What Is Slow Living & How Is It Better For Your Health?

Slow Living Can Help You Consume Less & Enjoy More

Although we have access to a wealth of convenient and efficient technology and tools, we are forever chasing the feeling of wanting more.

Due to this relentless cycle of progress, our consumer habits have changed. Ultimately, we have become accustomed to speed and variety.

The Internet has become our go-to source for immediate answers to life's questions. In real-time, we receive notifications with breaking news. We can access any produce or cuisine regardless of the season or where we live. 

But what would happen to us if we slowed down?

That will mean we'll be late, not meet our deadlines, or lose out on something. The challenge of accomplishing more, faster, and having less time for ourselves increases as we become busier and more pressed for time.

Slowing our lives down extends beyond just how we manage tasks, as it can also affect our health and the planet.

It has been found in areas with the highest life expectancy that people live a life free from urgency, worry, or hurry and instead lead an intentional and purposeful life. This creates a stronger connection between the community and its environment, preserving traditions and cultures that have often been lost to modernity.

In our mission to lead the planet towards a path of renewal, EcoBlvd aims to explore Slow Living, a movement designed to help us slow down the fast-paced pace of today's society, so we can discover what matters most to us and enjoy more of the here and now.

What Is Slow Living?

Despite its name, slow living has nothing to do with being slow.

The Slow Living movement suggests that modern developments complicate our lives more often than simplify them. We consume without considering how our choices impact the world instead of making conscious decisions.

Having started in the 1980s in Italy, Slow Living was founded in reaction to McDonald's opening in the heart of Rome as a defense of regional food traditions and a return to culture.

It has also led to the discovery of 5 regions called Blue Zones, where people live the longest and are in the best health: Loma Linda, California, Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Ikaria, Greece.

People who live in a Blue Zone not only live longer, but also healthier, and it is not uncommon for them to live well into their 100s. Though we may not all live in Blue Zones, we can copy their longevity-extending lifestyle!

Since modern society is out of touch with the means of production and can't scale the impact of daily life, returning to the small scale of handmade goods and local distribution has become a challenge.

Understandably, it’s a terrifying thought for a lot of us.

Slow Living envisions a world where humankind celebrates and honors the interconnectedness of all people, places, and living things, while co-creating mutually supportive communities and economic systems for a fulfilling, balanced future — extending life expectancy and delaying aging by combining wisdom from the past and vision for the future.

How Is Slow Living Sustainable?

According to the Danish Twin Study, only 20% of our life expectancy is determined by genes; the other 80% is determined by lifestyle choices.

Your lifestyle can influence your genes, prevent disease, and ensure that you live longer.

A sustainable lifestyle involves maintaining one's habits and routines at a manageable rate without depleting oneself or harming the environment.

A slow lifestyle involves making conscious decisions instead of rushing through daily life by understanding how our choices affect us and those around us.

By thinking ahead, you can consume more sustainably by cutting out concepts you don't have time to consider.

When we approach everyday activities with intention, we find more meaning and pleasure than operating on autopilot and not enjoying the little things.

It makes us feel like we have more time when we devote more to hobbies, friends, family, or pleasure.

How Can You Start Living Slower?

Simply enjoying life can make a difference!

Choosing to live slowly begins with recognizing that we all have the option of slowing down and enjoying what we often let pass us by.

Taking the time to pay attention to what is happening at the moment is the best way to incorporate slow living into your life.

Keeping socially active can help us age well.  Make it a community affair - share meals with family and friends.

Focusing on making a better community rather than on our problems deflates and diminishes our problems, causing us to take more time to solve them.

Whether praying, napping, or relaxing with friends, you should have a destressing method.

If you apply this to all the tasks and activities that you do daily, you will naturally become mindful and self-aware of what you are doing.

Remember, there's always a way to go a bit slower, no matter what's on your plate.

How to Slow Down in Other Ways

Slow Transportation

A traditional commute can be modified or eliminated to embrace slowness and empower sustainability. 

Rather than driving to work, you could ride your bike or scooter - or even walk. You can use public transportation instead of your vehicle or ask your supervisor about working a few days a week remotely.

You can even listen to a stress-relieving audiobook, relaxing music, or meditation recording during your commute.

Slow Shipping 

It is easy to get used to the convenience of rushed or express shipping.

Companies dispatch trucks that are only partially loaded more frequently since we expect to receive our items in one or two days, which consumes additional fuel and contributes to climate change.

It is estimated that 17% of all global carbon dioxide emissions will come from the shipping industry by 2050. Trucks contribute 161.8 grams of CO2 per ton-mile, while airplanes contribute 500 grams.

Shipping has an environmental impact regardless of the product's eco-friendliness, ethicality, low impact, or zero waste.

Due to fewer routes and fewer emissions, ground shipping is considered one of the most eco-friendly shipping methods.

Despite the longer shipping time, you'll still receive your order within a week, plus you'll help the planet since sustainable shipping can reduce carbon emissions!

Slow Cities

A slow city is a community that maintains a high quality of life without compromising the environment.

As Blue Zones are known for offering a lifestyle that revolves around community and the environment, many people consider them as slow cities, with the most notable in the US being located in Loma Linda, California.

As defined by conventional definitions, these are smaller or regional cities where semi-vegetarian diets, exercise, and community ideals are common (participation in the slow city movement is restricted to places with populations under 50,000).

A slow city serves fresh, local produce from markets, restaurants, and shops, countering the modern obsession with fast food and instead focuses on the family dynamic with an emphasis on cooking at home using natural, locally grown ingredients.

Slow Food
The Slow Food movement believes that food systems should produce good, clean, and fair food for everyone.

Slow Food acknowledges the connection between plate, planet, people, politics, and culture as an integral part of its approach to food.

The Slow Food movement focuses on savoring local and traditional foods in response to fast-food franchises' uniformizing menus that eliminate diversity.

It encourages people to cook healthful meals and enjoy them by supporting conscious consumerism, respecting seasonality, reducing the environmental impact of food production, and supporting local producers and culinary traditions.

Their standards follow that food should be:

• High-quality, nutrient-rich, and flavorful 
• Not harm the environment in its production
• Be affordable for consumers and pay producers fairly and ensure fair conditions and incomes

How To Practice Slow Food:

• Cut down on food waste by planning meals and buying only what you need
• Take the time to cook from scratch and to experiment with new recipes utilizing good quality, fresh ingredients
• Grow your own fruit and vegetables for zero-food-mile meals or sign up for seasonal dinner clubs to embrace slow gardening
• If you have the space, consider getting a compost bin

Slow Fashion

Unlike fast fashion, slow fashion takes into account the processes and resources involved in making clothing, as opposed to the fast fashion philosophy.

In addition to advocating for higher-quality garments that last longer, the movement also values women's rights, animal welfare, and environmental protection.

The rise of this fast fashion has created large-scale environmental and social side effects as millions of new garments are produced daily as trend cycles come and go. 

The garment industry discards three of every five made each year.

A recent study has shown that 90% of our clothes are thrown away before they are needed.

Trends may come and go, but EcoBlvd’s Timeless Collection phone cases are 100% compostable and environmentally friendly, bringing your device a unique style that belongs to its space and environment simultaneously. 

Our Laguna and Sequoia cases have been dressed up to blend avant-garde, extravagant, elegant, and luxurious styles to create their path designed to outlast and renew our planet!

Bring your iPhone fashion-forward with eco-friendly designs, patterns, and styles that make a bold and positive statement. 2% of the sale proceeds are donated to The Ocean Conservancy, which since 1986 has helped clean up more than 300 million pounds of trash from the ocean and the National Forest Foundation to plant a tree in a national park, combating climate change and providing habitat for wildlife.

Conclusion:
Taking a slow and steady approach will lead to a more conscious, sustainable, and healthy lifestyle as life seems to speed past us at an alarming rate!

You make intentional decisions when you incorporate slow living, whether it's through slow food, transit, shopping, or any other means.

There is no better time than now to slow down than now with EcoBlvd's Timeless Collection phone cases that are made from sustainable materials and made to be 100% compostable, giving you a contemporary take on iconic couture styles.

Click HERE to view our entire collection!