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REFLECTIONS Dry Spell
FROM THE PUBLISHER
et’s talk about New Year’s res-
Lolutions. In the past I’ve tended to be leery of the whole undertaking, since to me there’s always seemed something a bit puritanical about the annual ritual of identifying personal shortcomings then declaring that, come January 1 (and not a moment sooner), we’re going to do something about them. This might be self-justification—the result of having failed to keep my own fair share of resolutions. Or perhaps it’s to do with having come of age in Australia, where so far as I can remember (more about that in a minute), there wasn’t much of a tradition of New Year’s resolution-making. Thirty years ago, when New Year’s Eve rolled around, most of the Australians I was spending time with seemed more interested in self-destruction than self-improvement. But perhaps eating and drinking like a Viking is just a benefit of being in one’s late teens and early twenties, no matter where one comes of age. It certainly tends to look better on twenty-somethings than it does on fifty-somethings, so hopefully most of those Australians have moved on. Now I’m beginning to suspect it’s time I did, too.
So it’s time to give the new year’s resolution another try—by resolving to spend 2022 on the wagon.
There … I said it. Perhaps doing so publicly is just the kind of incentive an ambitious experiment like giving up drinking for twelve months requires. This year marks my fifty-third trip around the sun. For the past thirty-five of those years, daily drinking has been pretty much a constant feature—a routine that began in late teenager-dom, accelerated to nihilistic proportions during college and the backpacking years that followed, then gradually settled into being a predictable cog in the clockwork of daily life. Of course, the thing about daily life is that the same stimuli tend to come around at the same time, every single day. When they do, they set off a conditioned response that Pavlov’s dog would’ve recognized immediately. Clock strikes five? They don’t call it “beer o’ clock” for nothing. Cooking dinner? That calls for a glass of wine. Friday night fire in the living room? Reach for the whiskey. After thirty-something years adhering to a drinking routine that I can no longer truthfully describe as “social,” those daily stimuli have started to pack a hefty punch. In an article titled “An Ex-Drinker’s Search for a Sober Buzz” that ran recently in the New Yorker magazine, John Seabrook writes that when he gave up drinking, he discovered that abstinence involved forgoing a lot more than just alcohol. “If you drank for forty years, as I did, the Pavlovian groove goes deeper,” Seabrook says, noting that to begin with, there were all sorts of social and professional settings that he had to avoid—so intense was the longing that they triggered for a drink. Most of all, Seabrook says that he missed “… the WASP-ish daily ritual of the cocktail hour,” the loss of which left him feeling that his days had been ‘wounded.’ As a thirty-year-member of the cocktail hour club, and of a society which marks time as a series of countdowns between one celebration and the next, (Twelfth night, Mardi Gras, crawfish season, St. Patrick’s Day, Jazz Fest, July 4, football season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.), my own Pavlovian groove runs deep indeed—“Grand-canyonesque,” you might even say. So, what better time than a new year to forgo the descent, and limit myself to sight-seeing from the rim? If only to prove to myself that I still can.
A year sounds like a mighty long time. Things could be worse, though. If we leave the years from 1920 to 1933 out of the equation, we are by many accounts living in a teetotaler’s golden age. What John Seabrook’s article was mostly about is the increasing number of American breweries dedicated to producing really good non-alcoholic beers. Lots of bars and restaurants now feature various interesting “mocktails.” And the range of reasons for giving one’s liver a hard-earned holiday—ranging from better sleep to improved cognitive performance—are better documented now than ever. Best of all, though: now that I’ve shouted my resolution from the rooftops, you, dear reader, are my co-conspirator. So if you meet me, out for lunch or dinner somewhere nursing my mocktail, raise a glass in my direction. We’ll toast to all the promise and possibility of 2022—a year in the clear. Fizzy water never tasted so good.
Photo by Raegan Labat
—James Fox-Smith, publisher james@countryroadsmag.com
Childhood comes and goes in a blink.
We’re here through the stages of your life, with the strength of the cross, the protection of the shield. The Right Card. The Right Care.
MoTrPAC study participant Danielle Voss works out at the Pennington Biomedical gym.
Want to get healthier AND make it stick this New Year? Become a research participant!
Joining Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s MoTrPAC study might be just the new year’s resolution for you.
For Baton Rouge resident Danielle Voss, participating in the MoTrPAC study currently underway at Pennington Biomedical Research Center has not only helped her feel better physically, but also inspired her to return to a regular fitness routine after seven years
away from the gym. Voss, a mom of two, used to lead a pretty active lifestyle, but struggled to find the time and the motivation to get to the gym regularly after the birth of her second child. “I was not currently on any sort of exercise regimen, and I knew I needed to be,” says the 47-year-old. “So I figured, why not sign up for this study? You know, make a little bit of money and get paid to exercise.”
Currently, Voss arrives at Pennington Biomedical’s on-campus fitness center for an hour-long strength training program three times a week, where she receives one-on-one instruction for the duration of her session. After just one month of attending the workout sessions, she’s noticing a significant change in her body. “I feel so much stronger,” she says. “I’ve got so much more energy!”
With the onset of 2022 comes a fresh start and a new opportunity to make those New Year’s resolutions stick. Find yourself wanting to emulate Danielle’s journey to a healthier, more active lifestyle? Pennington Biomedical is currently seeking research participants for its ongoing MoTrPAC study, which aims to investigate the impact of physical activity on the body by studying how regular exercise can improve health at the cellular level. Read on to find out how.
What does Pennington Biomedical do?
Pennington Biomedical Research Center works at the cutting edge of medical research as it relates to understanding the root causes of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia. Housed within a state-of-the-art, 222-acre campus in the heart of Baton Rouge, the center is affiliated with Louisiana State University. Its research enterprise employs over 450 staff, who work across a network of 40 clinics and research laboratories, as well as 13 specialized core service facilities.
What is MoTrPAC?
Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) is a nationwide research study spearheaded by the National Institutes of Health, which aims to improve our understanding of how physical activity creates changes in the body on a molecular level. The goal of the study is to help researchers and doctors better understand what type of exercise regimen is best-suited to each person’s individual body type.
What does participation entail?
Participants are invited to visit the Pennington Biomedical outpatient clinic for an orientation to learn more about the MoTrPAC study. Those interested in joining the study then attend a screening visit to determine whether they are eligible. Once enrolled, participants will be randomly assigned to a 12-week regimen of either resistance or endurance training (which includes three exercise sessions per week), or to a control group maintaining current levels of activity. Total duration of the study is six months.
Why enroll?
If you’re looking to be more active but struggle with implementing, or maintaining a regular fitness routine, the MoTrPAC study is a great way to hold yourself accountable. Even better, study participants will be compensated with a payment of up to $1500 upon completion of the program.
And for many participants, the MoTrPAC study does succeed in making the exercise habit stick. “It’s been seven years and you know, I’ve found that it’s been easy to transition back into the gym again. But only because I’ve got the folks here helping every step of the way,” says Danielle Voss. Voss, who works as an insurance claims adjuster, has noticed that day-to-day activities like climbing stairs and ladders that are part of her job, have already gotten easier. Participating in the study has also made the prospect of going back to the gym less intimidating, Voss says, because she’s learned the proper form and technique for each exercise. “I know I’m going to continue this routine after the study is done, because I’ve been able to get to that comfort level again,” she says.
“The safety aspect has been impressive to me, because I’m used to years ago, when I went to a gym, it was just like, okay, fend for yourself,” Voss says. “Here, they’re always there, counting all your reps for you, encouraging you, and it’s a really great program.”
How to I know if you qualify
To qualify for this research study, participants should: • Be at least 18 years old • Have a BMI between 19–35 • Have no history of diabetes or heart disease • Exercise once a week or less
