"Niksen": The art of doing nothing

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Last month, David Lloyd Leisure – which has more than 100 fitness clubs in the UK – announced it was launching niksen classes to help people “release tension”.

“Niksen is a media concept, like Blue Monday,” says Ruut Veenhoven, an emeritus professor of social conditions for human happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

“Niksen seems to be considered as a concept in the whole world, except in the Netherlands,” says Carolien Hamming, the founder and CEO of CSR Centrum, a centre for research into stress and resilience just south of Utrecht.

I somehow don’t feel it would have been in the vocabulary of the great Dutch artists Vermeer, Rembrandt or Van Gogh, who all argued for the relentless pursuit of intense activity.

Ruud Wassen, the chief marketing officer of Cigna, who is also Dutch, explains that stress levels are high across Europe after the pandemic and the Netherlands is consistent with that.

“Burnout is not a uniquely Dutch phenomenon, but it is a growing problem in the Netherlands,” says Roel Fransen, a human resources manager at Oval, a company promoting workplace engagement based in Tilburg.

The original article contains 1,973 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 91%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

2 comments

sounds like basic Buddhism - but anyone who says they've "found the answer" makes them sound like a small child claiming they've caught the moon.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Last month, David Lloyd Leisure – which has more than 100 fitness clubs in the UK – announced it was launching niksen classes to help people “release tension”.
“Niksen is a media concept, like Blue Monday,” says Ruut Veenhoven, an emeritus professor of social conditions for human happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
“Niksen seems to be considered as a concept in the whole world, except in the Netherlands,” says Carolien Hamming, the founder and CEO of CSR Centrum, a centre for research into stress and resilience just south of Utrecht.
I somehow don’t feel it would have been in the vocabulary of the great Dutch artists Vermeer, Rembrandt or Van Gogh, who all argued for the relentless pursuit of intense activity.
Ruud Wassen, the chief marketing officer of Cigna, who is also Dutch, explains that stress levels are high across Europe after the pandemic and the Netherlands is consistent with that.
“Burnout is not a uniquely Dutch phenomenon, but it is a growing problem in the Netherlands,” says Roel Fransen, a human resources manager at Oval, a company promoting workplace engagement based in Tilburg.
The original article contains 1,973 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 91%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!