While in Athens, the words Dr. Gabhart said to me last month came back to me. We had been talking about my adrenal and thyroid lab results. I commented something like, “How in the world can this be happening?” – to which she replied, “Stress.”
Stress? I thought I was doing much better in that category. When I looked puzzled, she went on to clarify, “Not just emotional stress, stress of living in today’s environment – the stress from all the noise, toxins in our food and in our environment.” We were sitting in a Starbucks Café at the time. She said, “OK, Rosie, just freeze right now. Listen. What do you hear? Do you hear all that noise? Look at these people in here. Look how fast they are moving, talking. People 200 years ago didn’t have all that noise. They didn’t race around like we do. They didn’t breathe the air we breathe, eat the food that we eat.”
One day in Athens I was enjoying a conversation with our cab driver, a very refined, fascinating individual. Instead of our predetermined destination point, he told us of another area that we really did not want to miss. Grateful for his suggestion, I asked him to take us there.
What a beautiful area. All I had seen of Athens prior to this point was concrete on top of concrete – no greenery, just concrete buildings piled on top of each other as far as the eye could see. It was explained that the concrete was necessary because of the high earthquake area. The streets everywhere, including this location, were packed with cars and hundreds of motorcycles zooming and weaving their way along the narrowed streets. Some taxi drivers would not allow the back windows to be lowered because people are injured by extending their elbows out the window and being struck by other cars and motorcycles. I think they said there is something like 8 million people in Greece, with 4 million of them living in Athens.
The streets in this area were lined with trees, including orange trees loaded with fruit. Outdoor cafes lined all the sidewalks for blocks and blocks. It was about noon, and Dave and I were getting hungry, so we stopped and looked at the menus at each outdoor cafe that we passed. What a total surprise to find that the menu only displayed drinks – mostly a variety of coffee drinks and no food.
How can this be? It is noon. All the cafes were bursting with people. Though outside, the noise level from all the conversations were deafening. Without exception, everybody had a coffee drink of some sort, and greater than 50% were smoking. After a while we figured out that the noon time is the “coffee break” time, with lunch coming mid afternoon. No one eats the evening meal till after 7:30 in the evening, and that is way early. Many restaurants don’t even open till then.
The number of people who smoked cigarettes came as a complete shock. There are no smoking restrictions. One day we made the mistake of choosing a corner table in a pizza shop with no ventilation. Four people came in and inundated us with smoke.
On our last day in Athens, after several days of seeing everyone everywhere walking around with a tan colored ice drink in a tall clear plastic cup, I asked someone what the drink was. It is some sort of special iced coffee drink. We stopped to get one. Dave consumed most of it. I only took a couple sips because I am not a big fan of coffee. Before long he started complaining of how he felt.
A few hours later, we went to a beautiful outdoor café for lunch. I was so intrigued by the popularity of the ice cream coffee drinks, that I ordered one – against Dave’s advice. He was still reeling from his iced drink from a few hours earlier. Very sensitive to caffeine, I told him I would sip it slowly. I did – in the next 1 ½ hours I had only sipped half of it. Before long I began to feel very weird, like something bad was happening to me internally. It was a little scary. I just kept breathing deep, praying for it to go away. Oh my gosh, that coffee is strong – even though half the cup was full of ice cream! I did not sleep one wink that night. I had recently learned that caffeine stays in our system for 20 hours. I had a lot of time to reflect on that statement as I lay awake.
Just imagine what we are doing to our bodies with all the hustle and bustle, noise, and toxic substances that we consume. The more stress we experience, the more the need for stimulants to keep us going. You are right, Dr. Gabhart. Today’s environment is very different from 200 years ago. As I cast my eyes upward to view the Acropolis and Parthenon, majestically towering over the city, I found myself repeatedly thinking, I wonder what Socrates and Plato would say if they could only see us now?
