don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Don't be normal! The simple fact that the American population is overweight, not to mention beset by excessive stress, worry and other negative states, strongly suggests that wellness lifestyles are not the national norm. If you are fit and follow sensible lifestyle patterns (for example, you exercise regularly, accept responsibility, eat wisely and otherwise consciously pursue an advanced state of physical and emotional well-being), you are NOT normal. What's more, you probably don't want to be -- at least not if it means you need to be overweight, stressed, worried and negative, like most people!

I thought about this the other day when I read about the sport of free-diving, which is a literal breath-taking feat. A young reporter for the local paper in my area (the St. Petersburg Times) named Billy Norris, only 14, wrote a terrific story about free-divers featured in a new IMAX movie called "Ocean Men." The movie documents the remarkable tale of two friends who compete to see who can descend the farthest, without oxygen tanks or other supplementary sources of oxygen, and return to the surface of the Earth, alive! I'm serious -- some people really do these things! I can't wait to see the movie.

The two main characters who star in the show are natives of Cuba (Pepin Ferraras) and Italy (Umberto Pelizzari), respectively. Both are among the best in the world at this odd sport. They each specialize in a different style of free-diving. Pepin, the Cuban, uses assists to descend, so he can go much deeper than Umberto. Using a weighted sled on the way down and a balloon-like device for the ascent, Pepin dives 531 feet in the movie. That was not a misprint -- 531 feet. My ears hurt when I dive to the bottom of a pool (ten feet.) Umberto, however, favors the "all natural" approach to free-diving, save for a pair of fins. Just the same, he manages to descend 232 feet.

I suppose you have figured this out by now, but this means that both divers are reaching these depths and managing to get back to the surface in a single breath. How long can you hold YOUR breath -- on terra firma? I am in great shape -- and I have been tested and found to have a high VO2 max or oxygen capacity - but I can't swim from one end of a 25 meter pool to the other without a second (and often a third) breath when our swim coach has us do breathing control freestyle laps during regular swim practice sessions.

During the movie, according to ace reporter Billy Norris, the narrator explains that at depths of 500 feet, the body experiences a force greater than 200 pounds per square inch of pressure. When this happens, the lungs shrink to the size of oranges and heart rates fall to about 14 beats per minute. Pepin, Umberto and most other top free divers usually remain under water for eight minutes, at least!

So, you might wonder, what does this business of free-diving have to do with being normal or with living a wellness lifestyle? Well, to most people, not a thing, I'm sure. Yet, in my strange way of making connections, associating one thing with something else, reading about Pepin and Umberto and the free divers made me think about what is normal, and what is not. It is NOT normal to be different. It is not normal to be exceptional and unique and to do things that are extraordinarily difficult that need not be done. It is certainly not normal to consciously pursue well-defined life purposes of great consequence to oneself. For most, it is not even normal to accept and embrace responsibility, to seek excellence or to be the best at something.

Why be normal? Review the circumstances and challenges you face, and think about Pepin and Umberto. Ponder the strange example of those who do odd and difficult things, such as the free divers, the mountain climbers, cliff divers, parachute jumpers and others like them.

When I think about all these kinds of feats I never want to do, I still feel a sense of respect and admiration for the courage they display. I know that what they do makes them feel fully alive, challenged and engaged in the kind of life they find meaningful and worthy. They are not normal, no doubt -- and are better off not being so. I don't know if they are living wellness lifestyles or not, but I suspect they would not find self-management very difficult, given their abilities to set goals to do heroic feats and then carry them out.

By comparison, wellness seems easy. Not as easy as being normal, but easy compared with the things that some people do voluntarily, and at least as good for you as holding your breath for eight minutes hundreds of feet below the surface of an ocean.

Be well, and always look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of appearance and aging. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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