peace and accept ourselves. (That doesn't mean we cannot work hard to improve many aspects of our lives.)

2. Accept your past. There is no way you can change the past, so you have to accept it. This doesn't mean you have to agree to the ways in which others treated you badly or the moments your made wrong decisions that keep following you. Try to acknowledge the unpleasant experiences that you went through and then focus on the future. Learn from mistakes, wrongful treatment, painful experiences and shift gear. You have the power to change your life and make sure that your future is better.

3. Learn how to be alone. Only if we are alone, we can truly find ourselves. Don't cover that quietness up with music, TV, radio or constant company. Find the quiet inside of you and get to know yourself properly. Deal with your soul and your thoughts and figure out what you want and need.

4. See others with your heart. Measure people by their good intentions. Don't get distracted by their possessions, looks, achievements, and peer group, but see how they interact with you before you pass judgement on them. They may come from a different socio-economic class, ethnic background, another country with a different religion or culture, etc., etc. but they may be trying to do the right thing. Attempt to understand life from their perspective with all their worries and sets of constraints.

5. Be kind. Don't be suspicious about people and give everyone the benefit of a doubt. Most of us are trying to live our life as best we can, but people make mistakes, most of them NOT on purpose. Forgive them and give them second chances. Treat everyone with kindness. They will remember and think of you as they treat others with kindness themselves.

6. Don't hold grudges. Grudges don't lead anywhere, they just poison the present and the memories of the past. Forgive people their errors, their mistreatment of you and move on. Turn the energy that it takes you to hold grudges into something positive.

7. Don't waste time. Time is all we have in life, so don't waste it on things that don't matter in the long run. Spend it with people who are close to you, family and friends and try to make life better for you and them. Leave something useful behind that friends and family can remember you by, once your time is up. Leave them with many positive memories, gifts, smiles. Also leave them money, if you can, to make their lives easier. Let them think of you with warmth and gratefulness to have been close to you. Set an example. Be brave and do all the things you wanted to do while you are still healthy and have time: climb that mountain, run that marathon, write that book, travel to that special place, meet that old friend again that you miss and tell people how you feel about them. Do everything you can, so that you have no regrets at the end of your life.

8. Move. Humans are not made for being inactive. Our bodies need to move. See to it that you stay as active as you can. Go for a walk outside, play sports or run with the kids, take an exercise class. If we sit at work 8-10 hours a day, we have to compensate by being active for the rest of the day. We may fit a walk/run into your lunch break or get a desk, at which we can stand. Some can set up a treadmill under the standing desk and walk while at work. Moving makes us healthier and happier.

9. Eat good food. Good food doesn't mean it has to be expensive, but you should eat healthy most of the time. A good meal makes you feel better instantly. Learn how to cook, use a variety of vegetables and engage in the adventure of preparing healthy, balanced meals (not overloaded with carbohydrates) for yourself and your loved ones. It may take some time to get it right, but you will improve and it will make you feel good. As you learn about foods, spices, and different ways of cooking, you will be more and more in control of your body, which will give you confidence and make you feel better.

10. Use your brain. Try to figure things our by yourself and make up your own mind about things. Have an opinion and share it. There are so many people trying to tell us what to think and what is right and wrong, that we sometime follow the loudest or the richest or the most persuasive. But we should always try to think things through on our own and see if we honestly agree with others before we join any bandwagon. Don't give others power over you by following them blindly.

11. Work hard. Do your best at your job to develop the skills to reach your full potential. Don't cut corners, but devote enough time and energy to learn your trade from the bottom up, inside-out. As your skills develop, acknowledgement in your profession will come your way.

12. Stay curious and keep learning. Life is all about change and adapting to change. As we grow older, we still have to keep adapting to new ways of doing things (e.g. new technologies), learn about new discoveries, new ways of teaching, new evidence about the past, etc. If you want to stay relevant and be part of the current discussions, you have to keep up, which includes being informed and nurturing your curiosity.

13. Do something different every week. Spice your life up with tiny, little changes that you make every week. Take a new way to work, try a new lunch place, go to a different park, find a new trail, eat some new foods, cook a new recipe, try a new skill, talk to someone you do not know etc., etc. This will keep your life a bit more exciting and there are so many awesome things out there, you may discover a whole range of new things that you like and would otherwise have never experienced.

14. Clean up and declutter. As we take care of your bodies, we should also take care of our living space. Declutter and minimize the things in your home. It will give you space to breathe and lets you focus on more important things.

15. Be part of a group. Join a group, it can be a spiritual, political or religious group, an exercise group, a group of volunteers helping at the local library or the senior citizen home, etc., etc. Find a group and a cause that your find worthwhile and donate your time and energy. You will make connections with like-minded people, build your social network, and feel better about yourself and the world.

16. Don't waste money. Don't waste money on things you don't really need. It makes no sense. Once money is spent, it is hard to earn it back.

17. Minimize watching TV. We have a short time here on earth, so don't waste it in front of the TV. We can make real contributions to the world, if we try and put our minds to it. In order to do that we do NOT have to be rich (like the Gates' family), but just determined like Malala.

18. Acknowledge beauty around you. Go outside and open your eyes. Contemplate nature and discover the beauty around you. It will make you feel part of the bigger picture and can make you feel grateful to be alive.