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How to be more human
For 95 per cent of our time on earth, Homo sapiens were hunter gatherers. Back in the long millennia of prehistory we met a few hundred people in a lifetime; today it’s countless thousands. Back then we only cared about what directly affected us; now the news plugs our emotions into the agonies of the world. Back then our days were shaped by practical purpose; now we’re endlessly searching for distraction and dopamine hits. Back then we were nurtured by nature; now we’re surrounded by screens.
The world has utterly transformed, but our brains and bodies haven’t. We’re navigating the super-speed age with kit that evolved for the Stone Age. The result? Many are tired, wired, stressed and depressed. Between the mental health problems we’re suffering and the material progress we’re enjoying is an uncomfortable truth: we are not living the way that human beings evolved to live. But what can we do about it?
In The Paleo Life, journalist Clare Foges draws on the lifestyles of hunter gatherers past and present to offer ancient wisdom about how we can live now, from friendship to food, sex to sleep, the way we parent to the way we see our place in the world. This isn’t about going all Flintstones; it’s about borrowing some of our ancestors’ time-tested habits to help us live more happily today. It’s about living in a way that’s more balanced, more simple, more human.
How can our Stone Age brains and bodies thrive in a super-speed world? The Paleo Life shows how.
For 95 per cent of our time on earth, Homo sapiens were hunter gatherers. Back in the long millennia of prehistory we met a few hundred people in a lifetime; today it’s countless thousands. Back then we only cared about what directly affected us; now the news plugs our emotions into the agonies of the world. Back then our days were shaped by practical purpose; now we’re endlessly searching for distraction and dopamine hits. Back then we were nurtured by nature; now we’re surrounded by screens.
The world has utterly transformed, but our brains and bodies haven’t. We’re navigating the super-speed age with kit that evolved for the Stone Age. The result? Many are tired, wired, stressed and depressed. Between the mental health problems we’re suffering and the material progress we’re enjoying is an uncomfortable truth: we are not living the way that human beings evolved to live. But what can we do about it?
In The Paleo Life, journalist Clare Foges draws on the lifestyles of hunter gatherers past and present to offer ancient wisdom about how we can live now, from friendship to food, sex to sleep, the way we parent to the way we see our place in the world. This isn’t about going all Flintstones; it’s about borrowing some of our ancestors’ time-tested habits to help us live more happily today. It’s about living in a way that’s more balanced, more simple, more human.
How can our Stone Age brains and bodies thrive in a super-speed world? The Paleo Life shows how.
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