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During economic downtimes people take better care of themselves. |
Do Bad Times Mean Better Health?
New York Times writer Tara Parker-Pope poses an interesting question in her article, “Are Bad Times Healthy?” She presents interesting data in response to her title question.
First the good news. During economic downtimes people:
* Take better care of themselves
* Take part in more family activities, spending more time together
* Cook at home, from scratch and eat more healthy foods
Then, there are negative consequences, such as:
* Access to medical care suffering
* The rising cost of medical expense
* Those born in a recession being subject to higher risk of having health problems later in life
* Stress levels rising
I watch the news and try to decipher what political figures are saying, their promises of my ability to keep a job, obtain health insurance and feed my family. My son goes off to college next fall. I worry about his ability to get a loan and how much I will be able to help him.
I review the state of my mutual funds, tally my losses and wonder how it will affect the future that I have planned so carefully for. These questions and concerns have kept me awake almost nightly until I realized: I’ve been wasting energy on things that I have virtually no control over.
In order to better manage my stress over these uncertainties, I needed to take action, to feel in control over something. For me that something turned out to be my body. I made a commitment to use my idle gym membership. I now go to the gym 2-3 times a week and I feel better, less stressed and finally able to get a good, solid night’s sleep.
There are other trends that are at least partly a result of our financial slow-down such as:
* A renewed interest in bicycling
* The felt need to save money again
* Social awareness on financial and health issues
The tomato / spinach / pepper scare has had a side benefit of causing us to rethink locally grown produce. Check out Life Begins@30 to learn 10 reasons to eat locally grown food. I love these guys’ mission. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few tables set up by a local farmer outside of a freeway rest stop in Massachusetts. They were doing a brisk business in corn, tomatoes, squash and other treats.
Better health can come in a lot of ways, most of which include educating yourself as a consumer, but if you ask me, a financial slowdown is healthy!
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