Eyes, Shoulders, Back, Legs... Are You Healthy? | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2006.05.22
The major international conferences related to ubiquitous computing includeUbiComp, which we brought to Tokyo last year, andPervasive, which has been held mainly in Europe. From May 8 to 10, I attended the co-located workshops and the main conference in Dublin, Ireland, along with my students. This time, just under 300 people participated, and it seems that about 30 researchers from Japan also attended. Like UbiComp, it covers a very wide range of topics, and the program committee, which decides on the accepted papers, engages in intense discussions every time. It seems this time was no exception. Although my days were spent shuttling between the conference venue and the hotel, during the lunch break on the second day, I was able to visit the Book of Kells with my students. This manuscript, written on vellum from the late 8th to the early 9th century, is on display at Trinity College. This made me keenly aware of the need for a place where Keio's own collection of various rare books, including the Gutenberg Bible, can be permanently displayed to the public.
Now, to the main topic of "My Health Regimen," when I think about it, I'm embarrassed to say I don't have any "health regimen" that I could recommend to others. Rather, having pushed myself to the limit building various systems and software since my graduate school days, I'm quite confident in my empirical knowledge of how to become unhealthy. So, let's go through a check of my body...
Eyes: Until about my undergraduate years, I was actually somewhat farsighted and maintained 1.5 vision. However, when I went to the University of Waterloo and was writing programs for my research, the office was quite dark. In just a few years, my vision plummeted to around 0.7 (partly due to aging).
"Ensure your office has adequate lighting!"
Shoulders: The shape of my cervical spine is slightly different from the average person's—it's a bit straight. (Perhaps from too much programming in my youth?) Last year, I suddenly experienced numbness from my right shoulder down to my upper arm. I thought this might be a rather dangerous sign, but I recovered after receiving treatment at an osteopathic clinic.
"If you experience unusual pain, go to the hospital immediately!"
Back: Many people at SFC, besides myself, suffer from back pain. Are there any good solutions?
"Good advice for back pain, please!"
Legs: To be precise, I should probably say my Achilles tendon, but in any case, it has deteriorated. It's been over five years since I ruptured my Achilles tendon during practice with the faculty and staff tennis club and had it surgically sutured, but I still feel a sense of discomfort in that area. It's stiff. While it's great that they reattached it sturdily, it has yet to regain the flexibility of a normal tendon.
"On cold days, never forget to warm up before playing tennis!"
To sum it all up, it's a parade of physical problems due to aging. I know in my head that stopping this trend will require more than just an ordinary effort. But the problem is what to do and how to put it into practice. Perhaps the only thing I've been able to keep up with recently is walking my dog, Cookie.
Are you healthy?
(Date of publication: 2006/05/22)