Why are we so stressed?
Why are our minds and bodies breaking down? Our nature is clashing with our post-industrial lifestyle.
In Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari explains how humans developed. He breaks this into different phases of evolution.
For the longest part of human existence we lived as hunter-gatherers. We roamed the land in tight-knit bands. Collective and individual attributes and knowledge of the environment were vital to survival. This produced an incredible, evolutionary machine. We had to be fit and agile. At one with our surroundings, we relied on finely-tuned senses to stay alive.
The agricultural and industrial revolutions changed that. Physical attributes tuned over thousands of years became redundant. Bodies used to an agile life now had back-breaking days in the field and factory.
The industrial revolution had a massive cultural impact. It introduced new health risks to humans. But in the main, we were still active. Whether in collieries or factories, on building sites or in the home.
We’ve moved on again. The digital revolution has spawned a new service industry. We now spend most of our time sat at a desk, looking at a computer screen. This is having a catastrophic impact on our physical and mental health. We have an epidemic of physical and mental health issues. At the centre of this? Stress.
What is stress?
Stress is the centrepiece in the post-industrial nightmare. But what is it? It gets a bad rap, but it's essential in keeping us safe. Stress is our body’s superhero power. It's an alarm system for threat and danger. Stress is hardwired into nature and is part of our evolutionary DNA.
We share this with other mammals. We see it in a gazelle as it escapes from a hyena. That same response kicks in for us in emergencies. We call it the “stress response”.
We sense danger, our brain kicks in and send signals to strategic glands in the body. They switch on the hormonal machinery to deal with the threat, releasing adrenalin and cortisol into our bloodstream. This increases our heart rate, pumping blood to the areas that need it.
Our senses go into high alert. We spring into action. The gazelle evades the lion. The pedestrian leaps back and the car speeds by. It’s quick, efficient and involuntary: how it should work. But now comes the problem.
The human and the chimp
In his book The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme for Confidence, Success and Happiness, Dr Steve Peters breaks up the brain into different parts.
The two main players are the human and the chimp.
The human is us - the calm logical part of our brain. It deals with logic and fact. The chimp is the animal in our brain that responds to threat and danger.
The chimp pulls the trigger on the stress response. To do this it also has first shot at emotions and impressions. After the initial alarm the human should then intervene. If the threat isn’t dangerous after all, we cut the power on the stress response alarm. Our system powers back to normal.
In the past our active, simpler lifestyles kept the chimp in its box. But now it gets out more and more. Our sedentary lifestyles aren't tiring it out. It leaps out of the box and creates havoc. It uses the stress response for things it shouldn’t.
This could be short term annoyances like a traffic jam or a dog barking next door. It could also be long term problems: your marriage, finances or job. So rather than extreme events like jumping from a burning building. The chimp goes nuclear on every day, emotional events.
Each time it hits the button, our stress superpower works its terrible magic. We now have a slow-drip of hormones flooding our body round the clock. This is chronic, low-level stress.
Chronic stress causes:
depression, anxiety and personality disorders
heart disease and high blood pressure
weight gain
insomnia
menstrual problems, impotence and loss of sex drive
skin and hair problems
digestive and dietry problems
This creates a vicious circle. More stress = more insecurity and ill-health = more stress.
Moving from a vicious to a virtuous circle
Genetics take millennia to evolve. And it's the hunter-gatherer that is still hardwired in us. Something deep in our genetic code longs to be running, jumping, evading and attacking. The anthropologist Marshall Sahlins called our hunter-gatherer period the "original affluent society". Maybe it was the only part of history in which humans were free.
We need something in our daily and weekly life to reconnect us with self and surroundings. Of course, I'll bang the drum for non-contact boxing training.
When taught correctly boxing relieves stress and improves:
cardiovascular fitness
mental health
strength and muscle-tone
hand-eye and hand-foot coordination
reactions
physical and mental agility
spatial awareness
It gives us everything to satisfy our inner hunter-gatherer. We are now changing the direction of the circle. From vicious to virtuous. As we get fitter and more active, our health improves. As our health improves, so does our confidence. As our confidence and health improves our stress levels decrease. As stress decreases our health improves. And so on.
Absence and sickness costs the British economy around £100 billion a year. Many companies already offer subsidised health and fitness classes for their staff. I’m lucky enough to work with some of them. I’d love to see this at an organised, more formal level. Allocated time for group health and fitness, with a thorough study of the results.
It only takes a few brave organisations to make a concerted effort. One hour per person, per week. In the bigger picture it’s not much to ask. The improvements in staff well-being and team morale will far outweigh the cost.
Sources
Harari, Yuval Noah. (2015). Sapiens.
Sapolsky, Robert Prof. Stress and Your Body: The Great Courses.
Peters, Prof Steve. (2012). The Chimp Paradox.
