The benefits of slowing down (Please don’t rush reading this)

When I was 15 years old my high school chemistry teacher told me ‘Miss Genovese, if you’re not careful you’ll get a stress induced heart attack’.

10 years later, I still remember his words and they are a constant reminder for me to ’slow down’.

Since reading the brilliant book ‘In praise of slow‘ by Carl Honore, escalating fuel prices and generally reorienting my values, I have started catching public transport more regularly. I find this forces me to slow down. It may only take 20 minutes to drive to university by car, but if I take public transport, it takes me 1 hour and 10 minutes. In that time, I get to read books, enjoy the scenery and write in my journal (activities that I usually wouldn’t find the time or allow myself to do otherwise).

Other members of my family have slowed down their lifestyles as well. For example, not so long ago my brother Stephen used to work 9-5pm, Monday to Friday as an Engineer. The work and long hours did not agree with him and he would often come home irritable and sad. So what did Stephen do? He quit his job as an Engineer and pursued his love of Art. Now he is studying Fine Arts, producing amazing art work and exercising regularly. He is the happiest I’ve ever seen him.

My dad used to work long hours on our stone fruit orchard but after our orchard was damaged by a bushfire, he reassessed his life. Now dad is spending less time on the orchard and enjoys running marathons, studying zen and working on his inventions.

Which brings me to an exciting innovative solution I heard about recently. In Japan there was a huge debate over a new apartment block that was being built. The prospective residents were arguing over whether the apartment should have an elevator installed. One group of residents argued ‘We shouldn’t install an elevator! It will just waste electricity and contribute to global warming’, whilst another group of residents said ‘But what about the elderly people who can’t move so easily? You have to have an elevator!’. Finally, a consensus was reached - a slow elevator would be installed.

The elevator would move so slowly that most people would not bother waiting for it and would take the stairs (a much quicker option). The elderly residents who really needed to use it and had more time on their hands wouldn’t mind waiting. It has been said that this innovative solution was inspired by the key word ’slow’.

There are many benefits (not just environmental but physical and emotional) that we can experience when we slow down our lives.

So ask yourself, could you benefit from slowing down? Even just a little bit?

Below are 3 ways to slow down your lifestyle.

1. Grow your own food, cook your own meals and eat them slowly

Cooking your dinner from home grown and/or locally grown produce is a great way to slow down, nourish your body and mind and help the planet all at the same time. Speaking from my own experience, I know there’s nothing more satisfying than cooking my own gourmet pizza with fresh ingredients from my own garden (free from packaging and saves me some money to boot).

Fresh Energy have produced a fantastic pdf called ‘Fight Global warming with fresh food’, they state:

“Growing crops takes energy, but turning those crops into a box of crackers or a frozen dinner entrée can take just as much energy, if not more. For example, producing a two-pound box of breakfast cereal uses the same amount of energy as burning a half-gallon of gasoline.”

Once you have cooked your meal, don’t just gobble it down. Eat it slowly. When you chew your food slowly, more nutrients are released. Studies have also found that people who eat slowly tend to consume less food. Researcher Kathleen Melanson states “Put down the fork between bites and take time to have a conversation and linger over the meal”.

2. Cut back on caffeine

I’ve only had a cup of coffee once in my life. I added so much coffee to my mug that I had the shakes for the rest of the day and my mind was overactive.

Then on law school camp, I could drink all the cheap cola I wanted. I had 7 cans in the space of a few hours. Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep that night.

Studies have found that when we slurp on our cup of coffee or can of coke, we are actually inducing a state of stress. Caffeine drives the adrenal glands to produce stress hormones that in turn produce the “fight or flight” response.

Why not consider gradually replacing your caffeine intake with healthier behaviours such as getting more sleep, eating healthier foods, switching to herbal teas, regular exercise and drinking plenty of water?

3. Leave the car at home

When you take public transport or walk somewhere, you experience the world in a different way.

Carl Honore points out -

‘When we walk, we are aware of the details around us – birds, trees, the sky, shops and houses, other people. We make connections’.

I found this to be true in Japan when I had the option of taking a cable car to get to the top of a mountain (15 minute journey) or walking up a mountain (2 hour journey). I was running low on cash at the time so I decided to walk up the mountain. I saw the greenest, brightest moss on rocks, deer, heard birds singing and even saw a screaming monkey 20 metres away! There wasn’t a single human being in sight. When I got to the top of the mountain, I was exhausted but the view was absolutely incredible.

Personal benefits aside, every litre of petrol you use driving your car releases 2 Kg of greenhouse gas into the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists also point that the main greenhouse gas, CO2, stays in the atmosphere for approximately 200 years. What we do today will affect our children and grandchildren’s future.

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