Next Frontier (Part 2)
“Preposterous, perhaps, but certainly not prosperous.”
- Christopher Ryan, Civilized to Death
In order to improve, to see true advancement, health and wellness must be prioritized as highly as achievement; if not, higher.
In this continuation of the previous post, “Next Frontier”, we’ll look at exactly why this is more of a realistic necessity than a dream born from naivety. Beginning with the most obvious indicator of wellness, illness.
Heart disease
Cancer
Stroke
Lung disease
Alzheimer’s
Diabetes
Liver disease
Kidney disease
Research has confirmed many times over that regular exercise greatly reduces the risk of each of the above-listed health problems. Combined with a well-balanced diet, these risks lower again, and probably to an even greater extent. Now, it’s worth noting that I didn’t just cherrypick those that are worsened by a lack of exercise, in fact, it took only a single Google search to find them. That’s a list of eight of the ten leading causes of death in the US; eight out of ten of our deadliest predators maimed by simply moving our bodies. But sure, exercise is great and it helps us avoid dying and that’s cool, but we need to focus on the real problems! They’re not necessarily those of dying, they’re issues of living– suffering.
One of the things about health that I find so interesting is how, even though we label different aspects of it (physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, etc.), it’s really all one thing. In other words, they’re so deeply interconnected that it’s impossible to discuss one without the rest. We’re all aware by now of the haunting rise in rates of mental health issues; depression, anxiety, suicide, loneliness, addiction, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, and general unhappiness are ever-increasing among children and adults. Which, and I don’t think this is a reach, could be summarized as an increase in suffering. It’s a disastrous state of affairs. So, what do we do about that? Yeah, exercise, sure, but what’s the point if I’m miserable? Luckily, we’re backed by millions of years of evolution that has ensured exercise helps our wacky brain chemistry too. A good example of this comes from Wendy Suzuki, a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University. In the second most viewed TedTalk of 2018, she claims exercise is “the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today.”
But, enough about movement, it’s a topic that we could spend an infinite amount of time discussing, and I need to get to the point. Though I’ve strayed a bit, the sentence in italics at the top of the page must remain the priority.
Yes, psychological suffering is greatly reduced when we take care of our brains and bodies blah blah blah, but only children and socialists care about that, what about my money??
As much as it bothers me, if we’re to make any real strides toward systemic change, we need to take a more “practical” (capitalistic) approach. But, schools and businesses are already structured in the most effective way! They prioritize achievement so we can be as economically robust as possible! The relentless competition, comparison, and standardization drives prosperity! Though the “prosperity” of our country is up for debate, it’s true that we are a rich one, and it may also be true that if we get richer, we’ll get healthier. However, if our trajectory over the past century is indicative of anything, we have been getting richer, but very clearly not healthier. So, I (and of course, science) would argue that we have it backward; if we get healthier, we’ll get richer.
A countless number of companies are catching on to the “happy employee = profitable employee” equation, and though the motivation may be questionable, at least we’re starting to head in a positive direction. Look at the success of companies that have tried four-day work weeks; even though we’d work less, you give us just one more day of freedom and that would make us happier, and you money-er. If simply giving full-grown adults an extra day to themselves each week significantly improves business, think about this, finance people:
How much more prolific would your enterprise be if, throughout their 18+ years of schooling, your employees had learned to optimize their health, and develop habits and behaviors that unlock their most productive selves? Now, imagine a country of them. Personally, I think we need healthier people simply because suffering isn’t cool… but, hey, there’s money being left on the table here.
Lastly, let’s move on and refer back to the issue of mistreated values.
1. Family
2. Relationships
3. Financial Security
4. Belonging
5. Community
6. Personal Growth
7. Loyalty
8. Religion/Spirituality
9. Employment Security
10. Personal Responsibility
Gathered from a survey of over 500,000 people across the globe, it’s quite clear that these things are fundamental to the human experience. In short, evidence suggests that when we fail to address these values in a fulfilling way, we see significantly increased chances of succumbing to the other, darker list at the beginning of this post. Though it’s much harder to quantify, it’s no less true that negative social relationships, poor financial literacy, and a weak sense of belonging/community have equally as detrimental health effects as does something like smoking. Our emotional and cognitive function— our happiness and productivity strongly depend on the fulfillment of these values. Yet, we’ve little time in our days to tend to them.
Though it’s nearly impossible to define and it’s a fleeting experience, happiness plays a critical role in health, and vice-versa. Still, the days pass and we find ourselves chasing money, things, fame, and status— among other things that don’t make the top ten on anyone’s list— hoping that happiness is at the end of this rainbow of consumerism. And, just like the pot of gold, it isn’t. The issues we’re facing, the lethal and the soul-torturing, are not those of technology, or math, or engineering, or science, or literacy; they’re issues of wellness. We need to get better.
