In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
Easter’s journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA’s top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who’s found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more.
Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.
Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
Cover
Hardcover
Number of Pages
304
Publication Date
2021
Dimensions
16.3x24 cm
ISBN-13
9780593138762
Important information
Specifications are collected from official manufacturer websites. Please verify the specifications before proceeding with your final purchase. If you notice any problem you can report it here.
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
Thoughts on The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
Thoughts on The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
Easter’s journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA’s top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who’s found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more.
Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.
Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
Cover
Hardcover
Number of Pages
304
Publication Date
2021
Dimensions
16.3x24 cm
ISBN-13
9780593138762
Important information
Specifications are collected from official manufacturer websites. Please verify the specifications before proceeding with your final purchase. If you notice any problem you can report it here.
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
Thoughts on The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
Thoughts on The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
There is a moment when you realize that all that you have achieved in life brings you comfort, pleasure, and a deep feeling of "something missing". The author dissects this feeling and links it back to how humans were made and evolved through millions of years: optimized to survive.
If you remove the need for survival and replace it with an abundance of comforts, you have the right ingredients for a wrong recipe. Being in the ideal room temperature, sitting in an orthopedically-approved chair, eating as much as you like, and so on gives the wrong messages to your body and mind which are programed to... well, survive.
From illnesses to obesity, chronic back pain, and even the tough realization that "we are not 20 any more" after an intense padel match, these are all results of, the book claims, getting detached with our nature. Human bodies are made to walk, squat, carry, and move a lot.
The author explores the notion of "Misogi", a limits-expanding challenge, in the depths of Alaska, hunting caribou. Misogis can take place anywhere the cell reception is low, not necessarily putting one's life in danger. They are tougher than one can be sure to see though, shaking one's confidence and feeling of control. If the odds of success are not 50-50, it's not a Misogi. I'm curious to explore Misogis further, which says a lot about the book.
Ps. I couldn't knock off the irony of reading most of this book sitting in the most comfortable chair I have first step is realization.
