We seem to be searching for answers to what ails us in the form of pharmaceutical drugs, fad diets, elective surgery, workout programs, etc., even when this trend seems to make matters worse. The majority of interventions basically follow the same strategy, “fix” the symptom, instead of finding the cause. This mentality has been ingrained into our mentality for a century so it isn’t hard to see why this is the status quo. However, it’s easy to see by the substantial decline in health over the last half-century, that the path we are on isn’t the best way to capture health. I think we are looking in the wrong direction for answers — we are looking forward for the next big breakthrough to save us from ourselves, when we should be looking to our past when we were more resilient. 

You may be surprised to hear this, but your lack of sleep doesn’t stem from a Lunesta deficiency. In fact, it doesn’t come from any pharmaceutical drug deficiency at all! most likely, it came fro your inability to adjust your lifestyle so that sleep became a priority instead of an afterthought. Poor sleep can manifest through multiple variables — too much stress, food intolerances, circadian rhythm dysfunction, too much blue light, not enough sunlight, eating too late, not moving your body enough, underlying chemical toxicity, and even depression. Basically, your everyday life is creating a mismatch with how you’re meant to be living.

In the past, we came out of the environment. We adapted to the way things were in the natural world and thrived because there was no alternative. We carry those same adaptations (genetics) into the present, where we share 99% of the same DNA as our ancestors, who lived 10,000 years ago. And while, we share so much of ourselves, we’ve lost so much of that natural environment. We’ve built our modern environment to satisfy our desires, at the detriment of our need for the natural world. 

Now, we eat constantly, yet we’re never full. We crave input, yet we’re never satisfied. We’re all connected, yet we all share a deep sense of loneliness. We seek dopamine hit after dopamine hit, until no amount of stimulation can bring us out of the dull trance that is indicative of the modern day mismatch. 

We ran so fast, so hard, for so long in our pursuit to create a “safe” society where we could acquire new and shiny things to make us comfortable, that we forgot what really makes us human. It certainly isn’t a new iPhone, Smart TV, Uber, DoorDash, Keto Donuts, Veganism, 24 hour news, or any other of the crazy bullshit that is being sold. We are trapped in a cycle that is literally killing us with convenience.

It is no coincidence that stress, sleep deficits, sedentarism, processed foods, exposure to chemicals, lack of social support, pharmaceutical drugs, and lack of contact with nature is having a profound impact on our overall health and wellness. How could it not? The majority of the shit we do is just to be able to afford the shit we don’t need. On top of that, all these factors have an ability to determine whether our genetic blueprints express health or disease. That’s right, the environment we have created is literally killing us. 

Sometimes a step backwards is a step in the right direction. 

If anyone is familiar with Joseph Campbell, you’ll have heard of the Hero’s Journey. If not, it’s the classic mythological story about how a Hero sets out on a journey of adventure, along the way he comes up against hardship, overcomes, learns about himself and the world, and then returns home with a new outlook. We are the Hero in our adventure story. To create better health, we need to understand that the path we are on is not beneficial to our health and longevity. We have to learn from the hardships that manifest as exponential rate of poor health, so that we can overcome this adversity. We need to take what we’ve learned and return home with a more natural approach to life. There can be harmony between technology and a more natural way of living. Including real food, abundant movement, establishing a loving community, restful sleep, and a grateful mindset are all something we should strive for in our Hero’s journey.