The Flying Pie, being widely known for its advocacies of tasty pastry, good health and longevity, feels compelled to regularly scour the universe for sound lifestyle advice to benefit its readers. It’s not easy work, this scouring. The days are long, the nights are restless and the jungle dense, but we persevere because conscience demands, our hearts are strong and they pay us in lemon meringue. This is what we found so far:
Life Begins At Breakfast
Some people we know, like the scientist in the next room, prefer to skip breakfast. Time consuming, they say, gets in the way, just give me my gallon of coffee and I’ll be on my way. They might not be so quick to sip and run if they knew the cold, hard truth; recent research in Life Metabolism magazine shows that eating breakfast is an essential component of staying mentally astute and is now considered a cornerstone of cognitive health. The study analyzed results of a China Health and Nutrition survey which recorded the eating habits and performances on cognitive tests of more than 3000 people aged 55 and up over a 10-year period. Those who didn’t eat breakfast were more likely to have lower test scores. “Breakfast skipping was associated with significantly worse cognitive function and faster cognitive decline over time,” the authors concluded.
Another cohort study out of Japan backs up the above findings. In that country, a short-term study of 712 older adults measuring cognitive decline found a higher incidence of decline in cognitive scores for those who skipped breakfast, predicting double the likelihood. Additionally, breakfast scoffers had other concerns, like higher rates of obesity, heart disease, moodiness, anxiety and type 2 diabetes.
The benefits of breakfast don’t discriminate by age. One longitudinal study of children assessed at ages 6 and 12 found an association between higher IQ scores for those who ate breakfast regularly compared to those who were infrequent eaters. Your blintzes are ready, Siobhan.
Move To Vermont
Five years ago, the United Health Foundation released the 30th edition of America’s Health Rankings Annual Report and ranked Vermont as the healthiest state in the country. For nearly two decades, the Green Mountain State has ranked among the top five healthiest states, as gauged by the foundation’s review of 35 core measures, including health behaviors and outcomes, clinical care, policy impacts and also community, environmental and socio-economic factors. Why? Well, most Vermonters eat their breakfasts. They also graduate from high school, commit few crimes, have high per capita public health funding and very few low birthweight infants. Oh yeah, and almost nobody has chlamydia.
Vermont also has the fewest fast-food restaurants in the U.S., with 58 per 100,000 people, thus has a comparatively low obesity rate of 26%. Montpelier, the capital, is the only state capital in the United States which has no McDonald’s restaurants, and nobody cares.
Important Vermont Facts:
1. Brattleboro is, shall we say, a left-leaning town full of free spirits. Even so, the town had to enact laws against public nudity in 2007 as nudists ran wild in the streets, holding bicycle races, hula hoop contests and other shenanigans. There is even a nifty statue of an undraped Jeannie Uffelman in the town square.
2. There were no billboards in Vermont until 2008. Even now, all billboards must be hand-painted and intended to support some public attribute.
3. In 2009, there were a whopping 543 organic farms in the state.
4. There are now more trees in Vermont than there were since 1959.
5. Vermont has a sensible state law which requires that all women who want false teeth need written permission from their fathers.
6. It is illegal to use colored margarine in Vermont restaurants unless the menu clearly stipulates “colored” in a font that is at least two inches high.
On the other hand:
1. It is illegal to whistle underwater in Vermont, though some suspect that increasing numbers of neighborhood gangs have secretly adopted the practice.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
Easier said than done, right? Maybe you’re looking for joy in all the wrong places. Perhaps you should turn over a new leaf, or several of them. In Shawn Achor’s book The Happiness Advantage, the author cites a fascinating study in which three groups of patients treated their depression with either medicine, exercise or a combination of the two. Each group improved at first but the follow-up assessments proved to be radically different.
“The three groups were tested six months later to assess relapse rate,” Achor writes. “Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38% had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31% relapse rate. The biggest shock came from the exercise group---their relapse rate was only 9%.” Why? Who knows? Exercise is multi-functional. It helps you relax, increases brain power, alleviates many health problems, improves our self-image. And the best part is that noone is required to commit to a strenuous hour-long daily program. The Journal of Happiness Studies claims that a mere ten minutes a day is enough to significantly boost happiness levels. You can do that just by chasing the popsicle truck a couple of blocks or running armadillos off your property.
Now that we’ve go that squared away, let’s move on to Social Interaction. You say you don’t like people? You’d rather live in a dank cave in Yulee with your rat terrier? Bad plan, Bunky. Numerous studies have found that social interaction is a key element in being happy, which is why you always see Michael Davis and David Atherton smiling, even when they’re not stoned. Harvard University happiness maven Daniel Gilbert puts it this way: “We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends, and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.”
Psychiatrist George Vaillant is the director of a 72-year study of the lives of 268 men, one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history. In an interview in 2008, he was asked what he’d learned from his work. Vaillant’s response was “The only thing that really matters in your life are your relationships with other people.” That might be stretching it a bit considering the value of creativity, work and accomplishment, but Vaillant is speaking purely about what keeps people happy. His colleague, Joshua Wolf Shenk of The Atlantic had this to say about Vaillant’s study: “The men’s relationships at age 47 predicted late-life adjustment better than almost any other variable. Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful; 93% of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been very close to a brother or sister when younger. Being happy all comes down to positive interaction with other people.
Hit The Road, Jack!
Though it flies against the wind, defying all logic and sending life coaches and financial advisors into a blind panic, there are people who find their groove by moving somewhere different on a regular basis, say every ten years. One of them, Sebastian Cole of Bangor, Newport News, Fort Meyers, Moab and Glendale, California says “If we all moved every ten years it would just be part of what we do. We would be more accustomed to change, to accepting new environments. And we wouldn’t have as much clutter to deal with. Some people start at a point where it’s not feasible to live in their current home anymore, so it’s more of a relief than it is stressful. After the first couple of moves, it’s no longer a big, dramatic thing, it’s just another move. You get to see many parts of the country, get a better idea of what you really prefer.”
Gladys Khanbie, originally of Elephant Butte, New Mexico agrees. Following her husband’s passing in the mid-nineties, she moved out of the home they lived in for 30 years and into a condo near the Pacific Ocean. Five years later, she was off to the mountains of Colorado. Next, it was Bar Harbor, Maine. “I never went anywhere the first part of my life,” says Gladys. “Then I decided why not see it all? My friends tease me about having a lot of money but it doesn’t really require a great amount of wealth to move around. The moves themselves cost a little, but you learn to live with a minimum of unnecessary junk. I never took my furniture with me when I left a place.”
Most people resist change, preferring the blessings of community, dependable friends, familiar surroundings. But even for these, inducements arise which can be game-changers. Aging enters the picture and single people look around for family. Recently, artist Judi Cain, a Gainesville mainstay fell upon hard economic times and migrated to West Virginia where two of her daughters live. Another local artist, Ellie Blair, who spent most of her life in G’ville, picked up her easels and toddled off to Austin, where her daughter lives. Both of them seem to be adapting well to their altered states. Good for them, but what happens when you need to find a new dentist?
Then, of course, there are the true nomads, the small contingent of odd mortals who just can’t wait to get on the road again, goin’ places that they’ve never been, seein’ things that they may never see again. The number of nomads in the U.S. increased by more than 130% from 2019 to mid-2022, partially driven by the Covid-19 epidemic. Most of them were younger people, some with children. In 2022, it was estimated that more than three million people in this country lived on the road. One-third traveled in motor homes or travel trailers while the majority lived in cars, vans, hatchbacks or converted buses.
As the cost of living rises in the United States, so does the number of people who dwell in their vehicles. Call it van-living, rubber tramping or a glomad lifestyle, the decision to go nomad is increasing. Some travel the country looking for work, others who discovered remote employment during the pandemic have determined they never need set foot in an office again to make a living. Betsy R. once earned a small salary helping others via a non-governmental organization but ran into a debilitating immune disease in her sixties. Her choices were living in a tiny apartment which she couldn’t afford or a home for low-income senior citizens. Instead, she opted for the road, where she could go “in whatever direction my heart pleases.” At age 72 now, her current home is a 2013 minivan with 180,000 miles on it. She’s been traveling for seven years, her spirits have soared and she’s off meds. She blogs and is writing a memoir titled Driving Through a Rainbow. Let’s hear it for Betsy.
Bob C. is also in his seventies. He’s taken up residence in a converted 12-passenger bus—a “skoolie.” In 2015, he sold his home in New York and hit the road for real. “I was traveling six months a year anyway,” he says. “At home, I spent my time repairing my house and preparing for my next adventure. Now I don’t have to worry about a house, I just go where I want and do what I want.” Today, he’s dressing up in his Saturday best and going caravanning with Betsy. Wouldja like to swing on a star? Carry moonbeams home in a jar? And be better off than you are? Or wouldja rather be in gear?
That's all, folks….
bill.killeen094@gmail.com
