I have just returned from a solo overnight hike to recharge my nature energy battery which has been severely depleted from the Christmas retail rush of hoarding as much pharmaceutical medicines over the silly season as possible whilst they are cheaper before the New Year begins [yes its a thing people, we !have an amazing healthcare system in Australia] so that some homes resemble mini-pharmacies in their own right. Listening to a podcast on Artificial Intelligence or A.I. and its potential benefits and/or harm to human civilisation I chuckle as Google Maps has selected a windy,pot-holed route to my hiking destination with lots of road works and although seemingly shorter on a 2D map and more direct in the AI world, in reality [by this I mean NSW country roads, not that smooth bitumen you guys get in Canberra and Sydney ] is a terrible choice and I should have followed my gut-instinct and gone with the route I knew, however wanting a bit of a scenic drive and unfamiliar landscapes I certainly regretted my choice once underway. That said Google Maps is hardly AI but you get my point, sometimes modern technology gets it way wrong.
Nonetheless I feel certain my profession of pharmacy is about to be revolutionised in the next decade , possibly sooner and I feel certain a smart AI robot will be handing out and counselling you on any future medications [as long as the power is on].. and probably with extreme efficiency and accuracy, better than what I could hope to achieve. A customer lets call him Truckie I had seen a few weeks ago requesting an anti-angina spray who casually mentioned he was using it upto 8 times a day and was very reluctant to go to emergency at the hospital even after I explained the peril he was in,stuck his head in today to thank me for steering him towards seeking help as he had a severe blockage in his carotid artery which will require surgery but he wasnt sure he was "ready to undertake the surgery just yet?"Instead he wanted a two month supply of his new medicines to allow him to avoid the medical system over Xmas!Talk about being a risk-taker , this guy has balls of steel. Im sure the AI would be able to make a more reasonable persuasive discussion [I thought about typing in a response to his statement to ChatGPT but didint have time between dispensing scripts!] as to why he should act sooner rather than later, I was however chuffed he had actually heeded my advice as when he initially left the pharmacy he gave no indication he was going to seek any medical help. I did wonder if an AI would pick up on the subtle non-verbal cues that exists in a conversation between two humans where a difference in opinion exists. Too often its easier to just agree or give the person what they want , however responsible professional healthcare involves a patient-centric approach with guided coaching in the right healthy/wellness direction which is an art and takes experience and time to establish. We understand if you are frustrated taking that assortment of drugs [like in the photo above] to keep you alive,swallowing all those tablets and capsules hoping for things to be different every day and then noticing nothing changes. At Farmacy Outdoors, we are lucky we both have 30 years experience each working with clients in the health and wellness setting and it still surprises us both how many of us sit in the "pre-contemplation phase of change" and never move on...that is why we ALL need coaches to achieve our goals even in health and wellness.
Moving on, as I loaded my 18kg backpack on my back with each carefully selected item needed for a 24 km 1000 vertical metres overnight hike I relished the fact that the only electronics I had was my I-phone for photos[no signal where Im going..perfect!] and my Garmin inReach acting as my Personal Locator Beacon [PLB and maps] if needed,instead I had the "old school" map and compass, a head torch and that was all the electricity I would need. If I run out of power my battery pack charged by my portable solar-pack will recharge me, no nuclear fission needed. It was 11am and 30 degrees as I started the climb thanks to the delayed start because of the convoluted drive to the start , I was carrying 3 litres of water as it was hot and my water source was 8km up the trailhead.
As I hiked along appreciating all the cicada wings glittering on the trail with their hum drummingin my ears, I thought about how marvelous it is to have a tap at home , which you turn on and clean fresh water just pours endlessly from it. Here every ml of water was precious, filtering it at the waterfall and stream will be a chore but actually isn't as you listen to the wonderful sound of a running stream, the dragonflies buzzing and the birds calling as they too need this precious resource as much as I do on this hot summers day.I was thinking how cheap water is in reality and how wasteful we are of it, when I look at the high plateau hung swamps where the water bubbles and runs so clean it has been filtered through a maze of reeds and plants it saddens me how we treat this scarce resource so badly downstream in the wonderful rivers that gush from this humble source, and I ponder would AI understand all this? Does it even care? Where I am camping is high on a ridge and lookout, there is no water source, every drop is precious and I drink deliberately and slowly, I stretch my tea and hot chocolate out and ensure Ive got enough to brush my teeth and still have porridge in the morning and my beloved coffee [plunger because the Espresso machine is too big to pack]. The water is now very warm as its been in my water bladder on my back and in my Nalgene bottle for over 5 hours in the sun,no ice, no Yeti to keep it cool, and yet it tastes like the best thing ever! I chuckle as I recall the stories parents tell me when asked about " how much water their children drink? "and they reply , they won't unless the water is ice cold during school lunch breaks.
Life is so simple out here, Im in bed 30minutes after dark [no fire tonight as its too windy and no water or sand to exstinguish the fire] and Im up at first light with the call of the birdsong to watch the sun peak over the horizon, the rhythm of nature, the drumming noise wave of the cicada's, the patterns on the snowgums as the sunlight brushes their trunks, my brain loves these sounds and sights, waves of happiness and pleasure infect my body and my soul smiles deeply..aaahh, would AI understand all this? The smell of coffee brewing fresh in the morning, the damp wetness of the flysheet and the scary but beautiful and amazing copperhead snake who came out to greet me for one hour before sunset next to my tent ...does AI even care? I do, this natural environment and I we are one, built from the same cosmic dust from our galaxy and beyond, to me it is reverent..I know I have a deep connection to this place and these creatures and these trees and everything around me. Will I have the same connection to AI?
Now I am not sure if I should share this secret with you, its a strange topic or subject but one that affects us all so I am going to be bold and proceed because I have noticed on hikes there are those people who"hang on" sometimes days instead of going to the toilet for a number two. Don't get me wrong, there is something scary about placing your prized sensitive bits close to the ground not knowing if a spider, jumping ant or possibly snake will sneak out for a visit or you get charged by a feral pig or wombat,but for me I just love going to the toilet in the bush..it just feels so natural and if you have a view its even more magnificent, the bit I dont like is digging the hole with a silly plastic trowel when the ground is rock hard and you are trying all these different sites to find soft ground so you can bury it properly not like those mongrels who leave toilet paper and other stuff visible for all..a sad state of affairs for a modern civilised society. How amazing is it in our modern worlds to sit on porcelain china and a beautiful wooden seat, do your business, then push a button and everything disappears at once [hopefully] ...amazing ...however you don't normally have a view [maybe you do if you are lucky], and being seated you are not engaging your core rectal and abdominal muscles sitting high-up on a throne, rather when you squat down low in nature it truely feels amazing...trust me ...if you hike with us you will luckily have the awesome privilege to experience this natural body action in the wild outdoors, or like some of the people we treat in pharmacy.. end up needing a cocktail of laxatives.
When passing a bowel motion, the puborectalis muscle which wraps around the rectum like a sling pulls the rectum forward widening the right angle to a straighter downward shute and the bowel motion is easier and quicker to evacuate with less straining [52sec squatting versus 130 sec sitting studies have shown]. Seems like the "undeveloped world" and Eastern cultures are teaching the modern civilized world how to toilet correctly, we can't ask AI their opinion on this as they wont have the need to defecate! Plenty of squatting on a hike though, for example when putting a heavy pack on and off your shoulders, erecting a tent and getting in and out of your sleeping bag , lots of low ground sitting or sitting on logs so its a natural workout that keeps one agile and fit. The Old Man Test is one we teach our clients and is an absolute essential on a hike when trying to get your boots on and off, so master this skill before you head for the trails.
I have been hiking since I was about 7 years old in the mountains of the Drakensberg in South Africa,and more recently in the last decade doing some serious adventurous hiking whilst Adventure racing in Australia and other countries. I have noticed whilst following the podcasts and books of popular hosts/ writers like Dr Peter Attia, Tim Ferris , Rich Roll , Dr Andrew Huberman and Kerry & Juliette Starett the conversation around "Rucking "as Americans term hiking, becoming more popular particularly as a means for wellness in older age to maintain physical strength and agility and mobility and this resonates with us as we too feel this form of outdoor nature activity has so many body,mind and soul benefits. We as health practioners are drawn to the concept of Hormesis, whereby a low dose stressor on an organism induces a positive response and this is exactly what a hike with a backpack is all about. The physiological stress of carrying weight on your back which as bi-pedal mammals we are built for, the heat and changing climate, the cold plunge in the mountain stream or the foggy breath of a early morning start, the 1 to 4 inch thick mattress your hips can't feel when you rollover in the night leading to a slight sleep deprivation all stress the body just enough to create a positive adaptive response from our climate controlled lives.
This is nature's pharmacy, this is the GREEN prescription we all need once in a-while and probably more frequently for not just our bodies, but our minds and souls. One starts to become very self-aware of every part of their body from the niggly pains to the shortness of breath cause by the rarified air, to the sweat burning your eyes and crystallising on your cheekbones, and the mind often drifts to more existential thoughts of "Why am I here?"-literally as in on the hike, and spiritually in a more philosophical sense of questioning on's world life view. When I hike alone ,I never feel alone, the animals, birds and reptiles and trees all become companions and I find myself , my place in this beautiful wonderful world where I am not a human looking down on nature, but rather a mammal participating with nature, its a wonderful happiness which is difficult to explain unless you have experienced it but one I would love to share with like-minded fellow beings.
Rounding the corner an explosion of red and purple as the Crimson rosella's erupt in flight down the track. I turn another corner and instead of the usual brumbies there are a mob of a smaller red/brown kangaroos who stare me down and reluctantly hop into the thick scrub through patches of invasive Scotch Broom it is amazing how they can move in there. A lyrebird sings a tune in the tall Messmate forest on the plateau, I briefly glimpse the long tail feathers then its off again singing and dancing through the moist leafed forest floor. These emotions , these smells, these sounds I am not convinced a robot can experince this and understand, I am certain it can be simulated in some future device or implant but the randomness and symbiosis of the experience I feel cannot be replicated by a machine who cannot experience what the human body,mind and soul can with all 6 senses. Come feel the rhythm of the day and night, the rise and the setting of the sun,hide i the shade of the beech trees and huge Eucalypt's from the midday heat, feel the flux of life in the earthly forest, life is short but can be well lived ..come find yourself in nature ..don't wait for the right time ..seize the moment and take/make action. Book a hike with us...dont't wait for the right time...the time is now, we can help you achieve your outdoor health and wellness goals.
Be The Change.
Dave and Natasha.. Farmacy Outdoors signing off.
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