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Come Dance with Me!
A Story of Matt Harding
by Ron Nye
LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE LATE to the Matt Harding fan club; easily four million viewers have already discovered that they just can't stop watching this man dance and, as often, joining in.
The 31-year-old YouTube sensation is featured in an uplifting video dancing a sort of a jig, described as “an arm-swinging, knee-pumping step that could charitably be called goofy.” Dancing alone, dancing with lemurs, underwater and with children and crowds, Mr. Harding appears at various locations around the world.
Likely not the most graceful dancing you've ever seen, his video is a joyous reminder of the many benefits of dancing. The New England Journal of Medicine, for instance, reports a lower risk for dementia among people over 75 who dance regularly in their leisure time. No other type of physical exercise affected dementia risk according to the report — dancing was the only physical activity that made a difference.
Previous studies have shown that dance therapy can relieve anxiety about taking tests, the tango may help patients with Parkinson's, and the quality of life for breast cancer patients improves with dancing.
Harding began his unusual route to fame five years ago when he quit his job as a video game maker and set off to travel the world, with a travelling pal suggesting he do the same jig he used to do in the office and film himself in different spots.The joyousness of his spirit enlivens the many exotic and interesting locales that he is filmed in — making you want to dance along with him.
Harding is seen happy and energetic in 69 different locations — India, Kuwait, Bhutan, Tonga, Timbuktu — even the Nellis Airspace in Nevada where he performs the dance in zero gravity.
The New York Times reports:
«He started doing it at work, years ago, when he was living in Brisbane, Australia. “I’d dance at lunchtime or during an awkward pause or just to annoy people,” Mr. Harding said. “It was sort of a nervous tic.”
Now he’s on the streets in Mumbai one minute, balanced on the Giant’s Causeway rock formation in Northern Ireland the next, and then he’s in a tulip field in the Netherlands or in front of a geyser in Iceland. Sometimes Mr. Harding dances alone. On a Christmas Island beach he has an audience of crabs, and on Madagascar he performs for lemurs.
But more often — and this accounts for much of the video’s appeal — he’s in the company of others: South African street children in Soweto, bushmen in New Guinea, Bollywood-style dancers in India, some oddly costumed waitresses in Tokyo, crowds of free spirits in Paris, Madrid and rainy Montreal, all copying, or trying to, his flailing chicken-step. Mr. Harding even dances for a lone military policeman (unmoved to join him) in the Korean demilitarized zone.»
The idea first came to him in 2006, he recalled, when he was dancing with some street kids in Rwanda. “If I had tried dancing with kids in a mall in San Francisco, say, I probably would have got arrested,” he said. “But in Africa there aren’t any barriers, and there’s immediate access to this kind of joy and irreverence.” A friend of Mr. Harding’s, Gary Schyman, sets the background music to a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, sung in Bengali by Palbasha Siddique, a 17-year-old native of Bangladesh now living in Minneapolis.
So why not stand up from your computer and join in dancing with this infectious fellow.
Update
AFTER WINNING CULT CELEBRITY STATUS by filming himself dancing badly around the world to the amusement of millions of Internet viewers, Matt now wants to get serious—raising money for laptops for the poor.
He met United Nations officials this month and talked to the sponsor of his video, Stride, about raising money to buy and donate laptops to the poor in Rwanda where he danced with locals and plans to go to teach them himself.
"Laptops and access to the Internet can broaden horizons tremendously. I want to do it personally, so it won't just be a care package," said Harding who has also been approached with various other offers including writing a travel journal.
AWHILE AGO I WROTE ABOUT SCALE ADDICTION and how often you should weigh yourself. It was my opinion that while losing once a week, stark naked, before breakfast, after pee on Wednesdays was my preference, and that while maintaining, daily was a good idea.
Now I'm going to take it further and explain how to deal with the number you see staring back at you.
Firstly if you're trying to lose weight it's important before you step onto the scale, to ask yourself how you're doing. After all, what does the scale know? How you're doing depends on how you're living, and the scale frankly knows nothing about that. If you're happy with how you've been living and feel that you're making the healthiest choices you can enjoy, even if the scale goes up, it shouldn't take away your pride in your accomplishments.
So once you've decided how you're doing, next you step onto the scale.
Looking at the number, you've got to remember a bunch of stuff. You've got to remember that scales measure a lot of extra stuff. Clothing (if you're wearing any), constipation (can weigh up to two pounds), water retention (time of the month, after a salty meal, from sore muscles) and it doesn't know if there have been great reasons to have Calories – celebratory and comfort reasons that definitely call for indulgences.
Ok, now you're looking at the number. If you're happy with it step down and you're done.
If you're unhappy with it, you've got to ask yourself two questions:
Am I doing something about it?
Do I know what I'm doing?
If the answers to those questions are "Yes", then there's nothing to worry about, even if the number's not doing what you want. Remember there is the law of averages at play too meaning that some weeks you'll lose far more than you'd expect and some weeks far less and that at the end of the day, doing the best you enjoy, not the best you can tolerate, is truly the best you can do sustainably.
Going back to that question number 2. What does knowing what you're doing mean? Well to me it means knowing how many Calories you're eating, otherwise it'd be like getting upset at your Visa bill despite having gone shopping without looking at price tags.
Bottom line, you may not love the number you see staring back at you, it may be distressing to you, but at the end of the day, if you're doing something about it, and you know what you're doing, you're doing great.
ANXIOUS TO HIGHLIGHT THE GRAVITY of an often-overlooked disorder, Canadian doctors have calculated that women with anorexia die on average about a quarter of a century earlier than other women.
The B.C. specialists who published the research this month say they hope their dramatic life-expectancy statistics will both motivate anorexia patients to get better, and spur governments to more generously fund work on the condition.
Their number-crunching revealed, for instance, that a woman who develops the disorder at age 15 will live on average to age 56 – 25 years less than the average Canadian female.
"Anorexia nervosa is basically not recognized as a serious disease by society and government, in my opinion, certainly not compared to heart disease and cancer," said Dr. Laird Birmingham, the University of British Columbia psychiatry professor who led the research.
"Most people have a picture of supermodels who lose too much weight because of dieting and think, 'How pathetic is that?' "
The findings might also counter a stigma that has turned the disease into a "modern-day leprosy," he said.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder whose sufferers typically refuse to keep their body weight within 15% of normal, have an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted body image, and have missed at least three consecutive menstrual cycles because of their weight loss.
About half those who die commit suicide, while the rest succumb to medical problems, often out-of-control heart rhythms related to their brain abnormalities.
The mortality rate has been pegged previously at about 5%, but no one had worked out the actual life expectancy of anorexics, said the article in the journal Eating and Weight Disorders.
The researchers analyzed mortality statistics for 954 anorexia patients in B.C. over a 20-year period ending in July, 2000, using "decision analysis" software that compares such outcomes as death or illness in different groups.
Depending on the age – from 10 to 40 – when the women developed anorexia, their life expectancy was reduced on average by 22 to 25 years, the study concluded.
The numbers are averages, meaning that many patients who make full recoveries in treatment can expect a normal life span, said Dr. Birmingham.
Dr. Leora Pinhas, psychiatric director of the eating-disorders clinic at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, said she was not surprised by the statistics, and agreed it could help draw much-needed attention to the seriousness of the disorder.
"It's a psychiatric disorder that cuts years off people's lives, that kills people," she said. "That's not how people usually see mental-health disorders. It's a really acute, serious illness and it's interesting to me how calm people are about that."
A shortage of money and personnel in the field means that specialists are "constantly reeling under the workload" and patients can wait as long as eight months to get treatment, Dr. Pinhas said.
The disease is sometimes given short shrift because of a misconception that it results simply from personal lifestyle choices or the influence of family, said Dr. Birmingham.
There is mounting evidence, though, that patients have a genetic predisposition to the condition, and that their brains act abnormally, he said.
Imaging has shown, for instance, that fear centres in the brains of anorexics "light up" when they are asked to eat food, the psychiatrist said.
Dr. Pinhas said she sees the disease as caused by a combination of biological factors and psycho-social influences, such as a culture that encourages people to lose weight.
Meanwhile, Dr. Birmingham has started telling patients about the life expectancy figures to drive home the gravity of their problem.
"What this says is. 'I have to get better or my life is going to be a lot shorter.' "
IN AN APPEARANCE-OBSESSED CULTURE, kids are often unhappy with the way they look. Add hot-weather clothing, and children can sink into self-consciousness or retreat indoors—defeating summer fun, fitness and freedom.
Poor body image is a common problem for girls and boys, heightened in the summer thanks to swimming outings and summer camps, says Doug Emid, a registered clinical counsellor with the Island Family Counselling Centre.
A sense of not measuring up is one of the main issues, he says. The boys think they're supposed to be stronger than they are and the girls internalize a sense of needing to be more developed than they are, he says. The problem of poor body image often gets worse for kids in the summer thanks to swimming outings and camps.
True, a growing number of kids are overweight, but Laura Mills, a Duncan psychologist with a particular interest in children, says poor body image issues "definitely" bother kids without obvious problems.
"A lot of body-image problems often develop from low self-esteem and not being happy with who you are as a person and being overly perfectionistic and concentrating on your faults, instead of concentrating on the good things."
Parents can do a lot to influence that, preventing everything from eating disorders to a sense kids are not good enough.
"If a parent is too critical about their own appearance, then children pick up on that and that can lead to them being to worried about their appearance," she stresses. "Be a good role model." Saying "I hate the way I look in shorts" isn't a good idea.
So how can parents help their kids get over a poor sense of their physical selves?
"Compliment children's abilities and personal qualities, not just their looks," she says.
Beyond calling them cute, note their ingenuity, bravery, co-ordination, curiosity or sunny disposition. "We want children to feel happy with who they are inside of themselves."
Build your child's self-esteem by valuing their abilities and spending time with them—even if it cuts into your own leisure preferences.
If your child doesn't want to tackle physical activities on their own, go with them. "If they don't want to go to the swimming pool where there's all those other kids around, find a quiet beach."
Emphasize physical closeness—"lots of touch," Emid says. Parental affection is soothing, reinforcing the idea that bodies are about moving and feeling good, not appearance.
If your child is negative about their physique, don't dismiss them with " 'You don't look fat' or 'You're not shorter than the other kids and if you are it doesn't matter.' " You can disagree with their viewpoint, but explore the feelings and problem-solve.
As in: "I'd like you to be happier and I wonder how we could make that work," he says. Should you buy only one bag of cookies per week and make it last?
"You'll hear 'no' a lot of the time but the asking of the question is important."
Look for activities that will make kids "feel comfortable in their own skin," Mills says. Rock-climbing is one way to show strength and focus.
Examine whether looks—of bodies, homes or whatever—are too important to you as parents.
If they don't want to wear a bathing suit, suggest a big shirt to get them in the water. "They can easily say, 'it's for the sun' if anybody teases them," Emid says.
During TV commercials, mute the sound and discuss inappropriate ways bodies are displayed and treated.
If your child is deep into the computer while you're outside, invite them to join you gradually. Suggest they run the first three blocks with you, then go back to their video game and meet you for the last three blocks, he adds.
HAPPY TO BE ME
Tips on positive body images for kids:
Encourage healthy eating and active living for the whole family for well-being, not weight loss.
Discourage restrictive dieting.
Show respect for diversity in weight, shape and genetics.
Make sure your child understands that weight gain is a normal part of development.
Allow your child to make decisions about food, but ensure healthy choices are available.
Remind them that good exercise and eating habits cannot result in a specific body type.
Challenge put-downs based on body image in your home and community.
Sources: Canadian Medical Association Journal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario.
Shocker—Kids' Meals in Restaurants have too many Calories!
THE CENTRE FOR SCIENCE in the Public Interest (CSPI), the non-profit nutritional advocacy group who also publish the informative and surprisingly affordable monthly newsletter Nutrition Action » (ad free and only $18 per year), calculated the Calories in 1,474 different kid meals available at big chain fast food and semi-fast food restaurants.
The results?
93% of them had more than a third of the Calories an average child would need in a day and 86% were too high in sodium.
So ... if activity rates haven't changed in the past 30 years and obesity rates have tripled...and if restaurant meals for kids have too many calories as do restaurant meals for adults ... and if eating out Calories now account for a full 1/3 of daily kid Calories ya think there might be a connection?
Darn tootin'!
Oh, and about the recommendation that when you eat out you should just substitute for healthier fare – two comments. Firstly, healthier does not mean lower in Calories and many foods thought of as healthy may in fact be surprisingly unhealthy. Case in point, substitute chocolate milk for soda and you might well be providing your children with more Calories, saturated fat and sugar than the small soda had in the first place. Secondly, how many of you think your kids will let you get away with ordering Burger King's new apple fries in place of real ones? In addition to? Maybe. In place of? Forget about it.
Easy bottom line here. Worried about your kid's weight? Don't (or only very rarely) take them out to eat.
