
A Simple Dutch Cure for Stress - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/the-simple-dutch-cure-for-stress
======
stevesimmons
Nonsense! The actual Dutch cure for stress is to claim you have "burnout"
(they use the English word), and then take 6 months off work while being paid
80% of your salary.

Honestly, after working for 6 years in the Netherlands, I don't know of
another country that has such good working conditions [1], while having so
many people in low stress professional jobs taking time off for burnout. There
seems zero social or professional stigma about it.

\- In Australia, I knew of just one person, a teacher. There they called it a
"nervous breakdown".

\- In the UK, I struggle to think of any, after 9 years working here.

\- In the Netherlands, probably 30% of my Dutch colleagues had had time off
for burnout at some point in their career.

[1] At the Dutch bank I worked for, most of the Dutch staff worked 4 day
weeks: take a 10% pay cut, have Fridays off, and nominally work an hour longer
on the other 4 days. In practice, they still arrived late so they could drop
their kids at school, left early for same reason, took a full hour for lunch,
and most days everyone stopped for 30 minutes mid-morning because it was
someone's birthday. Nearly the only people who worked full 5-day weeks were
the expats.

~~~
openstep
American here living in the Netherlands for the past seven years.

The one thing I've noticed about folks taking these burnout sessions is that
some absolutely take advantage of the system. Multiple people have told me
firsthand that they're on burnout just because they want to be. Not because
they're burned out. It goes so far that they lie during the mandatory therapy
session provided by their employer in order to stay on burnout. Feels a bit
unfair for the companies that have to buy burnout insurance.

Having said that, I think it's a great benefit of working for a Dutch company.
Assuming you really have a burnout! If you don't have a burnout but you don't
want to work so much then go 4 days a week. This is super common in the
Netherlands.

Anyway, Dutch society in general really care about the well-being of their
people. I suppose a few people taking advantage of the system is just the cost
of living.

~~~
RC_ITR
I mean, what is “burnout” other than not wanting to work?

Maybe they’re just saying that to you because they assume (as an expat) that
you don’t share their value system?

~~~
rantwasp
oh wow. i think burnout is more complicated than “i don’t want to work”. way
more complicated.

~~~
djmips
But someone who is burned out might save face by saying that it's just that 'I
don't want to work'

~~~
beerandt
In what culture is that saving face?

~~~
solarkraft
A culture that punishes weakness, which seems to apply to most that I can
think of.

~~~
beerandt
Laziness isn't seen as a weakness?

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bouk
This is another one in a series of articles (like
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/smarter-living/the-
case-f...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/smarter-living/the-case-for-
doing-nothing.html)) about Americans finding out that there's a word for
something in Dutch and making a big deal out of it. It's just so hilarious to
me as someone from The Netherlands. Not like we're niksen and uitwaaien every
day.

The Dutch version of The Onion made fun of it too:
[https://speld.nl/2019/01/25/kwakkelen-the-ancient-dutch-
art-...](https://speld.nl/2019/01/25/kwakkelen-the-ancient-dutch-art-of-kind-
of-talking-about-your-health/)

~~~
Aeolun
I concur. We may do it potentially every day, but nobody ‘sets out’ to do
that. They set oit for a walk, and a side effect of that is ‘uitwaaien’.

It’s definitely not “a popular pastime”...

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tgv
The more bloggers, the more nonsense.

> A growing body of evidence suggests

Ah, weasel words. How telling.

~~~
jgalt212
Yeah, editors should dis-allow the usage of such terms without citing examples
in the text or footnotes.

~~~
smetj
Agreed!

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theraido
"people who live closer to the coast, like many Netherlanders do, report
better physical and psychological health than those farther inland."

The whole randstad area (near the coast, with all the major cities) has more
jobs, wealth, opportunities and such..

~~~
conceptme
The air is much more polluted in de grandstand, I doubt they will have better
physical health.

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mettamage
If you know the term "uitwaaien" I'd say this rings pretty much true: "Meyer
has lived in the Netherlands for more than 20 years and has come to specialize
in the language, despite being a non-native speaker."

In all fairness, I haven't heard or used the word for a couple of years now,
so not sure to what extent this is true: "She says uitwaaien is a popular
activity where she lives—one believed to have important psychological
benefits. “Uitwaaien is something you do to clear your mind and feel
refreshed—out with the bad air, in with the good,” she tells me. “It’s seen as
a pleasant, easy, and relaxing experience—a way to destress or escape from
daily life.”"

~~~
sailfast
Yeah this is not something that I’ve ever heard referenced but I’m not totally
fluent.

Also I doubt that the cold and wind part of uitwaaien as described by this
non-native speaker is relevant vs. the fact that NL is just often cold and
windy and that’s the only way you can get outside? :) I’m sure that the Dutch
would do this on a sunny day as well if they could find more of them!

This article was junk, but yes Totally agree going for a windy bike ride along
the canals or the beach, or a windy dike will certainly clear your head a bit,
or allow you to think about things and feel refreshed. Any time away from work
/ stress to think will do this, though - it’s not a “method” to be used.

~~~
Scarblac
I mean, it _is_ true that a walk out in the wind (say on a beach or wide open
nature) can be enjoyable, and you feel refreshed when you go inside again
afterwards.

And we do sometimes set out to go for a walk in windy conditions -- because
the alternative is to stay inside during all of autumn.

I just don't believe that's an especially Dutch thing.

------
davidw
I wrote about how my bike helps me think, a few years back:
[https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/04/20/the-bicycle-a-
thinkin...](https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/04/20/the-bicycle-a-thinking-
machine/)

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tluyben2
Walking/hiking through nature (without wind or cold) works fine as well
against stress, at least in my experience (and I am Dutch; I find it far too
cold there to walk usually).

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dsr_
The headline needs an editor.

"Dutch cure" is a euphemism for suicide. A competent editor would, I hope,
have caught that.

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mc32
This seems to mirror the idea of forest bathing also known as nature therapy.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy)

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DanielleMolloy
Going outside? Leisure biking / walking? Really? Is this satire?

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imvetri
The simple Indian cure for stress - Meditation. a.k.a watching your breath

~~~
wadkar
This is not a substantive comment. You could’ve taken a bit more effort and
provided some thoughtful comments on how meditation can help you be in touch
with your emotions etc.

Simply saying meditation equals watching your breath doesn’t help make your
point.

Finally this thread is about the dutch culture and how they deal with stress.
Appreciate it, even if it doesn’t align with the point you’re trying to make.

~~~
imvetri
I'm sorry. Should have thought about it for a moment. I am annoyed by the way
articles are published. If something is simple, why wouldn't someone put it in
a short one liner than providing a detailed explanation?

This is not just about this article, I have been following space/tech/economy.
Nothing really provides facts.

For example:

Scientists may have found new variety of black hole - Does it really add to
any kind of knowledge / is it a breakthrough. not at all. finding something
called black hole, but finding varieties of it, is not. Its just a copied
version of someone else's finding and finding some tweaks.

Now to tech, - What good is it doing? New tech comes, couple of years later
flaws made by the organisation comes out or they get hacked and users details
get leaked. Impact is too much and they escape with an apology letter from
CEO. Apology email + fined amount is still a good investment for the leaked
data. thats how they see.

list goes on for every field.

Who is the first culprit of all these? the intellectual? Why to race everyone
? What the point ? Doing good isn't. But why money comes into picture in doing
good?

Why would anyone encourage doing all these?

If something seems to be flawed, I'm trying to share my opinion in most polite
way but for this one It went off the control. Apologies. Lesson taken. Thank
you.

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mobilemidget
imho, this only works when walking on a beach, ideally cold but sunny

~~~
degski
De zon schijnt er is geen reden

Met rotweer en de harde wind

Te gaan fietsen met dat kind

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gttalbot
This is why people motorcycle as well, fwiw.

~~~
mxuribe
As much as i loved my motorcycle when i had it - unfortunately, like most
everything else in the U.S., it costs money to own a motorcycle, while walking
is...free. But yeah, if one can afford it, riding a motorcycle is really fun
and quite good at relieving stress.

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allsunny
i wonder how much of the feeling is being outside vs just getting exercise.

