The first assigned article, "Draftophobia," covered the German's obsessive fear of moving air, which stems from German doctors apparently telling the population that drafts lead pneumonia, flu, colds, clogged arteries and other sickness. They still think fresh air is healthy, I guess, just not in small drafts, which seems incredibly counter intuitive. The "lüften," or "airing out," is the process of getting fresh air into your house in Germany, but that is done at a specific time, and for a specific duration of time. The fear of drafts makes sense in a city with a lot of concentrated smog, but the major German cities dont really apply, AND this fear still permeates small villages, apparently. But who knows, I have a draft in my bedroom, and I have a headcold that won't go away, so Germany might be right.
Having read the second article, "You Have What?", the first article makes a lot more sense. This article describes several serious, deadly diseases that can only be caught in Germany. So apparently what seemed at first like a random quirk is now clearly a legitimate paranoia of indigenous disease and bad health care. The scariest part for me was not the uniquely German airborne disease, but rather the lack of trust in shady German antibiotics to fix anything once you do get sick.
Knowing this certainly illuminates my reading of the third article, "Germany's Sauna Obsession." This article covered the important ritual of sweating from artificial heat, which has proven health benefits. The Germans sure are more health-nutty than I had previously thought.
-GrTe
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen
Hinweis: Nur ein Mitglied dieses Blogs kann Kommentare posten.