I recently watched a podcast with bestselling author and Professor of Psychiatry, Michael Easter, discussing his book, The Comfort Crisis, in which he examines how our physical health and mental wellbeing have evolved as our lives became easier. I find the topic fascinating and satisfying in some ways because it ratifies what I believe.
Living in the Past vs Today
I was raised by first generation Americans, my father’s people lived for generations on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Life was harsh, staples were scarce and food was mostly grown or harvested from the ocean. Most chores were done by hand as fuel was limited and expensive, cooking was mostly over an open fire and people walked or rode animals rather than drive a vehicle.
These people were tough, strong and determined. They had to be to survive. They passed along a resilience to the generations that followed that remains in me, even though I live a modern, comfortable life. I suspect I have been hardwired for hard work and the desire to venture out into nature even when it’s less than pleasant in the winter.
Apparently, this is a good thing. According to Easter, there’s a disconnect between how we evolved up until the 20th century and how we currently live. We don’t move our bodies as we once did, we don’t strain to lift heavy things, brave winter storms to hunt or gather food, endure spans of time with less than abundant provisions and build fires to stay warm. The majority of us have a thermostat, a car, a cozy bed and restaurants, delivery or a well-stocked pantry that allow us to be sedentary for most of our waking hours.
The Evolutionary Mismatch
Evolutionary Mismatch, defined by Wikipedia, is a biological concept that a previously advantageous trait may become maladaptive due to change in the environment, especially when change is rapid.
Life once took far more effort. Our food was varied, mostly eaten raw, and we usually had to walk a significant distance to find it. Our jaws were strong, our teeth were larger and our gut was filled with bacteria and microbes that turned whatever we found or killed into nutrition. Modern humans have mutated to have smaller jaws with weaker muscles and 70% of the current population are now born with no wisdom teeth. This evolutionary trend has accelerated over the past few centuries as a result of mechanized food production and a diet which is mostly comprised of soft, processed ingredients.
Additionally, our microbiome which is responsible for not only assimilating calories, but producing hormones that regulate a healthy body, has lost much of its diversity, resulting in a dramatic rise in digestive issues, hormonal imbalance and an increase in obesity and heart disease.
We engineered exercise into our lives when survival got too easy and we began to realize the threats to our health. Exercise is good, but we need to weave effort back into our every day. Anthropologists believe an early woman hunter gatherer was four times stronger than a member of the Women’s Olympic Rowing Team is today, a theory that supports Easter’s premise that constant effort matters.
How to Include Effort in Daily Life
Here are a few ideas if you’d like to put a little more effort into your day without adding anything more to your busy schedule.
- Walking to the market or at least parking as far from it as reasonable.
- Carry your groceries rather than wheeling them in a cart.
- Take the stairs rather than the elevator.
- Sweep or rake rather than using the vacuum or the blower.
To bring more effort into your eating habits try:
The Advent of a Temperature Controlled Environment
We’ve also evolved to avoid exposure to hot and frigid temperatures, which makes life much more pleasant but requires less from our metabolism to modulate. When we are exposed to cold our body produces not only adrenaline for our heart and muscles to respond to the stress, but norepinephrine, dopamine and endorphins which boost alertness, focus and mood.
There are also some studies reporting cold exposure stimulates brown fat activation, inflammation reduction, improved sleep and stronger immune response as a long-term benefit, all of which contributes to better health and longevity.
According to Easter, the key is to embrace short term difficulty for a long-term benefit, withstanding a little struggle and discomfort in exchange for a healthier, more fit and stronger body and a better quality of life in the long run.
It might be difficult to start, probably a little uncomfortable at times, but with the proper mindset, the benefits will be obvious, as we gain confidence in our ability and become much more capable of facing whatever adversity may come our way in the future.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
Do you think you’re living a life of comfort? What comforts can’t you live without? How much strain and difficulty do you voluntarily include in your days?