Mens sana in corpore sano
Mens sana in corpore sano is a Latin phrase. It means "a healthy mind in a healthy body".
origin
The phrase is a shortened quote from the satires of the Roman poet Juvenal . Literally it says in Satire 10, 356:
- […] Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.
- "One should pray that there would be a healthy mind in a healthy body."
As a satirist, Juvenal criticized those of his fellow Roman citizens who turned to the gods with foolish prayers and intercessions. He thinks one should pray for physical and mental health at best. Mens sana in corpore sano is to be understood in Juvenal in connection with the meaning and content of intercessions and prayers. At Juvenal, the sentence does not mean that a healthy mind can only be found in a healthy body.
reception
The phrase is mostly misunderstood superficially and in a straight line or deliberately misinterpreted in the sense explained above.
The physical exercise, which played a central role in National Socialism for ideological reasons, was under the abbreviated motto of Juvenal.
Today, various mental gurus such as Tony Buzan propagate time and again that intensive sports training increases intellectual performance significantly. But this is not the case to that extent.
Conversely, the phrase, interpreted in abbreviated form, means that there is no healthy mind in sick and weak bodies. Such an analogy leads straight to the discrimination against the physically handicapped. Against this background, the representatives of the disabled (disability associations) vehemently reject the “Mens sana in corpore sano”. As an example of how a brilliant scientist can be a physically broken person, they cite Stephen Hawking, among others .
An explanation why, contrary to popular belief or the abbreviated interpretation of the idiom, there is a far weaker connection between physical and mental performance, may be found in the fact that the metabolic processes of a healthy person are such that deficits only appear very late Affect supply of the brain , so the brain has a preferred position among the organs in terms of metabolism . This is understandable, since impairments to the brain (in addition to the other vital organs such as the heart and lungs ) would have the most devastating effects on the survival of the individual compared to those of other organs.
However, studies have also shown that exercise can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's in old age by up to 50 percent.
On the other hand, it is of course also the case that physical deficiencies can lead to mental impairments, be it in the more extreme case due to manifest illnesses such as hepatic encephalopathy , or simply impairment of well-being caused by a lack of fitness , for example chronic overload and painful conditions , which, at least from the point of view of many people affected , can cause concentration disorders and even incapacity for work . Apparently there is also a certain spread here, depending on predisposition and individual previous history : one person feels more impaired in his mental performance due to physical deficits, the other less.
variants
Pierre de Coubertin made fun of sports physicians and educators who advocated moderate physical exercise. He countered her Mens sana in corpore sano with his own Mens fervida in corpore lacertoso (“A fiery spirit in a muscular body”). His ideal was the débrouillard (daredevil) who overcomes resistance and is prepared for a life as a manager in sport (as in public school ).
The first letters of the words of the slightly modified phrase anima sana in corpore sano ( anima "soul") form the acronym of the sporting goods manufacturer ASICS .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Michael Braumann: Movement therapy for internal diseases. 2010. page 216.
- ↑ Pierre de Coubertin: Mens fervida in corpore lacertoso (PDF), in: Révue Olympique 67 (July 1911), p. 99 f.
- ^ Arnd Krüger : Mens fervida in corpore lacertoso or Coubertin's rejection of Swedish gymnastics. In: HISPA 8th Int. Congress. Proceedings. Uppsala 1979, pp. 145-153