Stopping The 'stress Syndrome' - How Can We Make Modern Life Less Stressful?

[Tenacity]

I was reading the Haidut Email Advice Depository and I found this account very interesting.

The only person I know of who lost all his hair in a typical MPB pattern and got it ALL back was a mountain climber I knew back in college. He went almost completely bald in his mid-twenties and went to live with a community in the Tian-Shen mountains. I saw him maybe 5 years later and his hair had come back completely. He told me he would never go back to the modern world and there are things he could "feel" in the air, "taste" in the food and "see" around us that he could never explain but were obvious to people who lived in the wild. He said even one of those "things" was enough to cause serious health issues over time. He studied Selye as well and said once the "stress syndrome" starts it can be stopped but not reversed in the modern world we live in. That world is engineered AND optimized for stress and he thought he needed a complete reset to recover. He did seem to recover his hair fully and it did look real (no surgery or fake implants). And he went back to the mountains and seems to not have any interest in coming back. Maybe it is the CO2, maybe it is the freedom he enjoys there. But the difference in how he looked, not just because of hair regrowth, was striking. I don't think I could pull off leaving the civilized world for good, but every once in a while I wonder if there is any point in doing a more extended "reset" like him. Peat keeps going to Mexico and cuts off the world completely for months. There must be a reason for that. He also said a few times that changing places/experiences in a dramatic fashion can change things for good for people who do not respond to anything else.

Given that leaving civilisation altogether is not an option for most people, what can we do to minimise the stress of the modern world, besides diet and supplementation? What things have you implemented in your own daily regimen, for health or stress-lowering purposes?

Some initial ideas:
1) Spending plenty of time outdoors in natural scenery, getting lots of sunlight.
2) Meaningful work; a sense of mastery. Ideally undertaken for the sheer enjoyment/meaningfulness of it.
3) Sleeping enough each day. Sleeping more in the winter (9+ hours).
4) Spending time with other happy people.
5) Exercise?

We could also discuss how best to achieve the ideas listed above, or any following ideas.

 

[theLaw]

In no particular order:

1. Red light
2. Creating a "no rush" lifestyle
3. Steady working/playing throughout the day without extremes
4. Avoiding conflict whenever possible

On a personal note, I started watching Fox news after the election, but quickly found that each night was the same. Everyone wanted to argue instead of debate, so they would never move forward.

I am now very weary of this type of time-sucking behaviour.

 

[Mastodonhugger]

I believe its probably the sense of freedom. An interesting and instantly observable observation of mine is that when I experience a true sense of freedom my hair instantly thickens. Not just a little but a lot! And within the matter of an hour or so, give or take.

For me that's when I go hiking/biking or play music. There is something about the ability to simply express yourself and enjoy yourself that is just healthy. The absence of any social pressure or stress, it simply allows you to heal.

So if you ask me, everyone should have something that they can do that is completely without pressure.

No matter what it is I think that as long as you enjoy it and its stress free then it will be healthy. Even if it is exercise, from experience as long as its enjoyable then it will have a good effect.

 

[BigBrain]

In no particular order:

1. Red light
2. Creating a "no rush" lifestyle
3. Steady working/playing throughout the day without extremes
4. Avoiding conflict whenever possible

On a personal note, I started watching Fox news after the election, but quickly found that each night was the same. Everyone wanted to argue instead of debate, so they would never move forward.

I am now very weary of this type of time-sucking behaviour.

totally disagree with you and maybe with all ppl which have similiar post like you. Posting the same and same over and over again.
In order to overcome with stress you need genetics which are ressitant to physical stress like invironmental stress and psychical stress conflicts.
First of all i totally agree in one point that high metabolism is the only one important thing to overcome with stress. Why because you can adapt really fast to the invironment, also the stress which totally shuts down other ppl wont stress you at all.

In order to be stress ressistant you must face the stress over and over again. Not only in one generation this needs happen over more than one generation. If you never faced stress how you want expect to overcome it. Western population isnt stress ressistant at all in addition to that they have alot of environmetall stress factors.

I know that now 99 % of you will hate me for this comment but you guys only now theory but not the experience.
You cant do really anything in your life time for stress management or getting more ressistant what ever , in my experience its all genetic. yes ofc you can do the basic things eat peaty. Train sleep recover but its not a big deal. But if you live now a good healthy life in peaty context your kids will become more stress ressistant. Stress is a invironmental factor think its epicgenetically hereditary.

 

[theLaw]

In order to overcome with stress you need genetics which are ressitant to physical stress like invironmental stress and psychical stress conflicts.

I disagree, but it sounds like you've made up your mind on this.

Perhaps another forum that agrees with your theory would be a better fit for you and cause you less stress. After all........isn't that the idea?

Cheers!

 

[dfspcc20]

Not being in debt is probably a big one. Though that goes against much of what our society and systems are built upon, and is likely unattainable for most (due to said systems).

 

[Broken man]

So after what I read by haidut I think I am really f*cked because I am doing job what I hate for miserable money, saving all money what I could for food not to mention that I should save some money for my children or house and I understand why my all friends are drinking, smoking and doing all the drugs.

 

[Tenacity]

In no particular order:

1. Red light
2. Creating a "no rush" lifestyle
3. Steady working/playing throughout the day without extremes
4. Avoiding conflict whenever possible

On a personal note, I started watching Fox news after the election, but quickly found that each night was the same. Everyone wanted to argue instead of debate, so they would never move forward.

I am now very weary of this type of time-sucking behaviour.

I've yet to experiment with red light. I've used bright warm-white LEDs but I don't notice anything from it. In some contexts I've even grow to dislike it - probably because it makes less illuminated parts of the room seem very dark in comparison.

As for your other points, I'd sum up the main message as 'keep your cool'. Would that be about right?

Not being in debt is probably a big one. Though that goes against much of what our society and systems are built upon, and is likely unattainable for most (due to said systems).

Yeah, I think a certain degree of financial awareness, and knowledge of good financial practice, is vital to reduce monetary stress. Mr Money Mustache's work is interesting from that perspective.

 

[Tenacity]

-deleted-

 

[theLaw]

I've yet to experiment with red light. I've used bright warm-white LEDs but I don't notice anything from it. In some contexts I've even grow to dislike it - probably because it makes less illuminated parts of the room seem very dark in comparison.

As for your other points, I'd sum up the main message as 'keep your cool'. Would that be about right?

Correct.

 

[DaveFoster]

A life structure with minimal deadlines seems the most fruitful option.

Interaction with people of divergent identity (whether personal interests or hobbies, career goals, values, religion, geographical or ethnic background, race, gender, or age) can increase stress, and the sex drive helps overcome the stress of speaking to the opposite gender (for men and women), so it becomes enjoyable, rather than debilitating.

Similarly, exposure to another culture (or individual) can yield novelty and enjoyment, but in an energetically-depleted state, where one cannot form and maintain some form of social identity, isolation results.

 

[Tarmander]

I think Peat has really outlined some of the more stressful things, and he is probably a better source to read about those. I would add that you can have the attitude that almost everything created in the last century is probably stressful in some way. You are far better off just assuming that anything you are offered that was not around 100 years ago is probably stressful, or exciting in some way that you do not want. There are exceptions of course...antibiotics, red lamps, etc. But just assume that short cuts take from you. The closer you can get to 50s America, the better.

 

[cyclops]

You cant do really anything in your life time for stress management or getting more ressistant what ever , in my experience its all genetic.

So what are we all doing her then?

nteraction with people of divergent identity (whether personal interests or hobbies, career goals, values, religion, geographical or ethnic background, race, gender, or age) can increase stress, and the sex drive helps overcome the stress of speaking to the opposite gender (for men and women), so it becomes enjoyable, rather than debilitating.

Similarly, exposure to another culture (or individual) can yield novelty and enjoyment, but in an energetically-depleted state, where one cannot form and maintain some form of social identity, isolation results.

You're saying talking to people from different races/ethnicities increases stress, but exposure to another culture is enjoyable? Sounds like you're saying two different things. Also, I think either can be stressful or enjoyable -- depends on so many factors.

 

[Tarmander]

You're saying talking to people from different races/ethnicities increases stress, but exposure to another culture is enjoyable? Sounds like you're saying two different things. Also, I think either can be stressful or enjoyable -- depends on so many factors.

A lot fo times excitement is thought of as pleasurable when really it is a stress on the system, and is depleting. Adrenaline rush and all that.

 

[DaveFoster]

So what are we all doing her then?



You're saying talking to people from different races/ethnicities increases stress, but exposure to another culture is enjoyable? Sounds like you're saying two different things. Also, I think either can be stressful or enjoyable -- depends on so many factors.

I'm plainly saying two different aspects of the same thing.

Exercise can damage or even kill you if you're sick, whereas exercise can revitalize a healthy person. Even in the healthy, certain types of exercise can damage.

 

[Blossom]

Time in nature seems really helpful to me. I didn't realize how much so until this past Spring when I moved to the country and lived on a family members 65 acre mostly wooded property in a camper for about six months. Honestly it should have been one of the more stressful times of my life but being surrounded by nature as far as they eye could see was such a balm for the soul. I would take walks and feel restored and calm. I partially credit my ability to handle going back to a grueling night shift job the same week I moved to the fact that I was able to decompress in nature regularly. It dawned on me that our separation from nature might be more of an issue for modern people than we realize.

 

[lexis]

Too much intellectual reasoning is the sickness of the modern world.A person goes to a 9-5 job,does what he is required,comes home and again starts the calculative reasoning which goes something like this "There are this many hours in a day,I can work only x hours,for each hour I get paid only this amount,so how can I achieve x,y,z...etc"

For a person who analyses everything in terms of numbers,limits will be imposed on his thinking,emotions and fundamental beliefs. Numbers cannot play roles in human emotions. Human emotions can be formed by a being that is not constrained by numbers.

 

[Repas du soir]

I think it has been proven that watching nature documentaries lower stress, similarly to how walking in nature or just looking at trees lowers stress.

 

[Tenacity]

I think it has been proven that watching nature documentaries lower stress, similarly to how walking in nature or just looking at trees lowers stress.

That's a good one, thanks!