You are being watched…

Sounds scary doesn’t it? Don’t worry this topic is not about “Big Brother” or about stop light cameras taking pictures of you going through a red light, in fact this topic is more related to Kevin Bacon. Yep that Kevin Bacon and the six degrees of separation.

I subscribe to Runner’s World  and there was an article that really stuck with me. The article focused a newbie runner and his 6 year old son wanting to run a mile with him. He just couldn’t figure out why his 6 year old son wanted to run with him. In the long run he was being a good example to his son, but once again a great reason but not the reason I am writing on this topic.

What caught my eye was a study he mentioned in his story. I guess there were two social scientists named Nicholas Christakis and James Flower that did a study. This study focused around happiness and the opposite of happiness (I am guessing unhappiness). Happiness is contagious as are other good behaviors like quitting smoking and staying thin. Equally the opposite obesity, depression, and cigarettes with coffee appear to spread in the same fashion. Good or bad it infects or spreads like a virus. The article continues the theme referring to a July 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, stating staying healthy isn’t just a matter of your genes and your diet, but good health is also a product, in part, of your sheer proximity to other healthy people. In the long run it isn’t about 6-degrees of separation, the article say it is closer to 3-degrees of separation.

People watch other people. I find this to be so true, especially at the gym. When I started my journey to a fitter and healthier me I watched, people at the gym, people at restaurants, people at a mall and so on. As the miles went by on the treadmill, stair master or bike I wondered why people do what they do? Not that they were doing it wrong or correct, but was there anything they were doing that could benefit me. The most surprising aspect was people were doing the same thing to me. After they witnessed the changes did they start to approach me. I started to be the “expert”, even though I was doing my best to get my arms around this fitness thing.

I guess this came to full realization with my brother-in-law, Danny. I take pride knowing that it was something I was doing to make myself fitter and healthier has rubbed off on another person. Danny is now smoke free, fitter and healthier!

Every year I try to come up with a credo to follow, some are good and others well not so much. This year’s credo is LOL. Not to original you might say, but my LOL stands for listen, observe, learn. I am watching.

So people are watching! What path do you plan to take for those who are watching?