Rainbows and Muffins

(my own baking)

“If we want better health, the answer might be not only to look to ourselves, but to the society in which we live out our lives” (165, Marmot).

Book: The Status Syndrome- Michael Marmot (buy it, loan it, read it).

Today a fellow office mate read an article aloud about a woman in America who attempting to be the world’s fattest birth mother. Not only is her weight gain intentional, it’s record breaking. “Someone has to intervene!” My kiwi friend shook her head in utter disbelief that a nation of so many morals would let a woman eat her way into the Guinness Book of World Records and probably a coma. Just another crazy American, taking, “land of the free” (although we incarcerate more than any other nation) too far. Extreme personalities and ideas seem to do well in The States. Are we too forgiving or do we not have any common ground with one another to even care? We are on odd bag.

Forgot to note: this past Sunday was no different from the rest. Oddness abound. The pastor of ELUM is a cheesy son of a gun, so I took it as pure cheese that our sermon was…sent to us, especially for us, from another place… Yes, from New Jerusalem aka, New Jersey. I was stunned, New Jersey??! A well-spoken African American engineer turned pastor gave a 40 minute prerecorded sermon about how God wants us to use technology so we can be more efficient, allowing us to spend more time with family and God. Have you ever heard of anything so strange? Texting, especially for God, is like asking me why dinosaurs existed- I can’t comprehend either realities purpose. This New Jersey pastor even added in clap time, what an American.

Church is a form of social capital. We go every Sunday to consume and exchange experiences, with God and with others. There is nothing wrong with this, quite the opposite. People who belong to a church or social group consistently score higher on SWB (subjective well-being) surveys. It’s fascinating what social interactions, trusting relationships and spirituality does for us health wise. Just the other day I read a winning study done on the common cold. A sample volunteered to have the cold virus shot up their nose, and consequently be quarantined for 6 days in a hotel. The participants were monitored (all infected of course) and noted whom they contacted (by phone) throughout the week. Those who contacted more friends and family members were less sick than those who contacted fewer friends and family members.

Cheers!