Is Off-Grid Living Healthier?
The fact that we have come to the point of asking this question and that so many people are looking for ways to move their lives off grid is indicative of the larger truth that modern urban life does not offer us something vital that we need as humans. Today I will share five aspects of off-grid life that I have personally found to contribute to my own overall health and wellness. You may assess for yourself whether these things culminate in meaning a healthier way to live for you. You may even be inspired to test some of them out in your own way, to see for yourself what off-grid living is all about.
Soil Quality
Depending on where you decide to establish your homestead, or off-grid spot, the further away you get from cities and agricultural land that has suffered years if not decades of monoculture, the more likely it is that the soil beneath your feet will be full of rich and vital nutrients, the likes of which have already been lost in most modernized areas of the world. This has a direct impact on our health and wellbeing because we are eating the food that comes from this soil! If the soil is stripped of nutrients, the food it grows will also be nutrient-depleted. When we eat it, although it will appear healthy since we’re consuming fruits and vegetables, at the micro-level, those fruits and vegetables might not have much to really offer us in a nutritional sense.
There are several types of soil where we live in the Yucatan Peninsula, most of which are considered to be good for agriculture. Some areas struggle with nutrient-rich soil that is really rocky, from old Mayan structures and ruins that have broke down in the ground over time. We are very lucky that most of the soil on our land is not only free of stones, but is high in carbon and organic material from centuries of agriculturalists in the area practicing planned burning to prepare the land for planting. This left the area with a type of super-rich nutrient dense soil called Tierra Preta, and as long as we continue to plant without chemicals inputs, we can pretty much guarantee that the nutrients living in the ground do indeed make it into our bodies when we eat the food we grow at home.
Even if you are living off-grid but not yet growing your own food, it is likely that people in your community and neighbors around you have begun to grow some things for themselves and are happy to trade or barter. Even if some small-scale farmers do use non-organic inputs to control weeds and pests, it is extremely likely the food they produce will still be healthier for you than any food grown in an industrialized agricultural setting. The access to high-quality soil is one way that off-grid life can have a direct positive impact on our health.
Pace of Life & Reduced Stress
Another aspect of off-grid living that is quite different than the alternative is the pace at which life happens. Living not just closer to nature, but intimately amidst her means that, little by little, life’s rhythms begin to merge with hers. Things move in a way that feels slower once you are outside of and withdrawn from the chaotic energy that accelerates a lot of modern life, especially in urban spaces, but also in suburban spaces.
While stress is by no means non-existent in an off-grid context (sometimes a fox eats the chicken or a dog eats the sheep, there is the constant upkeep of the natural structures, being responsible for your own water and electrical needs, and so on), the stress that does exist is very different than that that we grow used to while frantically navigating life “in-grid”. In some ways, the stress that exists in off-grid life can be empowering because it is usually derived from a problem that needs to be solved. This demands focus and intention, which tend to bring us into the present moment. In being able to think of and create solutions for the stress-inducing problem, we experientially show ourselves how much we are capable of. Over time, this muscle kicks in more instinctively as inevitable challenges and stress arise in off-grid life.
In my experience living in urban settings, a lot of the stress we feel is not so simple as to be solved by some creative solution of our own making. Often it is more of a chronic, atmospheric stress buzzing constantly from the static whir of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people all trying to make it to work, to pay the rent, and buy the groceries, all on repeat.
The nature-based pace of off-grid life eventually means getting tired when the sun goes down and waking up when the sun comes up, because of the ideal climate for outdoor work with plants and animals. I have found people in our community to be much less in a hurry than anywhere else I have ever lived, and although much of this is due to cultural differences, much of it is also influenced by living in a setting where there simply does not exist much reason to rush.
Proximity to Animals and Nature
From a scientific standpoint, living in closer proximity to animals and nature, especially starting in childhood, can actually help strengthen our immune systems and manifest in less allergies. Another profound aspect of living in closer proximity to animals and nature is the intimacy one develops with rhythms of life and death. Although it is never easy to have an animal die, it is a fact of life whether because the fox ate the chicken from the coop or because it’s time to harvest the animals you grow and cultivate. The only animal we grow for harvest at our farm are Tilapias, and despite having ducks and chickens, so far we have only used them for egg production. Regardless, we have had our fair share of deaths on the farm, but also births. We have had chicks, ducklings, puppies, and even a baby horse be born on our land. Every time one of these existential events takes place, it is always another huge draw into the present moment. The weight and value of life become more actualized. We remember how precious it is to be alive and are in touch with the finiteness of all things. For me, this has been a much healthier way to engage with the reality of death than over-consuming news headlines or the now commonplace death and violence that fills modern movies and shows.
Less Screen Exposure
Something I love about living in the jungle is the absence of constant access to the internet and exposure to screens. Although we almost always have electricity (unless it’s hurricane season), we were intentional to only make wifi available in one part of the land, and only in reach of one of the accommodations. The benefits of this manifest in the richness of sharing meals around the table with everyone 2 or even 3 times a day, without anyone getting lost in their phones. We love that the volunteers and visitors to our farm spend time in the common spaces getting to know each other, doing hands-on activities like playing music, making art, tending to the ferments, reading, or planning their travels over big maps splayed out on the kitchen table. Unfortunately, even living off-grid, if there were access to internet everywhere in the property, this would all be compromised because the tendency in each of us is now so innate to whip out the phone and check things on it for no good reason.
We have no televisions, and while we do occasionally consume media or movies on a laptop computer, it is screen that comes out on our terms and is not constantly in view. I feel more control over my screen exposure and therefore overall more control over my own time and attention.
Being that nowadays even some gas stations have screens at the pump to watch advertisements while you’re pumping your gas (???), places in the world where you are not bombarded by screens and ads are becoming fewer and far between. This means that those spaces are actually precious and should be protected, on purpose. While this is always possible to try to achieve within an urban setting or lifestyle, I believe it is immensely easier in an off-grid context.
Off-grid, you are already away from and outside of the main bustle of madness and you have more personal opportunities to elect where your time and attention go. Choosing to only have a screen in one place, or only have wifi signal (forget cell service!) minimally accessible transpires into protecting your mind and energy from the unsolicited chaos that mass media constantly throws at us. With all the work off-grid living requires, there are endless activities to engage in to keep everything going, and slowly the desire to melt into the couch and binge watch a show dissipates as deeper satisfaction is achieved by working with your hands, living intentionally around other people (& plants & animals), and feeling fulfilled by life’s abundance.
Even still, living off-grid doesn’t mean no more movies or shows ever again. Moments definitely arise when that is the right thing to do in order to rest, relax , and recuperate from all the work and busyness of maintaining a homestead. But when it happens, it feels like a more intentional choice, and not an activity to be engaged in by default or unconscious pattern. It is even more satisfying to hang a big old white sheet from the ceiling and set up the projector to share a film or documentary all together, surrounded by the vast green jungle.
Less time lost to traffic and bullshit
A couple years ago I heard a statistic that the average U.S. American will spend a cumulative four years of their life in traffic. My shock at this was compounded by my gratitude to have my home in the jungle, where, although we do drive regularly fifteen minutes to town, our life does not require long commutes in standstill traffic through congested cities. As the saying goes: how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Even though it may not seem much at the moment, over the course of years the time we spend getting from place to place does add up. The last time I lived in a big city, my commute to and from work was an hour each way by public transit. Two hours a day totalled to ten hours a week, or approximately forty hours a month. With forty hours on a bus, I could have made it across the country to somewhere new and exciting I had never seen! Although I did spend the time reading, listening to podcasts, and making the most of the chance to get in some ethnographic observation of all the characters one encounters in a public transit setting, the amount of time it added up to and the fact that it was required by my lifestyle were things that left me unsatisfied.
That said, for many people life off the grid means more time for the things you really love doing. Whether that is building with natural materials, gardening, taking care of animals, or creative projects like painting, music, or writing- time abounds in the great outdoors and the extent of what is possible is completely up to you. The last time I lived in a city, I would wake up at 6am every day, quickly walk the dog before trying to squeeze in time to practice ten or so minutes of yoga if I had them, and hopefully have time to inhale something for breakfast and start chugging coffee before I had to catch the bus to get across town to get to work on time.
In contrast, at home in the jungle, I can wake up at 6am, feed the horses, practice yoga and meditation, spend some time writing, and witness the day begin through the shifting morning light and birdsong symphony. If I coordinate my time well, there is enough of it to prepare a healthy, anti-inflammatory breakfast and sometimes lunch for later. When I am really on a roll, there is even time to go around checking on the plants and gardens, or go with my husband to the cornfield to do some farm work. And still, on the days I do need to go into town to get some work done in my office, it is a mere fifteen minute drive down one country road with no traffic.
So, is off-grid living healthier?
I hope you now have enough information to be able to answer this for yourself based on your personal visions for your life and time.
Personally, I feel life off-grid has been a godsend for my own health and wellbeing, and has instilled in me a profound sense of freedom.
Now, when I do go back to cities, it takes me awhile to adjust to them and I find myself pretty sensitive to the overstimulation and chaos that they present. I do, however, miss and deeply value the cultural opportunities that cities have to offer that are simply not found off-grid, like museums, live music, events, and the exposure and access to multiculturalism, diversity, and spontaneity.
That said, I think there is a balance to be struck with all of life’s deep contrasts. If you are someone looking for more power over how you spend your time and more control over what comes into contact with your energy, you may feel healthier or more well in an off-grid lifestyle. The most important thing is trying to listen to what you truly want from life and to honor your own truth in the endless process of pursuing health and wellbeing.
