Is moderation healthy?

Can you be moderately healthy? Is that a good goal? Is eating in moderation good? What about moderate alcohol consumption? Or moderate speeding? How does moderation affect our health in the long run? It depends on how we see moderation.

What is moderation?

The Estonian dictionary defines moderation as moderate, average, good. The Estonian dictionary approaches moderation through what it is not, i.e. not exaggerating, not going to extremes.

This shows that moderation can, in the simplest case, mean staying in the middle ground in terms of social norms. The strength of such an approach is its striking simplicity. The survival instinct also tells us that it is logical. After all, in both human society and the animal kingdom, survival has been ensured by staying together as a herd and by rejecting distinctive behavior or appearance.

The weakness of this way of thinking, especially in terms of health, is that social norms about moderation may not be reasonable or healthy. For example, alcohol consumption. Today, social norms favor so-called moderate alcohol consumption. However, the amounts that are considered normal are harmful to health.

Religious authors and positive psychology describe temperance as a virtue. Temperance is one of the six virtues of modern positive psychology. Each virtue in turn has sub-virtues. For example, temperance includes forgiveness, humility, foresight, and self-control.

Moderation as a virtue is infinitely more complex and profound than simply staying in the middle ground. This added complexity forces us to think more, but in the context of health, it can only be a good thing. For example, we can ask ourselves whether I have enough self-control to forego immediate pleasure for the sake of a more distant good (read: health).

Moderate lifestyle

So how about healthily? moderate lifestyle What does it look like? Let's look at a healthy lifestyle from eight different perspectives below and think about how moderation based on social norms can help us in these areas.

Making healthy choices is one aspect of a healthy lifestyle where moderation doesn't directly help us, because the more and healthier choices we make, the better. At least as long as we keep health in mind in the long term. Compared to the European Union average, Estonian women's healthy life expectancy is 5.5 years shorter, while men's is over nine years shorter, so we clearly have room for improvement in making healthy choices.

Rest is another important aspect of lifestyle that our health depends on, and moderation plays an important role here. Rest should be just right, not too little and not too much. When it comes to the main rest in the circadian cycle, or sleeping, it is generally the norm for us to do it at night, which is good. There is also a relatively clear understanding regarding the length of sleep, which is that an average of 7–8 hours of sleep, or about 5 sleep cycles per day, is reasonable. To improve the quality of sleep, you should go to bed before ten in the evening, which is not common, but there is nothing in the broader social order to prevent us from deciding to do so.

It gets a little more complicated when we look at the weekly rhythm of rest. The general norm tends to be that all days of the week should be filled with meaningful activities, whether at work or at home, working on yourself and improving your life. However, it is healthy to take one day a week off from everyday activities and spend time with God.

In terms of annual leave, statistics show that those who have not taken any leave at all in the past 12 months are almost a quarter of society, which is a relatively large number of people, but still a clear minority. However, the social norm is that you should take a break at least once a year, and it is better if the break lasts several weeks in a row.

The environment around us has a significant impact on health and well-being, and moderation is a very relevant concept in this area. If we have too few things, we risk freezing in our climate, and too many things will interfere with our lives with excessive stress and time consumption. Personally, I think that Estonians are relatively rational by nature and there is less and less living beyond our means, as incomes continue to grow. You could say that we live moderately beyond our means.

The importance of activity as part of a healthy lifestyle cannot be overstated. It is the key to a long and healthy life. However, according to a study conducted in 2014, 391% of men and 321% of women who could do so due to their health did not engage in any form of physical activity. In my experience, a working family man still has to make a real effort to include some form of exercise in his daily schedule. In this area, we still have to swim against the current at times, but the state and employers are also paying more and more attention to this area.

Trust in God is closely related to our health, according to studies. Going to church once a week or more often has a clearly measurable effect on our health. However, only a fifth of Estonians consider themselves religious, and the same number are registered as members of a church or congregation. Only 51% of Estonians participate in religious activities every week, and the same number of others go to church once or twice a month. Therefore, in this area, we cannot adjust our lifestyle to the social norm, but must rather strongly break away from the norm and strive to integrate this 51% of Estonians into our society.

The next important area is relationships. Relationships are a complex area, or at least that is the reality for many people. Loneliness is no longer just a problem for those over 55, but is also a growing trend among young people. A 2010 study by the Mental Health Foundation found that 18-34 year olds were more likely to feel lonely and depressed than those 55 and older. If we also put aside the fact that half of all marriages end in divorce, it is safe to say that when it comes to building and maintaining relationships, a moderate lifestyle based on current social norms is not exactly the healthiest way to approach relationships.

But what about individual attitudes? According to the Estonian Institute for Health Development, there has been a steady increase in mental and behavioral disorders in Estonia over the past five years, especially among men. Every 9 minutes, one person in the European Union commits suicide. This is more than the number of people who die from traffic accidents, murders, or HIV/AIDS each year. In addition to more traditional mental health problems, a modern-day disease has also been added – digital addiction. Given the rapid growth of mental health problems in Estonian society, there is reason to believe that we need to critically review our norms in this area and not rely on already entrenched practices.

A big area where moderation is talked about a lot is, of course, nutrition. Several studies have shown that what is socially accepted and normal when it comes to food and drink is destroying our health in the long term. Be it, for example, consuming alcohol, sugar, meat, processed foods, etc. in quantities that are not good for our bodies, but which are socially classified as moderate or even below average.

In conclusion

As we have seen, almost all 8 areas of healthy lifestyle It is dangerous to follow socially accepted norms. This is bad news because everyone who tries to stand out from the norm will face social pressure to a greater or lesser extent.

One solution is to educate yourself about healthy lifestyles and find a smaller social group whose norms are closer to what is healthy and good for us. When thinking about moderation, think of it as a virtue that includes forgiveness, humility, foresight, and self-control, rather than as a lifestyle that unthinkingly stays as close to the socially acceptable center as possible in all areas. Because what is in the middle and what is on the edge depends on the observer’s worldview and location.