Nine Life Lessons from Marathon Training as an Older Runner

 

When I was seventeen, I ran the Seattle Marathon following my senior year of cross-country. I figured I was in the best shape of my life and this was the time to give a marathon a try. I then largely retired from running, just occasionally trotting a few miles to keep in some kind of shape. In 2018 and 2019 when I saw coverage of the New York City Marathon that goes through all five boroughs, I thought “that looks so cool,” but being in my late fifties, I put it down as out of the question. In 2020 the NYC marathon was cancelled due to COVID. When it ran again in 2021, something in me said, “I want to do that.” My son lived in Manhattan, I’d been there many times and also visited Brooklyn and the Bronx, but I’d never stepped foot in Queens or Staten Island. And all the crowds and energy of the event—something called.

Getting into the race was complex as I didn’t get selected in the lottery for the 2022 race but instead got a slot for the 2023 race if I ran a marathon in November of 2022 anywhere of my choosing. So I trained and trained, designed and ran my own marathon as directed, and then ran the New York City marathon in 2023. And then my daughter talked me into running the Colorado Marathon a week ago. With four lifetime marathons under my belt, I am now done. But the wisdom I gained is applicable to many things.

1.     Attitude matters. On training runs, getting out the door is half the battle, but if you go out with the attitude, “this is awful, why am I doing it, I feel terrible, etc.” you will be miserable. If you go out with the attitude “I get to run today! Once I get going, I’m going to feel great,” you’ll have a much better experience. Even better if you can smile and nod at people rather than grimace and show suffering. You may scoff, but transmitting well-being and positive vibes in your neighborhood has a ripple effect. You will cover many miles as you run. You can be a force for grouchiness or a force for cheeriness, your choice.

2.     Know your why. This may seem obvious, but why are you running? What do you hope to get out of it? A slimmer body? A feeling of mastery? Bragging rights? Stress release? Maybe you want to improve bone density, lower your blood pressure, stave off diabetes, and increase the likelihood of a long, healthy life. Because someone else thinks you should is a very weak why. Because other people might admire you is another why that will fade when the going gets tough. If you’re clear on your why, a lot of other stuff falls into place.

3.     Don’t compare yourself to others. When I started training, most runners were faster than me. Some were way faster. Gradually I improved until some runners were slower than me. But getting caught up in comparisons is a bad mental trap. The person sprinting by me might only have time for a 2-mile workout while I’m out on a 10-mile run. Someone going slowly might be on a recovery run or doing low-heartrate training. Another might’ve just finished with chemotherapy and it’s their first time back in their running shoes. You just don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Everyone is out getting exercise in the fresh air, and it’s wonderful whatever their pace.

4.     The natural world matters. I’m not a fan of running in heat or in the rain, but it takes many months to train for a marathon, so you’re bound to hit unpleasant weather now and again. Train anyway. Altitude matters. The elevation of the Colorado Marathon that started at 6500 feet kicked my butt because I’d trained almost entirely at sea level. So it goes. Air quality matters. During the fires in California a couple years back the air was so bad I couldn’t leave the house. I got a treadmill that I will use under duress, but breathable air is fundamental to existence, and I’m not sure why we don’t all take it more seriously. The most important thing about the natural world is that it’s wonderful! I live in San Francisco, and it’s 1.5 miles from my front door to the Panhandle. On the way I have to deal with traffic, uneven sidewalks, and stoplights. But once I get to the path that winds through 100-year-old trees, life is good. A couple more stoplights and I’m in Golden Gate Park where I can run miles surrounded by flora and fauna and shade and birdsong and no cars. (Numerous public bathrooms are a big plus.) Being out in nature is soothing and energizing and a reward in and of itself. Everyone should have access to large stretches of nature. It should be a basic human right.

5.     What you ingest matters. Your body is made up of what you feed it. Things that are toxic really do affect it. Gradually over the years I’ve shed many things from my diet: high fructose corn syrup, corporate fast food, corporate highly processed carbs, alcohol, most sugar, and, recently, seed oils. What’s left to eat, you might ask? All sorts of delicious things that don’t have to cost that much or take long to prepare. YMMV, but I eat dairy, vegetables, some meat, some complex carbs, and I drink a lot of tea. I also occasionally indulge in street tacos and bread from small bakeries. When I upped my mileage, I upped my protein intake with more eggs per week. I did have to add a banana in the mornings before long runs. Eating this way my body feels great. My inflammation levels are low, and my energy levels are high. I take some supplements, but no medications. If you’re strong, young, and fit, you can probably get by with some toxicity now and again, but the older you get, the more this stuff matters. The other thing I’ll point out is that since muscle weighs more than fat, when you start to get in shape you’ll likely lose inches more quickly than weight, but that’s okay, because your waistline is far more important to your health anyway.

6.     Honor who you are, your body, and your limits. I like running alone at my own pace, listening to my music, being with my thoughts. My daughter really likes running with other people. Neither is better or worse; our preferences are intrinsic to who we are. Silly not to know how you’re wired and honor that. Same with your body. If you listen to it, it’ll tell you all sorts of things, but since most of us are disconnected from our bodies, it can take a while to learn the language. My tai chi teacher once said, “There's the pain of injury and the pain of change. Learn to know the difference.” I would add that there is pain to ignore and pain to pay attention to. Pretty much every runner will tell you the first mile never feels good. During that mile I often get fleeting pain in my knees, hips or muscles. 99% of the time these things go away. When pain is stabbing or doesn’t go away, it’s time to pay attention, maybe even stop. If you train incrementally and only gradually increase miles/intensity, this kind of pain is less likely to occur. But when it does, you have to deal with it, even if it means you have to take a week or two off. Appreciate your body; thank it. It’s a wonderful gift, a highly advanced piece of biochemical machinery that’s yours for life. Never deride it or shame it. It hears what you say. Lastly, limits. As you get in shape, your limits will expand, but they will still be there. If you’re over 40 and not Kenyan, you are unlikely to ever win a major marathon. That’s okay. Know your why. I started training for the NYC marathon to challenge my body and have a certain experience. Though I would’ve liked to have run a Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group, I never quite managed it. If I’d trained 50 miles a week instead of 40, maybe I could’ve achieved it, but I had my limits. And the Boston Marathon was never my why. I achieved my why and I’m satisfied.

7.     Good tech can help. When I was in high school, I was thrilled to have a pair of Nike trainers with waffle bottoms. The other “tech” assistance I had was heavy cotton sweats, t-shirts, and water from drinking fountains. I seriously didn’t even own a water bottle. Now I have a fitness watch, headphones, a great running playlist, a cheststrap for low-heartrate training, gels, a hydration backpack, lycra leggings, great shoes with inserts, good sports bras, a waistpack, a variety of running shirts suited to different conditions, sunglasses, visors, and four different kinds of electrolyte mixes I like. Whew! All this stuff does help (especially the music.) But in the end, you still have to run the miles.

8.     Small increments are powerful. Training for a marathon is a long road. I started out running 9 miles a week and over the course of 6 months worked up to 40 miles a week. With enough time, dedication, and small increments, you can do things you might not believe possible. Increments are important in other ways. We create our bodies and our lives one bite, one step, and one thought at a time. Yes, a doughnut here, a grouchy thought there, or even a skipped training run is not going to make much difference. But a pattern of them sure will. It’s the pattern that counts. The good news is that in every moment you can start afresh. Your point of power is now, going forward. One step, one bite, one thought at a time.

9.     Find the joy. This was a tip from an ultra-marathoner. A good attitude and knowing your why are important, but there’s even a deeper level to obtain. If running makes you miserable, don’t do it: find some other way to achieve your why. But even being so-so about your training is a waste of time because, like almost everything, if you dig deep enough, there is joy to be found in tackling a marathon. It may be from your body when you can stride along without gasping for air. It may be from birdsong in the morning hours, the aromatic fresh air, or the sunset that closes down the evening. It may be from waving at a small child on your run or greeting a tree friend. Whatever it is, find it. We are all responsible for our own joy. No one can give it to you. But it will be there if you seek it. Find the joy.

In the Land of Porcelain is out! It can be purchased in paperbook or ebook on-line, or it can ordered at any bookstore. Audiobook version coming soon!

When Sara's husband, Mark, goes to law school on the East Coast, Sara moves in with her mercurial sister because she's just gotten promoted at her job and doesn't want to leave San Francisco. It's manageable. She and Mark will both focus on their careers and temporarily be BCDR, that's all-bi-coastal, dual rental. To keep busy Sara begins City Buddha-Mind walking and volunteers at a domestic violence shelter. But after Aaron, a high-powered consultant, offers to mentor her, Sara soon realizes her life isn't as under control as she thought it was. Set in the early 1990's, In the Land of Porcelain is a young woman's roller-coaster journey to self-discovery, deeper love, and breaking free. 

"Karen Allen has written a story of a woman waking up to her life, and waking up, and waking up--with help and distractions from a host of three-dimensional, fascinating characters. It's a moving book, a funny one, and even an inspiring one."--Tonya Edwards

What We Encourage

          After forty-one years of drinking alcohol, I stopped six months ago. I’d done a couple dry Januaries and found that during the other eleven months of the year I had trouble limiting myself to five drinks a week. I figured it’d be easier to do zero than five, and I was right, at least after I got through the initial eight weeks. And every month since it’s gotten easier.

Well supported and well supplied

        After forty-three years of driving, my husband and I went car-free last summer in San Francisco. There are parallels. Hang with me.

        I started drinking alcohol in college at age eighteen. This was relatively late for my generation. As with most people, I saw alcohol as a mark of adulthood, good for socializing, relaxing, and easing stress.

        I knew alcohol was prevalent in American culture, but once I went off it, how much reinforcement there is for drinking really slapped me in the face. It is inhospitable for a host/hostess not to offer their guests alcohol. Period. In restaurants waiters are visibly disappointed that your dinner bill will not include $25 for two glasses of wine. Friends suggest bars as a natural place to meet up in the evening. Within half a mile of my house there are two grocery stores, three corner stores, and four liquor stores that, combined, offer far more shelving feet of alcohol for sale than nutritious food. (Don’t get me started on the food deserts of impoverished neighborhoods.) Bottles of alcohol are on maximum view in every bar and restaurant (are that evening’s vegetables so elegantly displayed?) and pre-Covid, the quantity of alcohol consumed before, during, and after plane flights was frankly astounding. Remember all the chuckles and cute memes about quarantine drinking? Binge drinking went through the roof this past year, especially among women.

In TV and movies the characters show they’re having a good time by drinking. Alcohol ads oriented towards women paint pictures of intimacy, romance, and friendship. Alcohol ads promise men status, friendship, and sex. In social media, friends and family take selfies with their drinks to prove they’re having a good time. Our culture is saturated in alcohol, and if you don’t believe it, go off alcohol for a month and see how many times you are invited, encouraged, reminded, or pushed to have a drink. Even more annoying, some people may assume you have a psychological disorder since “normal” people choose to drink. And then you’ll hear at length why drinking is fine for them since they have no problem with alcohol. (Since I’ve done this to other people, it’s likely fitting that I’m now on the receiving end.)

And our society is largely unconscious of all of this.

And yet. And yet alcohol is toxic to the human body. Small doses are a little toxic; large doses are very toxic.

And it’s possible to feel good without alcohol. In fact, it’s possible to feel great without alcohol and to feel so far more consistently. Indeed, some schools of thought view alcohol as an impediment to one’s spiritual progression.

One of the biggest reasons I went off alcohol was middle-of-the-night insomnia. I was already meditating and exercising daily but still I would wake up at 2 am. Six months later, my sleep has vastly improved, but even better has been the benefits to my spiritual journey. I feel more connected to nature; I feel more connected to grace. I’m more conscious now of when I’m choosing between love and fear and I now more often manage to opt for love. Maybe this self-acceptance and heart-opening would’ve happened anyway, I can’t say for sure. I mention this knowing that many will have no idea what I’m talking about. That’s okay. The path is a breadcrumb trail, and those inclined to follow it will.

Still, I’m very conscious that by not drinking I’ve put myself outside normal human experience. And I’m still working to accept that people are puzzled and even disturbed by my choice, even as I used to be when I ran across someone who didn’t drink.

Onward.

I was thrilled to get my driver’s license at age sixteen. It’s one of the most profound rites of passage we have for teenagers. A license means independence, power, and status! A heady brew indeed. Even though my family of six scraped along with just one car, and I had to wheedle my parents for every minute of driving I got, since I lived in a suburb with no public transit and no safe biking, that license significantly changed my life.

And so over the years I drove and drove and drove, even after moving to a city. Road trips, daily commute trips, and transporting children trips. (Trips to the orthodontist were nearly endless.) I saw cars as convenient, safe, and necessary because even though I lived in one of the densest places in North America, my way of life was still designed around a car. In fact, I chose my children’s schools partly based on how easily I could drive there and park.

Before we went car-free, my husband and I spent a few years seeing how little we could drive as a kind of hobby. We’d long been bicyclists, but after we both got electric bikes it became faster to get almost anywhere in the city by bike instead of car. When we traveled, we tried not to rent a car but instead took rail or light rail, a Lyft ride or two, and did a lot of walking. 

 

Plant shopping by bike

I’ve found that not driving has embedded more exercise in my daily life. It’s made me more connected to the nature around me, even in my urban neighborhood. (There are trees! Birds! Flowers! Stars! The Moon!) I’ve also discovered that not driving has improved my character. I’m less impatient, less aggressive, and less hostile as I travel. I’m more likely to see my fellow human beings on the street as equals rather than obstacles. Whether on foot, public transit or my bicycle, I’m not both powerful and anonymous like I am in a car. (Power and anonymity are not a good combination for the human psyche.) There’s more mutuality, more sense of sharing the street space rather than pushing through and dominating it. Though San Francisco has considerable problems with drug addiction, homelessness and encampments, when I walk or bike I generally only feel threatened by the actions of drivers encased in thousands of pounds of metal. 

New local garden

Car driving is reinforced in our society every which way we look. Literally. The basic design of our neighborhoods, our streets, and our cities is created to accommodate cars. In San Francisco a quarter of all land is dedicated to car driving or parking. Just like alcohol, cars are constantly sold to us. Women are told a car means safety, convenience, and status while men are promised sex, domination, and status. I rarely watch commercial tv, but my husband is a fan of sports. When I sit down with him in front of a football game I feel absolutely bombarded by car and beer ads. These ads aren’t random: they work. Indeed, one fourth of the cost of a new car is the cost of marketing and advertising. (Thought experiment: if car and beer advertising went away tomorrow, would there be any professional sports left?)

 

Best use of space?

Our culture is saturated in cars. Parking lots dominate our public spaces, and children spend more time strapped into carseats than in active play. The only place you can get away from cars are public parks/beaches/forests that offer good hikes. If you don’t believe me, try going car-free for a month. Impossible, you say! You live miles from where you work and shop. (Or, what I hear most often, you’d get killed by one of the crazy drivers on the road.) Exactly, I say. Our entire way of life, from the ground up, is designed to make Americans utterly dependent on their vehicles. And our society is largely unconscious of this.

Does drinking alcohol make you a bad person? No. Does driving a car make you evil? Of course not. Everyone is on their own path, has their own individual circumstances, and deserves to enjoy their life. Not drinking won’t automatically solve all your problems, and not driving won’t turn your community into Shangri-La anytime soon. But I suggest that there are very good reasons not to drink alcohol as well as not to drive a car before even taking into account alcoholism, drunk driving, peak oil, and climate change. I’ll also point out that while one set of choices is promoted, reinforced, and made as convenient as possible, the other set is shamed, challenged, or made as dangerous as possible. It would be nice if our society created a little more physical and psychological space for those who choose the path less taken.

Neighborhood guardians that inspire love, not fear

 

(Photo credits: all photos taken by Karen Allen)

Put Down Those Rocks You're Carrying

Imagine that as a child you were issued a large backpack to wear at all times. At first you didn’t know what it was for, but then the adults around you started putting rocks in it that you then obediently carried around. After a while you followed their example and began to put rocks in there yourself. Over time, some of the rocks disappeared, but most didn’t, and by now that pack’s really, really heavy.

            You often pull out some of the rocks and look at them. They don’t make you happy. In fact they make you miserable. Some at the bottom you never pull out—you might not even remember you have them--but still you carry them. This seems inexplicable. Why would anyone voluntarily bear such a burden?

Unfortunately these rocks are not chunks of shale or granite or sandstone. Those would be easy to get rid of! Instead they are bits of residual resentment, hatred, anger, guilt, and shame from injuries or injustices or mistakes you can’t or won’t or haven’t tried to let go of. The backpack is your mind; the weight of the load burdens not your back but your soul.

What follows are tips for cleaning out that backpack. If the pack’s stuffed full, it’ll take some mental elbow grease to do a good spring cleaning, but trust me, it’s worth it for the sunlight that will pour into your life. After that, there’ll be some ongoing maintenance to keep your pack light and your steps jaunty. Yes, there’ll be surprises. Rocks that you’ll swear you never picked up will somehow get in that backpack, and a few rocks will keep reappearing even after you put them down and down again. Still the effort’s worth it.

So how to get rid of these rocks? The first step is to realize that anger, hatred, resentment, guilt, and shame are not just weight, they’re toxic, poisonous to a healthy life. They cloud your judgement; they sap your attention and energy. They lead to bitterness, depression and despair. If you feed these toxic emotions, the rocks will grow until they’re all you have left. At its most basic, carrying around these rocks is a form of self-harm.

Instead when these emotions arise, acknowledge them, learn from them. Take action if appropriate. And then let them go. This doesn’t mean you should allow people who’ve injured you to do so again. But caution, wisdom, and courage prevent injury better than anger and resentment.

Back to spring cleaning. All of us have childhoods that involved rocks. Some of us had really bad childhoods with backpacks that are overflowing. I’m so sorry. Our families and our society should treat children so much better. But if you’re reading this, you’re likely an adult with a lot more control over your life now. Carrying a heavy psychic backpack helps nothing.

The first rocks to get rid of are those pertaining to parents. You can forgive or not forgive, but either way the weight’s killing you. You have to let go. One way to do this is to imagine your five-year-old self. What do you need? What do you wish you’d gotten? More love? What would that look like—more hugs, more safety, someone to read to you at bedtime, someone to tell you you’re wonderful? Whatever it is, imagine your adult self taking your child self by the hand and giving them whatever they didn’t get. Yes, this doesn’t seem rational, but the inner child in you isn’t rational, just needy. Re-parent yourself. Take five minutes here, five minutes there and imagine giving that five-year-old what he or she needs.

 

It's big. It can take it.

When that five year old is calm and happy, slip him or her gently into your heart for safekeeping. (If there was another time in your life when you were especially needy, say as a teenager, then do the same for that self.) With your child selves safely tucked away, imagine standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s so vast, so deep, it can absorb and neutralize all the negativity you have to give it. Then imagine dumping out your whole backpack over the edge. Not all the rocks will fall out. Many will stick. Over the course of the next month, take these stuck ones out one by one as they arise in your mind. Say, “What did I learn from this?” The answer may not come right away. Be patient. Once you hear it say, “Okay, thanks. I don’t need you any longer.” And throw that rock as far as you can. See it dissolve as it falls towards the earth. You may have to take out nasty rocks you didn’t ever want to touch again. Get the learning and toss. And if these rocks show up again, know there’s a little more learning to squeeze from them and then toss once more. If there’s abuse trauma that you don’t want to examine incident by incident, mentally put all those rocks in one bag, decide what the life lesson was from the cumulative experience. Sit with it, grieve, and then heave ho the entire sack. That there might be a life lesson doesn't imply that the abuse was in any way your fault. Far from it! The lesson may be that damaged people damage, or that you have a ferocity to survive. Whatever it is, you'll know it when it the weight lifts.

When you’ve got most of your parent rocks cleaned out, try to find one memory from each parent when they showed love, or at least kindness, towards you. Let that memory gleam, and put it in your heart. And from now on, when you think of your parents, don’t trot out all the garbage from your childhood--pull out the gleaming memories because that is what’s going to let you be at peace. It doesn’t mean rewriting history. All the crapola happened, but you let it be. Maybe you feel some sadness, but you don’t carry the toxicity around with you anymore.

Are these yours?

When that’s done, you can start with your siblings, peers, and teachers. Or you can just say, “I’m going to let go of all rocks formed before 1990.” (Pick a year appropriate to your age.) I’m fifty-nine. Sometimes I’ll find a rock in my pack I didn’t realize was there. I’ll examine the date and then say, “Holy hell—am I really still carrying around something that happened forty-five years ago?” Once you hit fifty, you can let go of everything that happened before you were thirty. You were young, they were young, and you were all stupid and didn’t know better, or they were old and now likely dead. Let it go. You’ll be so glad you did.

So let’s get to guilt and shame. Those are not so much rocks as sticks that you beat yourself up with. And some of this is so deep in your subconscious you might not know what memory is triggering your suffering, only that you are bad, unworthy, don’t deserve to live, etc. This is not pleasant, but you have to pull out the mistakes you feel worst about--the ones you're most ashamed of--and say, “What should I learn from this?” Sit with the transgression and genuinely absorb what needs to be integrated. Because that’s why you still carry it with you. If you really dig into your subconscious (be warned--shame pushes things deep), you’ll likely be amazed at the fairly trivial stuff you use to convince yourself during your low moments that you’re a horrible human being. The thing is, you don’t need shame and guilt to control your behavior. Once you’ve absorbed the lesson, wisdom will keep you from repeating the mistake. No more punishment needed. You, yes you, deserve to enjoy your life.

Given how much work it is to get rid of rocks, it’s a good idea not to load up with new ones. One way to prevent new rocks is to see someone currently pushing your buttons not as your enemy but a lesson knocking at your door. This is admittedly not easy to do in the heat of the moment. But with some reflection you may realize that what you’re annoyed with in another person is a characteristic you don’t want to recognize in yourself. This applies to current political figures or even entire groups of people that have different views from you. You don’t have to stop caring about the issues important to you, you don’t have to agree with those you’re ideologically opposed to, but you have to not turn them into rocks. Which means not hating them. Which means letting go of the anger and resentment. Which means wrestling with what is the larger lesson being presented--to you personally, to your country, to humanity. What are we human beings struggling to learn? Harm is harm, so of course try to prevent or mitigate it, but hatred and anger (not to mention contempt and loathing) are not the tools.

If you can manage to get in dialogue with those you're opposed to, even better. It's true that some people are so engulfed by negativity that there's no way to communicate through it, but this not the case for the vast majority of people despite what the media might tell you. You may find some of them believe you are the source of harm. Dialogue and recognition of our common humanity is the only way to work through this. We absolutely have to start laying down our rocks and dealing with others as human beings, not as members of a group. There is much to learn from all this. Will we do it? If you're reading this article, this means you have to take the first step and put down your rocks, not wait for others to go first.

When I struggle with this advice (and I do), I think of the Dalai Lama’s response to whether he hated the Chinese for what they’d done to the Tibetan people. He responded to the effect that when you’re angry or unforgiving your mental suffering is constant. If he developed bad feelings towards the Chinese it wouldn’t solve anything, it would only destroy his own peace of mind, which would make him less capable of serving his people and humanity.

Another way to think about this is that the negative actions of any person/group are almost always symptoms of underlying problems, usually structural ones. The problems humanity faces are not due to too little anger and hatred. Indeed, our negative emotions are used to divide and exploit us, to confuse us from seeing who (or what) is behind the curtain pulling the levers. You can stop that cycle, at least with your own life and your own consciousness. If you can manage to feel compassion, empathy or even love towards those who have caused harm, more power to you. It’s a spiritual achievement that will ripple outward to benefit us all. But for now at least get rid of the negative emotions that are poisoning your soul.

Even after you get good at rock tossing and rock avoiding, now and then rocks will still get into your pack. You will get annoyed, irritated, perhaps even irate. That’s okay. Catch yourself, laugh, examine the lesson, and chuck the darn rock away. A light backpack is a joyful thing.

 

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.”—Albert Einstein

 

Note: If your rocks are really stubborn, a counselor or other mental health professional can assist with tossing the worst ones.

Social Cohesion and Public Health

Mask: a device worn to disguise, amuse, or terrify

Social cohesion makes societies work, and once squandered, it’s difficult to rebuild. It requires trust, goodwill, and shared values, but also fairness and agreed-upon social norms. Without some level of social cohesion, groups and even society itself cannot function. Most well run countries (ones with low wealth inequality, low corruption, and high life satisfaction) have social cohesion born of a sense of trust that society works for the well-being of all its members. Though this is perhaps more difficult to achieve in racially and culturally diverse societies, Sweden and Canada have high levels of social cohesion even with 20% of Sweden's population being foreign-born and 27% of Canada's population of non-European/white background. Smart societies foster social cohesion and build social capital constantly; foolish ones fritter both away as if they have no consequence.

There's a dark side to social cohesion, especially if it devolves into rigid conformity. The Nazis created social cohesion by vilifying Jews and promulgating their thesis that Germans were the master race. But let’s look at the flip side. In societies with little or no social cohesion, fear, distrust, corruption, and animosity rule. For decades now, American social cohesion has been falling, directly correlated, in my view, to our burgeoning wealth inequality. As a result, we don’t have a lot to fall back on now when we need it.

Right now much of the world faces a public health crisis with COVID-19. So far this disease has killed over 100,000 people in the United States and will likely kill another 100,000 in the next 100 days. This disease is largely fatal only to people who already have an underlying illness. Looking at the NYC data, it’s worth noting that even for those over sixty-five, most of those that died had one or more co-morbidity factors. The most common co-morbidities are heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, and obesity.

Flu Experts

The US hasn’t had a pandemic this deadly since 1918. We are unprepared, inexperienced, and learning how to deal with it on the fly. In order to combat this pandemic, local officials have resorted to the blunt tools of physical distancing, voluntary quarantining, mass stay-at-home orders, the closing of all but essential services, and mandatory use of masks. (There’s finally widespread testing available, and talk of contact tracing, although from what I can tell, very little of this has happened.) I live in San Francisco, the first city to impose many of these restrictions before a single case of COVID-19 was discovered. Because of the initial promptness and a high level of compliance, both the case and death count here has been remarkably low. Now, although much of the country has opened up with far higher continued case and death rates, pandemic measures continue here and mask use has gotten even stricter.

I would posit that these public health measures prevent deaths but also cause them. I also believe we should be talking about loss of life-years. As painful as it may be to consider, the death by COVID-19 of someone 95 years old with kidney and heart disease might mean the loss of one life-year. The death by suicide of a 35 year old with depression worsened by social isolation might mean the loss of 50 life-years. There is a difference in magnitude that ought to be taken into account.

For public health measures to be effective, officials had to get the public’s compliance. In some countries this was literally done with soldiers challenging anyone who walked the streets. In United States, the approach was to 1) appeal to people’s compassion to prevent the disease from spreading to the vulnerable population (i.e. those with co-morbidities) and 2) make people believe they were personally at risk. As a result, the ultimate tools for fighting this epidemic have been fear and social isolation.

Your stressed brain

Fear creates stress. Stress creates emotional, psychological and physical problems, including heart disease, the number one killer in the US (648K deaths/year.)Fear also makes people do stupid things like drink bleach. Social isolation creates stress and strongly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, the number five killer (146K deaths/year.) In fact social isolation is known to increase the risk of early death by two-thirds. It increases the risk of dementia by 40%. In a study of 20,000 Americans in 2018, 40% of adults reported being lonely. Just imagine what the number is now. And then there’s all the quarantine drinking. Cirrohsis/liver disease, the result of copious alcohol use, is US killer # 11 (42K deaths/year.) And that’s when people weren’t locked down. So while our stringent public health measures have prevented COVID deaths, we’ve also undoubtedly increased the number of future deaths due to heart disease, stroke and alcohol addiction. And let’s also remember that social isolation is profoundly bad for anyone suicidal (killer #10, 47K deaths/year.)

This is not to say that physical distancing and the closing of all but essential services weren’t necessary. But we need to realize that each week of doing so comes with a cost of lives just as real as the COVID deaths. Opening back up too soon (or never really shutting down at all, like some states) guarantees more deaths, yes, but continuing lockdowns past the point of benefit harms rather than helps the public good. There are also only so many weeks of lockdown that most Americans (even San Franciscans) can stand, so they should be used when they have the most benefit (i.e. in the fall, when we’re bound to see cases increase again.)

Continued lockdowns also harm the public good in terms of social cohesion. Fear of an enemy might create social cohesion, but in this case, public health measures have made us afraid of each other. This is absolutely terrible for social cohesion. Every person walking down the street becomes a supposed assassin likely to breathe inappropriately. Neighbors scream at each other for not wearing masks. People post death threats on Facebook against outsiders coming into their neighborhood bringing disease. People who used to get along become cranky, suspicious, and unforgiving. Add to this people who are irritable from not getting enough exercise or sunlight or being able to go anywhere or see anyone, and trust and goodwill pretty much go out the window. Add to this rage over social injustice, a divisive President, and bored (or paid) numbskulls itching for mayhem, you can see we’ve got a difficult summer ahead. (As I write, San Francisco is under mandatory curfew to prevent looting.) And every week of lockdown makes it worse.

Now let’s consider masks. Indoors, especially in poorly ventilated areas, it’s indisputable that COVID-19 is highly contagious by people just breathing on each other and that masks prevent dispersal of vapor droplets containing active viruses. Outdoors, there is so much immediate dispersal in the air that the risk is negligible. Indeed, there has been only one documented instance in the entire world where the virus was transmitted outside. Experts agree that because of low viral load exposure there is little risk of outdoor contagion even when a jogger exhales within a few feet of you. Indoors, yes, masks are still a good idea, and indoor events with singing (choirs) or cheering fans (basketball games) might need to be prohibited for a while longer. (Okay, jam-packed outdoor pools and concerts might not be good ideas either.) But in general as long as people aren’t crammed together, the social cost of mask-wearing outdoors is high and the benefit low.

One of the reasons wearing masks outdoors does social harm is because masks make the wearer anonymous, and anonymity in daily life destroys social cohesion. Because basic social cues such as smiles or at least an agreeable expression cannot be read, every passerby seems more threatening. People don’t make eye contact. Sometimes even friends and well-known neighbors cannot be identified, and the casual positive interactions that are the social glue of our society become impossible. Fear and loneliness are reinforced. And every week this continues makes it worse. Quarantine exhaustion is real.

Potential Covid Deaths

What would actually improve public health is reducing the number of people at risk of dying by COVID-19. That means reducing the number of people suffering from heart disease, hypertension, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, obesity, and diabetes. How can we do that? A third of the country is obese! Half of US adults have heart disease! Half are pre-diabetic! Wouldn’t it be ridiculously expensive to make people healthy enough that COVID-19 is no longer a threat to them? (Of course, hasn’t shutting down our entire economy for two months been a tiny bit expensive?)

Luckily there’s a way to make the entire population of the United States healthier in a few short months. And it will cost almost no money. And it will improve mental and emotional health. And it will improve social cohesion. However, no corporation will profit, and no politician will gain campaign donations because of it, so no public official will suggest it.

The magic answer? Simply have every American adult walk for 30 minutes a day. Among trees, if possible. Every day. Without masks. Without fail. No matter how old you are, how sick you are, how much you weigh, your health will improve. (Cutting out all soda and eating some vegetables will help, too. Just saying.) Walking moderately briskly 30 minutes a day reverses heart disease, reverses Type II diabetes, reverses hypertension. It reduces stress and chronic pain. It prevents strokes and Alzheimer’s; it reduces the risk of dying from breast, colon, and uterine cancer and can stop prostate cancer in its tracks. It reduces inflammation in the body. It boosts brain health. It reduces anxiety and increases happiness. Plus it relieves moderate and major depression better than pharmaceuticals or psychotherapy. Walking in your neighborhood creates local social cohesion better than just about anything. (Even more so if you smile, nod and give little waves.) Plus, it stimulates your immune system so you'll be less likely to come down with COVID-19 even if directly exposed to it. (The exception is those front line workers getting a heavy viral load, like health and transit workers. It’s criminal that they didn’t get serious personal protection at work from the very beginning.)

In cities, as many streets as necessary should be closed to cars to allow comfortable walking by large numbers of people. (They are not all going to fit on the sidewalk!) News media should remind people daily to go walk; social media should be full of encouragement as well. Instead of fear, fear, fear, the message should be walk, walk, walk. Walk our way out of this pandemic. Walk our way to health.

If we did this, the overall US death rate would drop by half, US health care costs would plummet, US life expectancy would increase, and people would be remarkably calmer and happier. Pharmaceutical companies and health care providers might be less than thrilled, but you can’t please everyone.

So let’s walk our way out of this pandemic. Walk our way to mental, emotional and physical health. Walk our way back to social cohesion. Walk our way back to a functional society where anger and suspicion aren’t the normal ways we interact with each other. Yes, it’s actually that simple. It won’t solve wealth inequality and social injustice, but if we don’t do it, given our running-on-fumes social cohesion and the deep unhealthiness of the American population, casualties are going to be high.

Fourteen Low-Tech Ways to Stay Healthy (Besides Handwashing)

 

Health is not just an absence of illness. At the very least health includes a well-functioning immune system, our bodies’ first defense against pathogens that cause disease. This includes COVID-19, the coronavirus.

We are all constantly exposed to bacteria, viruses, and parasites even if we wash our hands twenty times a day. If our immune system is working well, it creates a barrier that stops the antigens from entering the body altogether. This is the first line of defense. If this fails, the second line is for the immune system to produce white blood cells, chemicals and proteins that find, attack and destroy the antigens before they can reproduce. If that fails, the immune system destroys the antigens as they multiply. If the antigens are able to multiply a lot you will feel lousy as your body fights the disease in earnest. You will have unpleasant symptoms. A large part of your energy will go towards your immune system's battle. You will be sick.

I don’t know about you, but I want to stay at defense levels one and two. And this is more than possible, even with the coronavirus. Don’t get me wrong—handwashing and not touching your face does reduce the amount of pathogens that make it to your immunity barrier, but it doesn’t eliminate them entirely unless you live in a special isolation bubble. To be healthy, you also need your immune system functioning robustly. The following suggestions (to do before you become sick) may strike you as common sense, but, to paraphrase Voltaire, in the middle of a pandemic common sense is sometimes not so common.

1.   Walk. Walking is a miracle remedy that, among its many wonders, boosts the immune system in a dramatic way. Other physical activities are also good, but if you’re reluctant to go the gym or yoga class due to exposure concerns, a brisk 30-minute walk won’t require you to get close to others or touch anything. To keep the immune system on high function you need 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day. Not three hours on a weekend. 30 minutes every day.

2.   Cut out sugar. Yes, this includes donuts. Sugar is addictive and hidden in every nook and cranny of the standard American diet. High blood sugar suppresses your immune system. Even food items that say "healthy" often have added sugars. Read labels and don’t buy anything with more than 2 grams of added sugars per serving. Don’t drink anything with added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. If this seems like agony, give yourself permission to have one tiny sweet thing a day. But really, once you cut added sugars out of your diet, your taste buds will recalibrate and you’ll find many things in a healthy diet are naturally sweet and satisfying.

3.     Don't binge drink alcohol. Remember that alcohol is addictive and toxic to the human body. I’m not saying don’t drink at all—I like my wine, too—but treat it with the caution it deserves. Three drinks in an evening impact the immune system. Five drinks in an evening really mess up the immune system.

4.   Cut out junk/fast food. An unhealthy diet generates a cascade of negative biological effects that extend over a surprising period of time. One of those effects is a messed up immune system. If you want to be healthy, you have to eat for nutrition, not for convenience, not for emotional comfort, and not to satisfy cravings for salt/fat/sugar. But this doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. Healthy foods cooked with healthy fats can be delicious, truly.

5.   Stop smoking. Smoking damages immune response and especially increases susceptibility to pneumonia. This is one of the reasons that COVID-19 is killing so many more men than women in China—men are fifty times heavier smokers there.

6.     Sleep enough, at least 7 hours a night. Any less and your T-cells are affected. T-cells are especially important for your immune system to effectively fight viruses. Ways to get more sleep—go to bed 30 minutes earlier, cut out caffeine and alcohol, exercise during the day, sleep in a cool, dark room without electronics, don’t have cats that wake you up in the middle of the night like I do.

7.   Sweat/steam—Isak Dinesen said the cure for anything is salt water—sweat, tears or the sea. Fifteen minutes in a sauna will increase white blood cell count and stimulate your immune system. If you feel chilled or a little off, it really can head a virus off at the pass.

8.   Avoid wood fires except in high efficiency wood stoves or fireplace inserts. Breathing wood smoke is surprisingly bad for you, and wood-burning fireplaces tend to create a lot of smoke, both indoors and out. Among other things, the chemicals in wood smoke impede pulmonary immune response and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. Also a good idea to avoid car and diesel exhaust.

9.   Don’t get chilled. Don’t go outside with wet hair. Don’t allow your feet to remain wet. This is different than don’t go out in the cold or don’t walk in the rain. Proper clothing will keep you warm and dry. But if your body temperature drops, key immune system proteins are impaired, making it more likely for viruses to replicate. Dry your hair! Change out of wet shoes/wet socks as soon as you can! (Yes, I know I sound like your mom. I still say these things to my adult children.)

10. Listen to your body. Sometimes, if you feel a bit off--on the verge of coming down with something—if you give your immune system a boost right then you can kick whatever’s looming. A nice walk might work, or a hot bath, or an early bed. Or some form of tonic or pick-me-up might appeal. Some things I’ve found that work for me (your mileage may vary): chicken bone broth with lemon and cayenne, cherry bark syrup, fire cider vinegar, three roots tea (licorice/ginger/turmeric). What works for you? Put it in the comments!

11. Healthy food. Brightly-colored veggies, berries, mushrooms, and garlic all have immune boosting properties.

12. Reduce stress. Chronic stress hammers the immune system. Reduce the impact through meditation, exercise, counseling and/or social support. Just to note: chronic fear creates chronic stress. Wigging out about the corona virus is not what you want to spend your day doing.

13.Increase happiness/kindness. Depression and loneliness suppress the immune system, happiness and kindness boost it. For ways to decrease your unhappiness and increase your happiness read this.

14.Get out in sunlight/nature. Huddling inside obsessing on the internet is not good for your health. Being outside in nature and sunlight is.

Your health is not random, nor is it predetermined. You have immense influence over it. Don’t just stock up on toilet paper and hand sanitizer—take active steps to bolster your body's built-in, sophisticated disease-conquering mechanism. Most healthy people under 70 who are exposed to the coronavirus either don’t get sick or are ill just a few days. If the horse is already out of the barn in your area (i.e. the virus has already been circulating for weeks,) for your family’s sake and for your community’s sake, you want the virus to bounce right off you if you’re exposed to it. In this way you won’t fill a hospital bed or need a ventilator or require drugs that might be in short supply. In this way, you can take care of family members who fall ill. In this way, you can go shopping or prepare meals or mow the lawn for a neighbor in need. Plus, being healthy, you’ll feel great! Taking time for your health is not selfish, it’s how you can actively contribute to the greater good. If schools end up closed in your region, feed your kids healthy food and let them be active. If playgrounds seem a risk, take them on bike rides and hikes in nature. It will be good for you all!

Note: This is not medical advice. If you are ill, consult your health care provider.