Change of Lifestyle: Testing the Theory

The verdict is in: life in Europe is officially better for me.

I still have bad days. I still hurt every day. But recently I took the dogs for a walk on the beach and we had gone all the way to Prince’s Park before I knew it. That’s a mile from where we’re staying. It was a two-mile round trip and I never even got winded. Compare this to my walks around Lincolnshire Lake in Virginia, and what you have is empirical evidence that the lifestyle in coastal England suits me.

Another aspect of living here that’s having a positive impact is the fact that Eastbourne is a pedestrian town. It’s designed from the ground up to be accessible by foot and places are often easier and faster to reach by walking than by bus or car. If you had told me six months ago that I’d be carrying my groceries a quarter of a mile after buying them, I would have died on the spot. Tonight I hoofed it home from Sainsbury’s with a bag of dog food (not 50 pounds, mind you,) bottled water, some canned drinks, and assorted other items, and I thought nothing of it, nor did I struggle to go the distance. When I first arrived in Eastbourne, the mere thought of walking to Sainsbury’s drained me. Now, I can get from here to there in a matter of minutes, on foot, and still have enough reserves to shop, walk back home, and cook dinner with the stuff I bought.

What’s making the difference? Activity, yes. But I didn’t exactly lead a sedentary lifestyle in Virginia. I worked from sunup from sundown caring for the animals in rescue. I would go hours without sitting down. Yet I never seemed to gain an edge on physical condition, and in fact I felt worse with every passing month. Well, I have some ideas about why in Europe I might actually live to a ripe old age rather than dying in my fifties. I do not believe any of this is just in my imagination.

High Quality Food

The price of food in England may be affected if Brexit does actually happen at some point. But right now, I can spend the same amount of money I would spend on processed, budget brand grocery items at Dollar General and come home with not only fresh fruits and vegetables, but high-grade meat products as well. I can stretch these Tesco and Sainsbury’s and Co-op purchases into more meals that deliver better nutrition and my body has noticed.

Fast food does exist here. I know of a KFC within walking distance and a McDonalds that’s a brief bus ride away. But these are options in Europe, not a way of life. Better choices are presented consistently, with storefront photos of colorful vegetables and wholesome dishes instead of hamburgers, fries, and soft drinks. This type of social conditioning matters, and I can already feel the effects of it.

Je dors beaucoup.

I sleep a lot. I mean, a lot, lot. After every long walk I come back to the apartment and take a nap. I can’t stress enough the importance of adequate rest for everyone, but for those of us suffering from autoimmune disease, the need is acute. American culture has ingrained a toxic idea into our heads that naps are for lazy people and losing sleep is somehow heroic. I cry foul at this preposterous--and dangerous--social lie.

Lack of proper rest will take years off your life. Our bodies need time to recover after exertion, to reconsolidate and rebuild reserves. No, everyone does not need to sleep two hours after a workout. But I do. Put simply, that’s one physiological difference between having lupus and not having lupus. Here in Europe, having retired from animal rescue and all the physical demands of that, I can get the rest my body needs. I can give my cardiovascular system a chance to stabilize, my internal and external tissues a chance to fight off inflammation, and my mind some quiet, stress-free time that reduces cortisol levels, blood pressure, and musculoskeletal tension.

Get Moving

Tonight, just before dark as lights winked on all over town and the sun slipped into the sea, I took the dogs for a walk on the beach. On the promenade I saw several older couples out walking, most of them using canes, and half a dozen people in wheelchairs. Joggers breezed past me and cyclists whizzed by, kids rode their scooters and one person was rollerblading. The point is, people were up and moving. This is something one doesn’t see a great deal of in rural America. Even in the cities, such purposeful physical activity is not quite as prevalent as I’ve seen it here. I covered most of this territory in my first few paragraphs so I won’t go into it again, but living in a place where nearly everyone is active and happy about it does wonders for a person’s frame of mind regarding exercise.

Other Variables

Climate. Ooooh, yes...climate. People complain about UK weather a lot, and in all fairness, I understand why. It’s absolutely as overcast and rainy as folklore tells it. But for me, this is heaven. Remember--I have lupus. One thing many lupus sufferers struggle with is a sunlight sensitivity and adverse reaction to heat. A few seconds of direct sunlight on my skin will often set off a chain reaction of physical symptoms that at first feel like anaphylactic shock, and shortly after that, I progress to early stages of circulatory collapse. Even if it doesn’t reach a critical point, this process wipes me out. It can also trigger further lupus activity that sometimes leaves me bedridden for days.

The indirect sunlight of “gloomy” British weather is just brilliant for me. I can be out and about at all hours of the day without giving a single thought to UV rays or heat stroke. On the opposite end of the weather spectrum, neither do I worry about frostbite. I’m not sure how low the temperature here will actually get this winter, but I’m seeing social media photos of snow back in Virginia and talk of temperatures in the teens, while here on the coast of England I’m still walking the dogs without an overcoat and wearing flip-flops on the beach. Nippy? Yes it is. Locals call it “fresh” weather. But I love it. It’s absolutely perfect for me.

One more thing of note is the clean air. Breezes blowing in from the sea keep the air quality rather high. The salt content in the air is good for me as well. As damp as this geographical region stays, you might expect to see mold and mildew everywhere. In the old Sea House where I’m staying, signs of water damage from hundreds of years ago are apparent if you look closely enough. But there isn’t a single spot of mildew anywhere and the air quality inside this building is excellent. How am I evaluating said air quality? I have a built-in autoimmune warning system that sends its first warnings as mild signs of asthma and bronchitis, which eventually turn to pleurisy and even pericarditis if the issue isn’t dealt with. Since I’ve been in Eastbourne, my lung sounds have remained absolutely clear. I attribute this to the brisk, fresh air and aerosolized salt particles. A recent Readers Digest article seems to support my own findings about this.

Whatever the case, I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to test my theories about lifestyle and climate. I understand that environmental circumstances do not affect everyone the same way and I’m not suggesting that all people--even all autoimmune sufferers--would respond to these variables in a positive manner. But for me, with my specific health concerns, I’ve found a formula that I believe will work. I’ll write more about this as time passes, and hopefully I’ll have some useful information to share.

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