FEATURE: Slow Down, You're Moving Too Fast!
Written by Kathryn Savage
If you don’t take the time to be well, you will have to make the time to be sick.
Sardinians take to the streets for a late afternoon stroll, Nicoyans break from work in the afternoon to relax and spend time with with friends. Last night? My buddies and I played some bar trivia. I know people who sit still when they meditate, and people who get a sublime release from putting on a favorite record and rocking out while doing the dishes. Slowing down is about unwinding, relaxing, and the people who live the longest know how to unwind.
Part of the reason slowing down is so important is you miss life’s daily joys if you are always on the fast track toward a goal. While a great part of life is setting goals another equally beautiful part of being alive is stopping to smell the roses, play some trivia, watch the sunset, or hear a great band.
For Adventists, Saturday is a day of rest and stress reduction. Adventists create a “sanctuary in time” so to speak when they meditate on God, family and appreciate the natural beauty that surrounds them. They don’t cook, don’t work, and their kids don’t play or do homework assignments.
Sound boring and a bit extreme?
You don’t have to start with a whole day, but try incorporating an hour of simple relaxation into your week. Just think of the positive effects one hour of meditating on the blessings in your daily life could have. Make time to put your week in perspective and lessen the confusion and stress of the daily grind. You might just feel a great sense of well-being.
But what does this have to do with longevity?
Studies conducted by endocrinologists have established that the relationship between chronic inflammation and stress is real, and that chronic inflammation may negatively affect aging by promoting age-related diseases. It appears that slowing down may promote longevity by keeping chronic inflammation and age related diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease, arthritis and heart disease away.
Slowing down ties in with so many other great parts of life.
Think about all the great ways slowing down can affect your life. Take a happy hour date with a good friend you don’t see very often. Don’t you think you’d have more fun if instead of fixating on your next work deadline or beating the rush hour crowd at the grocery store, you were able to sit, listen, just hangout and enjoy your time together? Is a glass of wine better sipped or gulped? A meal better eaten slow or fast? A vacation better spent appreciating your daily excursions or rushing to see every place mentioned in the travel guide?
Most of us live in countries where success, money and career eat up most our free time. Americans work hard; 43 hours a week on average. Paid vacations are skimpy and family and social demands are high - many of us live by the “work hard, play harder” ethos and oh, yeah, look fabulous while you're at it! With all the pressure to be fun, fabulous, fit and career bent how can we expect to slow down? There are few American cultural institutions that encourage us to do so.
Here, to help you out, are a few Blue Zones tips:
- Create a space in your house to meditate.
- Turn off the TV. Stash the radio.
- Schedule a block of time - fifteen minutes or so daily - where you sit quietly, pray meditate, or just relax and enjoy the sunset.
- Leave early for appointments. Nothing gets your heart pounding quicker than running late. Leaving early cuts the stress and gives you time on the other end to sit quietly and focus on the event you are going to.
- Meditate. Go to a park, a beach or a meditation center in your area. Or join a gym that has a sauna and sit quietly a few times a week.
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