Modern Diseases: Deviations from Nature

Modern Diseases: A Biological Perspective

By studying the history of our species and how modern life gives rise to modern diseases, it is possible to make important life changes in ourselves before it is too late. More importantly, this scientific adventure enables us to drastically improve the quality of life of future generations, most notably our children. After all the survival of our species depends on making each generation better than the last in as many ways as possible. Some important ideas to consider are as follows:

1. Constant, intense exercise: Our bodies are designed in a very special way: they are healthiest when subject to physical hardship but hate the hardship itself. You can see this in all aspects of life. Most people hate feeling tired after working out or hate eating healthy food when given an unhealthy option. If you consider yourself an exception, you simply have learned how to convince your unconscious mind that these activities are the norm.

Thus, from a biological perspective our children must be exposed to intense, grueling physical work for their own sake. On top of this, it must become second nature for them at an early age so that their mental urge to take the easy way out cannot take over. If life begins with such activities, the norm has been set, meaning that exercise is not a lifestyle choice, it is just their lifestyle.

1. Natural Pathogen Exposure: As mentioned above, our immune system is itching to protect us from danger. So why not let it? Instead of constantly sanitizing a child’s hands after every witnessed dirty moment, let the body do the sanitation. This constant exposure to threats is what we were designed to do and the body does not simply relax because there is nothing to do.
2. Outdoor Activities: Try getting your kids in the habit of spending time outdoors, be it for quiet walks or sports. Both of these activities give their eyes a chance to relax after the constant strain of civilized life. On top of this, allowing your kids to spend time barefoot both inside and out of the house will protect them from future postural issues.
3. Diet: This is the most talked about aspect of fitness across all ages. However, while certain diets are better for achieving certain goals, there are foods that we evolved consuming. In short, humans evolved while eating chewy, fibrous plant matter and tough, fatty meat for all their calories. On top of this, food was not eaten throughout the day but only when there was food to be eaten.

These eating styles adapted us to perform best when feasting sporadically, a topic for another time. From a biological perspective, the only type of food that the body is not equipped to handle is carbohydrate dense foods, something rare in nature. These facts should provide good guidelines regarding what you decide to eat.

Conclusion

Our biology is not conscious, it follows principles of physics. Thus, our body will not recognize that we live in a time of plenty. The human body will follow its genetic code for the duration of its life, meaning we will always be contained within a machine running on imperfect hardware. In order to make good use of this machine, we need to integrate good routines in our daily lives.

So how do we do that? I mentioned earlier about setting habits in children early so that their first impressions of the world contain good habits. However, like all human processes, habits are governed by genetics. In order to make good decisions and stick with long term goals, it is important to understand the biology of our brain. In the next (and final) part of this mini-series on human evolution, we will look at ways that science can help us understand how habits form and how we can bend them to our will.