Are there health benefits to living off-grid? I’d say yes, for me there definitely are. First, I find living in a more simple manner is much less stressful, of course I’ve been a more laid back type of person to begin with, something that I believe has helped keep me in a healthier state of mind.
Having fewer and smaller bills tends to keep the stress levels down as well. Since I have fewer and smaller bills, I am able to work fewer hours outside of my home, giving me more time to spend at home, another stress buster.
What about more physical health benefits? In my case, living on a mountain side without a way to drive up the hill to my house means I am hoofing it, walking, hiking up and down, usually carrying something uphill, things like groceries and packages. I know that has kept my more fit. It’s something I don’t even notice anymore, until I’m walking up with a guest and they are complaining about how hard the walk up is while I’m in front of them breathing pretty normally.
Now to the less tangible, something that perhaps can’t be measured but is something I feel is just as important. In this modern world, we are surrounded by electronic pollution, that is caused by electronic appliances, faulty wiring, radio waves, bluetooth, wifi, I could go on… living off-grid, having fewer appliances around and not having them powered on all the time, having fewer radio waves because of the very rural area, cell phones don’t work out here, neighbors are few and far between so there is much less wifi going through the air. There are some who don’t believe this can cause health problems, there are others who do believe it causes health problems, that is up to you to decide, but true or not, I have much less of it around me. I can actually turn everything off, wifi, radios, every electronic item and have the barest minimum of electromagnetic pollution, it’s really nice to know I can cut everything off at the flip of a switch.
So yes, I do believe there are health benefits to living off-grid, there definitely is for me, what about you? What is your opinion of this? Please let me know below.
3 Responses
The Health Benefits from Off-Grid Living are amazing! I have always been into Strength and Stamina Training… The effects that our way of life has on the Body is phenomenal… I come from a family of Off-Gridders so as a kid I always had manual chores to do ( which I loved ) I never realised how much stronger I was to the other children until being bullied come to head – I never hit anyone I just restrained them on the ground until the teacher came but ‘Bloody hell!’ it was effortless.. haha! as I grew I went into manual work ( Road surfaces, Scaffolding, Land clearance ect ) I kept up with the men and held my own without anyone having to compensate for a woman around ( I say woman I worked as a teen into my 20’s doing these things ) … Now I have a Off-Grid Set up of my own… I Love my way of life – I have a stomach like a washboard haha! I never get ill because i’m never around people… No Flu, Colds ect… When I look at my life I know that it is the most logical environmentally friendly way to live… x x x
I am much healthier. Lots of exercise gathering, cutting and splitting firewood. My driveway until last year was not usable during spring break up, rainy season and major snow storms. Sometimes a 1800 foot walk up hill multiple times to get all my supplies to the cabin for the last 10 years. Friends half my age are always complaining about how it kicks their butt and I don’t even notice it anymore.
The silence where the only noise is my wood stove is hard for most to understand how relaxing and stress relieving it can be.
I eat much healthier because I can’t just run down to the nearest fast food place for a quick meal. I lost 20 plus pounds the first year without any fancy diet. 61 years old and my blood pressure is great without medication. Other health issues I had when I moved off-grid have disappeared.
Moving off-grid has allowed me to relax and enjoy life. You would be amazed at what you notice or observe when not always in a rush to be someplace.
So much healthier living off-grid and a contentment you will never find in a city.
Good observations Scott, it is definitely healthier when you have to do more for yourself… our closest “fast food” is about 40 miles away (one way) and has limited hours, our closest grocery store is over 20 miles away with even more limited hours, so no quick runs anywhere for me, it does make me have to get creative on meals sometimes :)
I have one of those fitness tracking watch thingies (not a brand name, was sent for review), it tracks my pulse/heart rate and according to it, I’m in really good shape for a 50+ year old, overweight grandma :) My resting heart rate stays in the 70-80 BPM, sometimes well below that, I believe it’s a combination of our higher altitude and the hill I live on. It’s all working together to keep me healthier.