Health, Taken Seriously

This blog is all about health, but usually I focus on food or chemicals.  There is another aspect of health that is incredibly important that I feel like we hardly think about in Western society and that is the pace of our life, the amount of stress in our surroundings, and the decisions we make that affect our mental and physical health.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot as my husband gets more and more responsibility at work, and I see him working more and more hours, late evenings, and on weekends.  What does this mean for his health?  What does it mean for mine, and for our childrens’?

The pace of American life is so strikingly different than that of my Greek grandparents.  Yes, they worked hard and life was tough, but there was always time for home-cooked meals, afternoon naps, coffee with friends, games of backgammon, and leisurely smokes on the front porch.  There is no time for that in my husband’s life.  Between his commute and his workday, he gets maybe 3-4 hours of down time every evening and much of that is spent feeding, bathing, and putting the kids down to bed.  There’s no time for coffee shops, visiting friends, or hobbies.  Fortunately, I stay home so we do get home-cooked meals, but I can’t imagine how stressful and busy the life of families with two working parents is.

I don’t like the way our lives are becomming–frazzled and hectic, with little down time and hardly any vacations.  And I don’t know what the solution is.  But I certainly hope my family can manage to find some balance, to create boundaries and say no to over-scheduling, to turn that dang iPhone off and not check email hourly, to leave some weekends with no plans at all except to spend time as a family and walk around the park.  I want a lifestyle like my Greek grandmother has had for the past 20 years, where every afternoon is so open that either friends come to visit her or she goes to their houses and they sit around drinking coffee, eating cookies, and chatting.  A slow, enjoyable life!