I am a people watcher. I always was since I have been a young child. I learn from watching how others behave and then decide if that behavior would work for me, or not. It goes along with my love of history. I believe strongly that you have to learn from the past, so you do not repeat the mistakes. Being Jewish and hearing the stories of my grandparents and parents, we, along with other immigrant children learned of the treacherous paths our families tread to provide us with a safer life in a new land, America. We enjoy a quiet peaceful life, for the most part. I worry that very slow and subtle changes to the world we know, not only here in United States, but overseas, where we traveled as a family for two weeks, throughout Europe, are happening. I can use my vote as an American to speak for me, but I cannot help but worry for the future, at least at this moment in time. That is how I feel about what is going on in our world today.
What does this have to do with nutrition you ask? Stress is actually a large factor in your health. There is a medical relationship between stress and the body's ability to keep blood values at normal levels. Medical research has identified inflammation as a reaction to elevated stress levels and many conditions are related to this inflammation, such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, among others. What does this have to do with distraction and noise? The distraction is the daily worry every time one reads a paper, turns on the news, or even has a conversation with family or friends. The noise is the internet constantly intruding in your life with hourly teases of something potentially important, but often, not important at all. The answer, of course, is to turn off your phone or turn down the sound. Easy to say but hard to do.
I can tell you I was not raised this way. I do not have the skill set to take it all in and try to maintain my center. I love vacations that have no internet access. Even that is changing, as on my last trip. I was the one who arranged international internet availability. I felt it was necessary for emergency access, and, of course, my internet carrier made it quite convenient to do so. I used it to keep in touch with the news from home. I admit, it calmed me down as we enjoyed a nine hour flight to Zurich. I downloaded podcasts and listened to them as I fell asleep for several hours. I used to watch movies or, god forbid, read a book, but listening to stories of the news did the trick. Maybe I have changed.
Medical science suggests that to help keep a healthy brain you need to learn new things as you get older. I recently turned sixty and attend classes at the local college center for seniors. I have been doing this for years, and I am usually the youngest in my classes. That means everyone else is in their 70's, 80's and 90's, and all healthy. These are some of the smartest people I have ever met. In their working life they were physicians, attorneys, business owners and regular working class people who somehow lucked out on the health game. I want to be them when I grow up. Every time I take a class thinking it's going to be boring, I eventually learn something new and then find out that these people already knew it.
I also hang out with the Millennial's, those in their 20's and 30's. I can't help it, four of them belong to me, and they have friends. They are also very brilliant and also physicians, attorneys, future business owners and regular working class people. I admit it. Our trip to Europe wouldn't have happened or gone along so smoothly if it weren't for them. I mean, to take a land tour as thoroughly as we did, with all the trains, planes, trams, buses and boats we took. We flew five separate airlines and stayed in four different hotels. I believe I finally got to experience the European trip I could never afford when I was in college. I thank my kids for the experience and I hope we do it again sometime.
The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is a month or so away and I want to make a deal with myself, to take the time, and cut out some of the noise and distraction in my life. Give myself permission to sit down and take a break. We had a busy year last year. I recommend to you to do the same, and while you are at it, go get regular check ups. It is necessary, and important, no matter how old you are. Here is the spirituality part of the story. Distraction and noise equals stress. Elevated levels of stress translates into disease no matter how healthy of a diet you are following. Of course regular exercise is part of the lifestyle, and if you are dragging your feet, you should start today. But, stuff happens, even to the health gurus, so try to include some quiet time off the grid. I will keep following my senior friends to figure out their secrets and hopefully the Millennial's will follow me. Here is to a very long and quiet life!
