Slow living

Slow living is a lifestyle that emphasises a slower approaches to aspects of everyday life.[1] It has been defined as movement or action at a relaxed or leisurely pace.[2] It began in Italy with the slow food movement, which emphasises traditional food production techniques in response to the emergence of fast food during the 1980s and 1990s. Slow living also incorporates slow money and slow cities. Slow food and slow living are sometimes proposed as solutions to what the green movement sees as the consequences of materialistic and industrial lifestyles.

One asserted benefit is that living at a fast pace can make people feel as though lives are chaotic while slowing down can mean that people can enjoy life more and be more conscious of sensory cues. Slow living does not prevent the adoption of certain technologies such as mobile phones, Internet, and access to goods and services.[3]

The term slow is used as an acronym to show different issues that slow living focuses on. The 's' refers to sustainable, meaning having a limited impact. The 'l' refers to local, meaning using materials and products that are geographically close to the person of produced near them. The 'o' refers to organic, meaning avoiding products that have been genetically engineered or mass-produced. Lastly, the 'w' refers to whole, meaning not processed.[4]