“I really identify with this
      book and its simple and       straightforward philosophy . . .
       This is a guide for everyone no       matter where you live. Cheers!”
          —Joanne Weir, chef and author

Stop and Smell the Roses!

Science may soon prove that this familiar piece of folk wisdom holds keys to solving the poor state of our national health.

A recent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that middle-aged people in England are significantly healthier than their peers in the United States. Despite our spending twice as much per person on health care, United States residents ages 55 to 64 have twice the incidence of diabetes, more heart disease, and more cancer. (www.jama.ama-ass.org)

The study was originally designed to find out why poor people were less healthy than rich people. They studied only Caucasians to isolate the effect of socioeconomic status without respect to race. Researchers were astonished to find the differences between Americans and British. They will be investigating possible explanations.

Each member of the research team is said to have his or her favorite theory. These include childhood health conditions, stress, and obesity. One clear difference between citizens in the two countries that can relate to stress is the time spent at work. American full-time employees are on the job an average of 46 weeks a year versus 41 weeks for British workers. Not only do we work more, but we live with the added pressure of not having a national healthcare safety net should we be laid off or unable to work. Our current healthcare system allocates a great deal of money for expensive medical procedures but does not encourage preventative healthcare practices or pay for them.

In my twenty-five years of working as a psychotherapist with people dealing with a wide variety of health issues, I have found that most Americans have great difficulty taking time for themselves. They give extra hours to their bosses and their spouses. They may commute three hours a day and watch their children play endless soccer games. Yet when I suggest that they spend five minutes doing something just for themselves, most of them immediately reject my advice. They simply don’t have the time to do that!

While researchers design new studies aimed at trying to understand how our lifestyle is damaging our health, why don’t we just get started and look at what we can each do here and now to create healthier lives. Yes, going to the gym and loosing extra pounds are important, but the biggest changes in our health often come with shifts in our attitudes and with slowing down long enough to enjoy the pleasures of life rather than just speeding through it.

The world we live in appears in an ever increasing hurry. In 1972 I moved to the mountains of Mendocino County. My neighbors and I lived without electricity or a telephone, and we went to town once a week. Two years later, I left to attend graduate school in Los Angeles. During my busy years in L.A. and the Bay Area, I always imagined returning to the peaceful mountains of my youth. But when I finally moved back to Mendocino County in 1996, I was shocked to see what had happened to the pace of life in the area. While still slow by city standards, the lives of my friends in the mountains seemed to have become very busy?driving to town at least daily, attending lots of activities, and staying connected to the larger world by phone, TV, and the Internet. Both in rural Mendocino County and elsewhere, everything for everyone seems to have speeded up. I know that “life” itself has changed, and it is not easy to pace ourselves. But we also don’t have to allow ourselves to become victims of the frenzy of modern life.

While many of the answers must come from a societal and governmental level, there are things we ourselves can do each day to slow down and give our precious time to what we truly value. Simple choices can be important. Although it might seem trite to say that “taking a moment” can make a difference, science is finding that even brief, quiet moments can reduce our stress levels. When we stop to pet our cat, listen to wind chimes or admire the harmonious geometry of a spider’s web, we are relaxing our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. We are giving our bodies a break, and even brief, periodic breaks can do wonders for how we feel. Just as we make the time to get our children to soccer practice, stop by the grocery store to pick up the bread and milk, and check our e-mail, we also can take time to step outside of time and breathe in the aroma of a rose. You might find that doing so makes your quality of life—and of your health—all that much sweeter.