Friends and Family Equal 50% Less Chance of Death?

Time Magazine just released an article about people's social networks dramatically effect mortality rates. Apparently, the cumulative findings of 148 studies involving 300,000 men and women show an amazing statistic: Those with very few social connections had a 50% higher chance of death than people who have many friends and family close to them.

The article did not mention relationships built on online social networks, rather it discussed how the physical presence of people who share a common bond has an undeniable benefit to one's health.

There is no doubt friends and family are valuable to have close by in times of sickness and turmoil, so in some way it seems the studies have proved the obvious. We're skeptical of that 50% figure though, and don't think it pertains to people with severe illnesses. However, if having friends and family around can help an average person that much, surely it would have a measurable effect on everyone; regardless of physical condition.

To read the article, click here.

Changed Perceptions

A few years back I began a subtle change of how I perceive life and death. It first started when I learned a close family member was diagnosed with irreversible liver cirrhosis. A year later another family member’s health took a turn for the worse from complete kidney failure. It was last year however, when the pregnant driver of Dirty Tractor Racing passed away from a brain aneurysm that my perception of life and death got suddenly real.

I suppose it could be called maturity, and everyone questions what the meaning of life is at some point, but so much has happened in addition to family and friend’s illnesses and passings that it seemed like life’s lessons were concentrated all together in an extremely short period of time. I often find myself relating to what an old Boss of mine use to say: “Stop the world, I want to get off!”

I am however finding silver linings more often than before. A perfect example happened this morning while driving to work. I heard the Jimi Hendrix song “Castles made of Sand.” In it he tells the story of a young Indian who dreamed of growing up and being a warrior chief. As a boy he would “play war games in the woods with his Indian friends.” When he finally was old enough and “he would sing his first war song… fight his first battle… something went wrong; surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night."

Up until this morning I always thought it was such a sad song since the Indian waited his whole life to be in a battle but died the night before it ever happened. Today though it seemed to be the perfect ending to his life though – he was able to die with dreams of a glorious fight and beating his rivals, without experiencing the cold and brutal reality of what it might have been like.

Something didn’t go wrong, it went right.

Unfortunately it seems only through struggle and hardship can some people (like me) see things for what they really are. I'm sure I have a lot more learning to do, so in truth I don’t want to get off the world - I just want the spinning to slow down a little!!

Thinking Hard About Beer Battered Food

This past weekend, I had to recall how much alcohol is actually in beer-battered food. I was getting ready to begin frying some fish with a person suffering from late stage liver cirrhosis, so naturally the thought popped into my head “how much alcohol will be in this?” The answer is none; the alcohol evaporates quickly as the fish is fried, leaving only the taste of the beer behind.

My second thought was that this particular individual has not had a beer in three or more years after being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. As a recovered alcoholic, I was worried the taste would cause him to crave it again. It turned out all the taste did was cause him (and I) to stuff our faces with not only the fish, but every veggie we could get our hands on in the fridge and dip in the batter – a good ol’ fashioned beer batter fry-a-thon.

However, my early hesitation was warranted. After struggling for years with medication regimens, doctor appointments, hospital stays and more, one afternoon of fun would not be worth a setback. This was walking a thin line as far as I’m concerned, but as of now the only thing we’re craving is to go catch more fish… And when a person might not have much more time left, he deserves an afternoon at the lake.