Now is the time for Japanese people to strengthen their body functions?

Not only because of global warming, but also because of the urban heat-island phenomenon, recent summers in Japan are much hotter than many years ago and the searing heat is becoming unbearable. However, the cause of the phenomenon can't be attributed to external factors alone. I think that our body's ability to beat the heat has diminished due to our economic development. As I wrote in my previous post, some doctors say that this summer is a good opportunity to strengthen your weak body functions (During this summer, all the people are required to cut electricity consumption due to the serious damages of power plants caused by the 3/11 earthquake).

When I was a child, air conditioning wasn't popular among ordinary families. Although some had one at their homes, they usually turned it on only when their guests came. As for me, I didn't have one at home until I myself bought it a few years after I started working. My mother always insisted that it was not good to rely on air conditioning, and she never intended to buy one. I agreed with her, but my hectic life caused by long working hours inspired me to buy one. Thanks to her, I think that I can bear up under the hot weather better than others. Because of this, until last summer, I often had to struggle with offices and public places which I felt that were overcooled by air conditioning. I don't need to worry about the overcoolness this summer because of the official requirement to cut electricity consumption.

When I was studying Mandarin at school in Guangzhou, China, I'd fight with Thai classmates over the temperature setting of air conditioning in our classroom. All the nine Thai classmates liked a very cool environment. In contrast, European classmates and I weren't able to stand the cold ( I could say the cold). Since we didn't have a common language to communicate well, I didn't get to know why the Thai classmates were very impatient with the heat despite them being from a tropical country. Given that they all were from affluent families, I guessed that they had spent all the time in overcooled rooms since they were born. When I lived in Malaysia, a French mother told me that her three-year-old daughter often caught colds because she had difficulty adjusting to a new environment; in contrast, her one-year-old baby girl had never been sick. The mother said that this was because her baby girl was born in Malaysia. These facts have proven that human beings have great abilities to adjust themselves to environments, and it's not good to hamper the development of the abilities.

Overeating and a lack of excises enabled by affluent lifestyles can often cause serious diseases. It's been recently said that skin-care products tend to diminish your body's natural healing ability and even damage skin. I think that now is the time when Japanese people review their lives.