Ready to swap daily stress for sun-kissed days and a better sense of wellbeing? Our Greece expert, Julia Silk, explores how the Greek lifestyle – from lunchtime siestas to a nutritious Mediterranean cuisine – boosts health, happiness and longevity.
Do you long for the day when you can enjoy a healthy life style in Greece? If work and the environment you live in are starting to get you down, you know its time to plan your escape to the sun. I have noticed that when visitors first arrive in Greece for a holiday, they always look so pale and drawn. It can take them a few days to unwind, and stop thinking about worries at home, then it’s time to go back again. So, why not stay longer? Or permanently?
Many of us have already made the move and feel all the healthier for doing so. Once you take off your watch and settle in to the relaxed way of life, you begin to realise that work and money don’t bring health and happiness, it is the simple things, like waking up to the sound of birds singing, the scent of fresh herbs wafting through the window and a friendly “Kaliméra” from a neighbour as you stumble out onto the balcony with your morning coffee.
So, that got me thinking. What is it about the Greek lifestyle that benefits our health and general quality of life?
Blue skies
When you look outside in the morning, just the sight of blue skies and sunshine gives you the feeling that all is well. With over 3,000 hours of sunshine per year, Greece is one of the sunniest countries in Europe. After soaking up all that vitamin D from the sun and breathing in the sea air, you are guaranteed to sleep well and wake up feeling enthusiastic about the day ahead.
A Siesta
When friends from England came to visit they said they had never slept so well. Wherever you go in Greece, you can hear a pin drop in the afternoons. Between about 2 and 5pm don’t even think about getting noisy jobs done around the house. You must, by law, observe this quiet time. Shops, banks etc. close and many people have a nap after lunch. In Greece, this siesta period of the afternoon is referred to as “Messimeri” and a short nap is called “ypnakos”.
Sunshine
Your healthy lifestyle in Greece begins with relaxing in the sun. As vitamin D helps the absorption of calcium, your bones will also be stronger, and combined with healthy eating, your immunity will improve. I don’t recall ever catching a cold in Greece. Scientists from Edinburgh University have also found that sunlight boosts nitric oxide in your skin, which causes blood vessels to expand, thus bringing down your blood pressure.
Harvest your own olives at this house in the Peloponnese (€290,000)
A Mediterranean diet
Did you know that the word “diet” comes from the Greek word “diaita”, meaning “way of life”. This original word didn’t just apply to food; it also suggested a healthy lifestyle. Today, the Mediterranean diet in Greece is still closely linked with a healthy way of life. Over time, the main ingredients of this healthy diet have remained constant. These are olive oil, cereals, fresh or dried fruit and vegetables, with a moderate amount of fish, meat and low-fat dairy.
According to research carried out around the Mediterranean, this diet is thought to be responsible for the people here living long lives and having fewer cases of heart disease and diseases of the digestive system. If you really want to live a healthy lifestyle in Greece, it is also advisable to minimise the amount of processed foods, fatty fast foods and alcohol consumed. In the heat of summer, it is important to drink plenty of water.
Fresh fruit and vegetables
In much of Greece, several generations of a family will live nearby and regularly eat together. These social interactions, give the older generation the opportunity to pass down what they have learnt about growing and preparing healthy food. Even if you can’t grow your own, towns and villages have some fantastic fresh fruit and vegetable markets, where the produce is bigger and more colourful than anywhere else I have ever seen. They are so fresh they must be packed full of vitamins. We would buy so much, we had to follow the old ladies lead and get a shopping bag on wheels to pull it up the hill to our house.
Cultural Heritage
The Greek people have a strong loyalty to their family, friends and the local community. This is particularly evident in less touristy islands and villages. Here you will find the genuine hospitality the Greeks are famous for. They are very proud of their cultural heritage and as a foreigner it feels an honour to witness their traditional festivals and religious celebrations. It’s also great to see young people performing the traditional dances, playing Greek music and interacting with their grandparents. Due to the fine weather, events take place outside and everyone is welcome.
Outdoor activities
The warm climate in Greece also enables you to get out and about more. When you are walking along the seafront you become so taken by the views you don’t even think about how far you have walked. It’s the same when you stroll around the historic alleyways or walk through a beautiful gorge – the excitement of discovering what is around the next corner overrides any thoughts of how many steps you have taken. As part of your new healthy lifestyle in Greece, you could even try a new outdoor activity, such as mountain biking, rocking climbing or horse riding.
Once you have discovered the health benefits of regularly swimming in the sea, you may want to move on to water activities that enable you to see the coast from another angle. How about scuba diving to discover the underwater world? Or kayaking along the coast to discover caves and coves that can’t be reached by car? Kefalonia, Crete, Milos and Zakynthos are particularly good for these activities. In the clear blue waters around Zakynthos, you might even spot turtles and dolphins. Other alternatives for those who want to feel the exhilaration of the wind on their face are windsurfing or kitesurfing. Paros is known as the windsurfing capital of Greece, as is Naxos. Other great windsurfing spots can be found on Kos, Lefkada and Karpathos.
Space
If you are selling a home in the city to finance your new healthy lifestyle in Greece, you may be surprised how far that money can go. If you buy in a rural location, you’ll probably get much more house for your money and a garden. Living in a bigger house with open views across countryside or the sea is so much better than looking at your phone or computer within four walls. If you aren’t able to retire yet but have a job that enables you to work remotely, you could even see if you qualify for a digital nomad visa. Imagine having the sea outside your office window and watching the sunset every evening. Just being able to see the horizon can promote over-all wellbeing.
Caring for nature
Taking care of plants and animals is a great way to relieve stress while getting some gentle exercise. Just knowing I need to go out and water my plants each morning gets me up and about. By getting up early, I also get to see the sunrise and hear the early morning bird song as I fill the bird bath with fresh water. Carrying a couple of watering cans around is my daily weight training, and knowing the plants, birds and cat are relying on me to feed and water them, gives me a good reason to start the day. My whinging cat certainly lets me know if I’m a bit late! Although some Greeks aren’t great pet lovers, you will find people that give their time to help the strays.
A Cycladic house with garden and sea views (€286,000)
Gardening
Have you noticed how calm gardeners are? As summers get so hot in Greece, a low maintenance garden with geraniums, herbs, fruit trees and a colourful bougainvillea can be enough to brighten your outdoor space and keep you active. By growing some fruit, vegetables and herbs, it also encourages healthy eating. It’s a surprisingly proud moment when you pick your first crop. I picked some of my cherry tomatoes yesterday, and I swear you could taste the sun in them.
Socialising
A healthy lifestyle in Greece isn’t just about physical health, it’s also about de-stressing your mind. Getting out of the house and meeting people is part of that. In Greece, people speak to their neighbours, help out when needed and greet people they pass in the street. We used to have a neighbour in Greece who was 83 years old. He kept the most beautiful roses and people would stop and chat to him about them. On certain mornings, he would walk down the hill to the café on the waterfront, to meet up with his friends. They would chat, play cards, sing songs and fiddle with their komboloi. Known as worry beads to you and me, Greek men fidget with them to help them relax and pass the time.
Costa and his friends would spend most of the morning sitting at a table outside Maria’s café, yet they didn’t buy much – maybe a bottle of water between them and four glasses. Every now and then, one of them would top up their glasses with homemade wine he had hidden in a bag under the table. But no one minded. It was nice to see them there. When Costa was ready, anyone who was around that had a car, would drive him back up the hill to his house, where Lula, his wife, would be waiting with his lunch. Our dog used to sit on the low windowsill waiting for people to walk by and talk to him. When Costa came home, he’d whistle to get our dog to do a quick check round his rose garden for cats. It is these little interactions that give you a feeling of belonging to a place.
I’ve concluded that, to live a healthy lifestyle in Greece, simply follow the example of the locals. Keep active, eat healthily, think positively and make good friends. At celebrations you will here the words, “Chrónia Pollá” which simply translates to “many more years”, but the true sentiment is “wishing you a long, happy, and healthy life.”
Chrónia Pollá!
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