Tag: Health

Could this be how it ends?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The time to go has come. It should have arrived several years earlier, rather than continuing in so much wheelchair loitering, trapped in a dream-state. Now the phone call, “I don’t expect him to live another week,” leads into packing and flight.

Unable to awaken, fully, from the bewildering disconnections. This is not the heart attack or car crash I had predicted. Nor the old age of graceful evaporation into a vanishing point of history. No one will say now, “He lost his mind,” but the new names change nothing. This terminal illness, in stages, until the patient no longer remembers how to eat or breathe. Perhaps, mercifully, an angel will break through the sterile chambers of medical enterprise, and another nature will take its course.

This flesh, shrinking to bone, rather than feather.

Where else can we jointly examine our deepest values and ideals?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Allow me to restate my argument that religion is important, along with a confession that in too many ways, at too many times, its proponents have betrayed its radical promise and its progressive direction, whatever their professed faith.

At its best, religion gives us individually and collectively a place to examine our hopes, dreams, and possibilities of a healthier, more justful, and more harmonious world. In short, moral and ethical guidelines. It can also provide the necessary foundation of community for pursuing and nurturing that goal.

Some of the sharpest critics of its practice at worst are prophets found in the Bible.

To see some examples of how that worked within the Quaker movement, visit my blog, As Light Is Sown.

Shelter-in-place boredom? You kidding?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

This post was supposed to appear four years ago but somehow it fell through the cracks. With a few tweaks, it retains relevance, IMHO.

Here goes, from back in Dover, New Hampshire:

~*~

Catching up with my dentist, now that his office is open again, we noted our astonishment that so many adults were complaining of being bored during the official shutdown of most businesses, schools, churches, and public services.

Bored? I repeated my adage that boredom is a luxury of the teenage years – most adults I’ve known simply don’t have time for it. Alas, it must say something about the people I associate with. (Well, frankly I find most TV to be boring, but others might say the same thing of the operas I’ve been streaming every night. ‘Nuff said there.)

My dental doc, meanwhile, expressed his gratitude for the time off as “paternity leave” he suddenly had to devote to his two- to four-month-old daughter, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as well as time to catch up on a pile of desired novels. Not a bad combination.

We also touched on studies of the eye damage being done to children under age two by their extensive use of digital screens. Well, and their need for boredom to allow essential self-exploration, discovery, and growth, too.

On my end, I have to acknowledge how little cash I’ve used since March 11, the last time I went to the bank. Mostly, it’s been plastic, which fortunately hasn’t spiraled out of control.

What did you discover in this period of changed focus?

Some disturbing trends about suicides

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

In my March 19 post noting the arrival of spring, I noted that the months of April, May, and June are generally the leading time of the year for suicides.

Among other trends in the United States, consider:

  1. Males are almost four times more likely to kill themselves than are females.
  2. Guns are the most common form of suicide, accounting for more than half of the deaths. Suffocation is second, at one-quarter, and poisoning at 12 percent.
  3. Between 2001-2020, suicide rates rose roughly 36 percent.
  4. It’s the tenth leading cause of death overall.
  5. By age groupings, people 85 and older have the highest rate (22.4 per 100,00), followed by 75-84 (19.6) and 25-34 (19.4). For 35- to 54-year-olds, it’s the fourth leading cause of death; for 10- to-34-year-olds, it’s the second highest cause.
  6. It’s now the leading cause of death for 13- and 14-year-olds, having doubled in the decade of 2008 to 2018. Bullying, school stress, and use of social media are considered potential causes. Higher rates are also reported among young people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual compared to their peers who identify as heterosexual.
  7. Among racial/ethnic groupings, non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska natives have the highest rate (28.1), followed by non-Hispanic white (17.4). Non-Hispanic Asian has the lowest (6.8).
  8. The American Psychological Association notes that suicides have increased most sharply in rural communities, where loss of farming and manufacturing jobs has led to economic declines over the past quarter century. Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, examining the steep rise in deaths from suicide, drugs and alcohol among white, middle-aged Americans in that period, argue these “deaths of despair” are linked to a deterioration of economic and social well-being among the white working class.
  9. Others with higher-than-average rates of suicide are veterans as well as workers in certain industries and occupations like mining and construction.
  10. For every suicide death, there were another three hospitalizations, eight emergency room visits, and 38 self-reported suicide attempts.

For most of us, it’s spring

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

Or more properly, in the northern hemisphere, today is the vernal equinox, derived for the Latin vernal for “spring” and equinox for “equal night.” And that means it’s officially spring, even if there’s still snow on the ground or a blizzard in the forecast.

For folks south of the equator, today’s the beginning of autumn.

Either way, the date usually falls on March 20 or 21 – the 19th is more of a rarity, with the next one not until 2044. (Hmm, looking that far ahead, I’m not seeing any on the 21st. I’ll let the experts argue.) The problem arises in the fact the Earth doesn’t circle the sun in exactly 365 days – there’s that nagging quarter-day that gives us our Leap Year and its February 29, which we just passed.

That said, let’s allow ten other items spring up. Remember, in much of the world, we’re coming out of hibernation, of one sort or another.

  1. The spring and fall equinoxes are the only two times during the year when the sun rises due east and sets due west. As we’re discovering the ancients knew and celebrated.
  2. If you were standing at the North Pole today, you would see the sun skim across the horizon, beginning six months of uninterrupted daylight. At the South Pole, of course, it would mark the start of six months of darkness.
  3. Spring is definitely in the air. With the ability to carry more moisture than it had in winter, the air delivers more scents, such as cut grass, flowers, even the damp earth. That also means that airborne allergies resurface. Watch those pollen counts in the weather forecast!
  4. Springtime is the most popular time to buy or sell a house, pushing property prices to their highest. Winter cold dissuades most people from moving till the temperatures warm. For families with children, the end of the school year is a factor, too.
  5. By definition, Western Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, as early as March 22, though that won’t happen again until 2285. The calculations are a bit more complicated for the Eastern Orthodox, where Easter comes no earlier than April 4 or as late as May 8.
  6. Babies delivered in the springtime have the highest propensity of developing schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and anorexia, according to at least one study. On the other hand, for kids in general, it’s the season when they grow the fastest.
  7. While springtime is usually portrayed as sunshine and roses, it has its dark sides. For example, Facebook found it’s the highest seasons for couples to break up their link, along with the two weeks before Christmas. The lowest breakup times were from August through October as well as Christmas Day.
  8. In North America, tornadoes and thunderstorms are most pronounced than through the rest of the year.
  9. Spring fever is more than a common phrase, for good reason. Its emotional and physiological symptoms include restlessness, daydreaming, appetite loss, and high heart rate. After cold winters, though, I’d say it beats cabin fever, for sure.
  10. Contrary to widespread impressions of suicide rates rising during the winter, especially around the holidays, self-inflicted deaths are highest in April, May, and June. are when suicide rates are highest. There’s also an increase in manic behaviors and worsening bipolar disorder symptoms.

Missing my ‘tinis …

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

We’re well into the annual Nativity Fast now, and that means going without alcohol.

I’m not bound by Greek Orthodox discipline, even though one year we did try to follow the Advent diet, which is largely vegan. It will be a while before we do that again, admirable as it is.

For me, the big challenge is in admitting just how much I enjoy martinis. Very dry, gin, with an olive. Some fellow Quakers would definitely look askance at me on that count, though I did have a good Friend who was a definite exception.

Alas, he passed over before I ever got to sample one of his legendary concoctions.

Growing up in a teetotaling household does throw a curve on my outlook. I’m repressed enough as a result, even after hippie liberation. But then came the yoga, which frowned on both meat and alcohol even before any tipsiness.

More recently, here on Moose Island, I’ve found myself indulging come late morning rather than closer to bedtime. OK, I’m usually up and working on the keyboard before sunrise, too, so there are some adjustments in the daily schedule, especially when I get an afternoon nap in.

So, to keep me in control of my imbibing, rather than the other way around, I haven’t touched a drop since November 16, apart from a glass of Cotes du Rhone on Thanksgiving, a nod to the Orthodox relaxations on designated feast days.

Drinking is, after all, something that can become habitual, and there are good reasons to break certain habits or to strengthen one’s self-discipline.

But still, I am counting those days till Christmas.

Cheers!

Was getting a Covid booster and flu shot at the same time a good idea?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

At least we did it on a Friday, allowing for our being laid low over a weekend. It did involve a trip up to the Walmart in Calais, which was running way behind once we got there, but at least it’s one more thing we’ve crossed off our to-do list. These things add up as some kind of forward progress.

As for the condition of pharmacies in the USA? One more item ripe for a rant, from what I’m seeing. Fire away in the comments if you’re ready. At least we have a fine family version here in Eastport, except for getting that Covid booster or my insurance dealing with the flu vax. I’m not complaining. But they do refill prescriptions days faster than the Walgreens or Rite Aid another family member deals with down at the other end of the state.

I did plan for a “sick day” or two, perhaps reading if I was up for it. Don’t rule out the importance of such rebound days.

As it turned out, I did feel a whammy and slept through much of the next two days. Oh, home sweet home, even with a very sore arm. It was ultimately mild.

The break in my usual routine also gave me time to finally examine two movie distributors’ offerings and reflect on how they might apply to our local film society in its revival after Covid, now that I’m on the committee. Am guessing I’ll share those thoughts here at the Barn, too, for any of you so inclined.

We do have a lot of arcane material here at the Barn and in our lives, too, don’t we?

Onward, then!