Being forced to work 40+ hours a week, which doesn’t include commuting time, is truly what’s making us unwell. They can tell us we just need more discipline or to do this or that thing, but what really needs to happen is our work weeks being drastically shorter and the expansion of the social safety net in the U.S. This is why for me, if your wellness agenda doesn’t include indicting capitalism and the culture of urgency and hyper-productivity, I don’t trust you.
Yess you’re SO right, one of the first things that need to change is the way we work because it’s one of the biggest reasons for our stress!! Also, culture of urgency hit hard, can’t even look at the word without feeling icky! 🥲
In his book Drunk, Edward Slingerland distinguishes between "northern" and "southern" drinking cultures.
In northern drinking culture (America, Canada, the UK, Scandinavia, etc.), there is an emphasis on working hard all week and then getting completely hammered one day or night on the weekend.
In southern drinking culture (Italy, Greece, Spain, etc.), people work at a less intense pace and might have one or two glasses of wine each day throughout the week, but they never get knockout drunk.
Northern drinking culture also encourages men to "go out with the boys" (or women to party with their girlfriends) and bond through drunken shenanigans.
Southern drinking culture features extended families getting together (grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, children, etc.) and everyone drinking a little, but no one getting sloshed to the gills.
Being noticeably wasted is looked down on in southern drinking culture, while participants in northern drinking culture brag about how much they consumed the night prior ("I put down 13 pints and a couple shots of Jack last night...").
I can't remember the exact reasons for these two different drinking cultures (it might have to do with climate), but it sounds like you were witnessing a southern drinking culture firsthand!
I‘ll put this book on my reading list, thank you!! I‘m coming from a northern drinking culture (Germany) and have lived in a southern drinking culture (Spain) and I wholeheartedly agree with these points! Although teens are getting knockout drunk in southern drinking culture as well, wider society definitely has a more social/ family centered approach to drinking 🤍
I will definitely be reading this book! I come from a northern drinking culture & a teetotaling household. I don't like being drunk so I don't get drunk but I do feel hyper aware of how drinking can be perceived by my kids (being raised in a northern drinking culture as they are) & what messages I am literally & subliminally sending them.
Drunk is a very good book. There is a lot more to it than the comparison between northern and southern drinking cultures.
Slingerland tries to answer the question, "Why do humans drink and get drunk?" I can't remember his exact conclusions, but I think he says we drink to bond, be creative, and there's a third aspect I'm forgetting!
An interesting point he makes is that from an evolutionary perspective, getting drunk doesn't make much sense. If you accept that humans were hunter-gatherers for thousands of years, getting soused in the wild would put you at risk of getting eaten by an animal or killed by another tribe. Being drunk would seem to be a weakness that we should have evolved out of over thousands of years. But we haven't.
Slingerland then looks at the reasons why we drink, using statistics, stories, and personal anecdotes.
That sounds similar to what it was like growing up in small-town Canada. Many people would not touch a drop of alcohol from Sunday to Thursday, but then when Friday night rolled around--people got completed blotto. Saturdays were like this, too. I wonder why Northerners (Canadians, Scandinavians, etc.) follow this similar pattern.
What if what we need is more physical connection with the earth and sun? More than that, though, what if the secret to longer life, which is most found by island people stuck in close knit communities, forced to interact, is constant interaction, talking to people all the time, while out in the sun and beaches. What if the secret to long life is as simple as talking to your neighbors?
Yes, research shows that loneliness and social isolation are linked to higher risks of early mortality! I find the thought of growing old in a big city absolutely frightening.
Okay but all the cool influencers drink raw milk and sit in the sun! Haha but for real - the photo of that older lady smoking a cigarette at the end is iconic. I love sitting in the sun, love my coffee, will never smoke again (cancer survivor) and love what you say about how it’s the connection and laid back lifestyle that makes them live so long. I loved spending time in Italy a few summers ago for this exact reason. The countries are capitalist, so I don’t think capitalism is the problem per se, just something uniquely American that lends itself to a super stressed, toxic lifestyle. Thanks for writing about your awesome experience. Great read.
I was just in Greece and noticed the same things. In the US we make everything a hundred times more complicated than it has to be and forget the basics. We have a million recipes at our fingertips but the Greeks and Italians have fewer that have been mastered.
All the food I had while in the Greek islands was close to the source and not processed. Walking up those hills every day was a challenge but it was easy to see how a lifetime of it was beneficial.
The experience reminded me to get back to basics and stop always looking for the next fix that’s never going to work. I noticed the Europeans do the best with what they have by dressing nicely but not constantly attempting to remake themselves.
Seriously? Are you really suggesting we drop our high-performing health hustle, stop investing in optimization services, and—ahem—e n j o y? Matcha latte without oat milk? You're killing me.
Omg I love „health hustle“, such a good description for what people are doing!! It’s not enough that we hustle ourselves to the ground by turning every hobby into a side hustle, we also gotta make sure we „optimize“ our health so much that it becomes a freakin hustle 😂
I read something similar recently and it’s nice to see more people discussing the rigid wellness agenda that has people entrapped in their own lives. I fell in this trap myself and have along the way made very good healthy habits and love matcha and all the healthy things, but my introvert-ness has become even more so as I have been more isolated during my wellness era. If we prioritise only our self emptoveness we live smaller lives. Looking back at empty memories. I agree so much with what you say and if I should add anything it’s that the best rule in life is nothing in excess and everything in moderation.
Totally relate to what you’re saying!! Healing and calming our nervous systems is great and all these wellness tools are good to come back to in busy times but too many people are getting lost in all the healing and forget to actually take their healing journey outside of their homes! Hope we can find the perfect balance for ourselves hehe 💖
this was a very thought-provoking piece! while striving to incorporate healthy habits into our lives certainly yields positive impacts, constantly obsessing over what the next one should be + disregarding the impact of letting go and savoring community & other more basic but meaningful necessities is detrimental. thank you for this, it definitely gives me some important food for thought <3
Love this but I think there’s more to it that doesn’t have to do with personal choices- places with long life expectancies also tend to have universal health care, high quality government programs for mental health and the elderly, affordable housing, and city/town design that is built around communities rather than cars. I feel like because we have no direct control over these things we pass them off and chalk it all up to personal decisions, but the crux of the problem for Americans is that we are getting screwed over by an out of control corporate oligarchy
I vape and have been feeling guilty about it. But damn, vaping gives me so much joy in an increasingly joyless world. To be honest, I never want to stop.
You do you babes! I don’t remember where I saw this… It’s been a while so I can’t find the source… In India, there are seven times more smokers than the United States, yet a statistically significant less amount of lung cancer. So it’s probably coming from processed foods in the US… so I agree with you just chill, I still smoke and I could not give a shit what others think.
The blue zones are very well studied and, to your credit, living low stress/anxiety is a key part of that success! So we absolutely should encourage people to live less stress lives! However I do disagree with the notion that the costs of smoking cigarettes and other vices (and there are many) are offset by the benefits of lower anxiety. In fact, some vices you mentioned (cigarettes, caffeine) are directly linked to higher stress, while the things you denounce (clean eating, yoga) are directly linked to lower stress.
That being said, I know there are people in the world who are so obsessed with routine and clean living, that they drive themselves crazy. I wouldn’t encourage them to take up vices however, but to be more forgiving if they don’t live up to their ideal standard.
Yeah nicotine addiction makes your more stressed/anxious each time your body withdraws from it and begins the craving for the next.
I get the point of the article, type A American wellness people get really rigid ironically, but smoking, drinking, etc aren't a long-term solution to reducing stress.
Being forced to work 40+ hours a week, which doesn’t include commuting time, is truly what’s making us unwell. They can tell us we just need more discipline or to do this or that thing, but what really needs to happen is our work weeks being drastically shorter and the expansion of the social safety net in the U.S. This is why for me, if your wellness agenda doesn’t include indicting capitalism and the culture of urgency and hyper-productivity, I don’t trust you.
Yess you’re SO right, one of the first things that need to change is the way we work because it’s one of the biggest reasons for our stress!! Also, culture of urgency hit hard, can’t even look at the word without feeling icky! 🥲
Yes! Culture of urgency and being too available because of technology.
Lol - But, isn't it how ironic, the amount of parking lots there are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ratQlft_G5c
Everything you just said. It’s slowly killing me.
🥺🥺🥺
In his book Drunk, Edward Slingerland distinguishes between "northern" and "southern" drinking cultures.
In northern drinking culture (America, Canada, the UK, Scandinavia, etc.), there is an emphasis on working hard all week and then getting completely hammered one day or night on the weekend.
In southern drinking culture (Italy, Greece, Spain, etc.), people work at a less intense pace and might have one or two glasses of wine each day throughout the week, but they never get knockout drunk.
Northern drinking culture also encourages men to "go out with the boys" (or women to party with their girlfriends) and bond through drunken shenanigans.
Southern drinking culture features extended families getting together (grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, children, etc.) and everyone drinking a little, but no one getting sloshed to the gills.
Being noticeably wasted is looked down on in southern drinking culture, while participants in northern drinking culture brag about how much they consumed the night prior ("I put down 13 pints and a couple shots of Jack last night...").
I can't remember the exact reasons for these two different drinking cultures (it might have to do with climate), but it sounds like you were witnessing a southern drinking culture firsthand!
I‘ll put this book on my reading list, thank you!! I‘m coming from a northern drinking culture (Germany) and have lived in a southern drinking culture (Spain) and I wholeheartedly agree with these points! Although teens are getting knockout drunk in southern drinking culture as well, wider society definitely has a more social/ family centered approach to drinking 🤍
I will definitely be reading this book! I come from a northern drinking culture & a teetotaling household. I don't like being drunk so I don't get drunk but I do feel hyper aware of how drinking can be perceived by my kids (being raised in a northern drinking culture as they are) & what messages I am literally & subliminally sending them.
Drunk is a very good book. There is a lot more to it than the comparison between northern and southern drinking cultures.
Slingerland tries to answer the question, "Why do humans drink and get drunk?" I can't remember his exact conclusions, but I think he says we drink to bond, be creative, and there's a third aspect I'm forgetting!
An interesting point he makes is that from an evolutionary perspective, getting drunk doesn't make much sense. If you accept that humans were hunter-gatherers for thousands of years, getting soused in the wild would put you at risk of getting eaten by an animal or killed by another tribe. Being drunk would seem to be a weakness that we should have evolved out of over thousands of years. But we haven't.
Slingerland then looks at the reasons why we drink, using statistics, stories, and personal anecdotes.
Here's his appearance on Joe Rogan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksPQP0YaxA&ab_channel=PowerfulJRE
Thanks for sharing this. I'll definitely have a look at this book!
nice ! this is something i have noticed but never been able to put it into words. thank you so much for sharing your knowledge !
That sounds similar to what it was like growing up in small-town Canada. Many people would not touch a drop of alcohol from Sunday to Thursday, but then when Friday night rolled around--people got completed blotto. Saturdays were like this, too. I wonder why Northerners (Canadians, Scandinavians, etc.) follow this similar pattern.
What if what we need is more physical connection with the earth and sun? More than that, though, what if the secret to longer life, which is most found by island people stuck in close knit communities, forced to interact, is constant interaction, talking to people all the time, while out in the sun and beaches. What if the secret to long life is as simple as talking to your neighbors?
Yes, research shows that loneliness and social isolation are linked to higher risks of early mortality! I find the thought of growing old in a big city absolutely frightening.
Okay but all the cool influencers drink raw milk and sit in the sun! Haha but for real - the photo of that older lady smoking a cigarette at the end is iconic. I love sitting in the sun, love my coffee, will never smoke again (cancer survivor) and love what you say about how it’s the connection and laid back lifestyle that makes them live so long. I loved spending time in Italy a few summers ago for this exact reason. The countries are capitalist, so I don’t think capitalism is the problem per se, just something uniquely American that lends itself to a super stressed, toxic lifestyle. Thanks for writing about your awesome experience. Great read.
Thank you so much for reading Suzanne 🩷🩷
It's the deeply ingrained Calvinism that makes America such a dystopic nightmare.
«What if our health depends less on the nutrition we provide our bodies and more on the nourishment we provide our minds?» 🫶🫶
Thank you for reading <33
I was just in Greece and noticed the same things. In the US we make everything a hundred times more complicated than it has to be and forget the basics. We have a million recipes at our fingertips but the Greeks and Italians have fewer that have been mastered.
All the food I had while in the Greek islands was close to the source and not processed. Walking up those hills every day was a challenge but it was easy to see how a lifetime of it was beneficial.
The experience reminded me to get back to basics and stop always looking for the next fix that’s never going to work. I noticed the Europeans do the best with what they have by dressing nicely but not constantly attempting to remake themselves.
Yess getting back to the basics and simplifying our lives is definitely a huge factor for our happiness ❤️❤️
Seriously? Are you really suggesting we drop our high-performing health hustle, stop investing in optimization services, and—ahem—e n j o y? Matcha latte without oat milk? You're killing me.
Thanks so much for your refreshing words.
Omg I love „health hustle“, such a good description for what people are doing!! It’s not enough that we hustle ourselves to the ground by turning every hobby into a side hustle, we also gotta make sure we „optimize“ our health so much that it becomes a freakin hustle 😂
I read something similar recently and it’s nice to see more people discussing the rigid wellness agenda that has people entrapped in their own lives. I fell in this trap myself and have along the way made very good healthy habits and love matcha and all the healthy things, but my introvert-ness has become even more so as I have been more isolated during my wellness era. If we prioritise only our self emptoveness we live smaller lives. Looking back at empty memories. I agree so much with what you say and if I should add anything it’s that the best rule in life is nothing in excess and everything in moderation.
Totally relate to what you’re saying!! Healing and calming our nervous systems is great and all these wellness tools are good to come back to in busy times but too many people are getting lost in all the healing and forget to actually take their healing journey outside of their homes! Hope we can find the perfect balance for ourselves hehe 💖
Exactly! Indeed, I hope so too!
This entire post breathed life into me.
One of the healthiest decisions I made in my life was re introducing coke zero back into my life.
Chasing self help is a trap.
There is a middle path … we can grow so much more naturally and pleasurably in my opinion when we also allow space for going feral too.
I‘m a bitch for Coke Zero!!!
haha same !!
in gwyneth paltrow's alleged words, it's all about finding the balance between cigarettes and tofu. i love this!
This phrase sums it up perfectly! Also, I’m a huge fan of your writing!! ❤️
omg🤍 thank you !!!!!
Read this while drinking my second cup of coffee of the day (it's 9 in the morning AND I'm breastfeeding.)
Hahahaha my doctor said it’s totally fine to have two coffees during pregnancy and while breastfeeding!! Go mama!
this was a very thought-provoking piece! while striving to incorporate healthy habits into our lives certainly yields positive impacts, constantly obsessing over what the next one should be + disregarding the impact of letting go and savoring community & other more basic but meaningful necessities is detrimental. thank you for this, it definitely gives me some important food for thought <3
Thank you so much for reading and I’m happy to hear the message resonated with you!!
Love this but I think there’s more to it that doesn’t have to do with personal choices- places with long life expectancies also tend to have universal health care, high quality government programs for mental health and the elderly, affordable housing, and city/town design that is built around communities rather than cars. I feel like because we have no direct control over these things we pass them off and chalk it all up to personal decisions, but the crux of the problem for Americans is that we are getting screwed over by an out of control corporate oligarchy
I vape and have been feeling guilty about it. But damn, vaping gives me so much joy in an increasingly joyless world. To be honest, I never want to stop.
You do you babes! I don’t remember where I saw this… It’s been a while so I can’t find the source… In India, there are seven times more smokers than the United States, yet a statistically significant less amount of lung cancer. So it’s probably coming from processed foods in the US… so I agree with you just chill, I still smoke and I could not give a shit what others think.
That’s an amazing stat! Yeah, a lot of ill health is due to stress too. Vaping helps me chill so I’m sticking with it for now, at least.
I’m toking with you babes!
Ur literally gonna get cancer 😭
Wait I've never heard that stat before could u give the source sounds interesting
YES! I also felt this energy / saw this when I was living in Rome. More people should do as the Romans do… 🥂💋
Girl I’ve been thinking that I desperately need to have a chapter in Rome!!! ❤️
You DEF need a chapter in Rome! Also I heard Emily in Paris is making a detour…lol
The blue zones are very well studied and, to your credit, living low stress/anxiety is a key part of that success! So we absolutely should encourage people to live less stress lives! However I do disagree with the notion that the costs of smoking cigarettes and other vices (and there are many) are offset by the benefits of lower anxiety. In fact, some vices you mentioned (cigarettes, caffeine) are directly linked to higher stress, while the things you denounce (clean eating, yoga) are directly linked to lower stress.
That being said, I know there are people in the world who are so obsessed with routine and clean living, that they drive themselves crazy. I wouldn’t encourage them to take up vices however, but to be more forgiving if they don’t live up to their ideal standard.
Yeah nicotine addiction makes your more stressed/anxious each time your body withdraws from it and begins the craving for the next.
I get the point of the article, type A American wellness people get really rigid ironically, but smoking, drinking, etc aren't a long-term solution to reducing stress.