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I have wondered - but have no evidence either way - if the stress we encounter nowadays differs to stress of the past. At some point very long ago most of us we

I have wondered - but have no evidence either way - if the stress we encounter nowadays differs to stress of the past. At some point very long ago most of us were stressing about things like food, water, surviving the night. Now most of us are stressing about things like work pressure, debt, global disasters. I wonder if the nature of the stressors have changed from immediate and acute to increasingly abstract and chronic? And potentially, if the quality of life profile is different in the two cases due to different coping mechanisms? Very anecdotal which makes me think this: immediate physical stressors like exercise are uncomfortable but I get through them fine. Chronic stressors like climate change are totally ruining my quality of life.

apples_oranges 1y ago
I think you are right with chronic vs immediate stressors. Economic anxiety could be the big one, and people don’t see the end of the tunnel.
- nradov 1y ago
  Medieval peasants didn't see the end of the tunnel either. I'm skeptical that the type and quantity of stress is really worse now.
  - navane 1y ago
    At least they knew that this was temporal but heaven would be eternal. There was a point to things. When you stand for nothing you fall for everything. There's no story left in which we play.
  - ratmeadow 1y ago
    Medieval peasantry times may already be well into the "abstract chronic stress" period. Humans have been around a while.
shmageggy 1y ago
I’m sure I’ve heard of research along these lines, and indeed searching for something like “modern stress versus…” finds some work, such as https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8832552/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8832552/
jazzyjackson 1y ago
chronically worrying about climate change is no different than chronically worrying about death. it's simple, stone age, existential fear. ancient men and women coped with existential fear by either embracing that everything is a cycle, or inventing some semblance of immortality by raising children or believing in life after death. I guess I have no stress about climate change because it seems very normal to me that society and biosystems occasionally collapse. The stress comes from thinking there's something that can be done to stop it, and feeling that you're unable to achieve it. Maybe that's me throwing my hands up and accepting death instead of trying to stave it off, I just want to throw out there that the stress is self imposed, not environmental.

apples_oranges 1y ago

I think you are right with chronic vs immediate stressors. Economic anxiety could be the big one, and people don’t see the end of the tunnel.

nradov 1y ago
Medieval peasants didn't see the end of the tunnel either. I'm skeptical that the type and quantity of stress is really worse now.
- navane 1y ago
  At least they knew that this was temporal but heaven would be eternal. There was a point to things. When you stand for nothing you fall for everything. There's no story left in which we play.
- ratmeadow 1y ago
  Medieval peasantry times may already be well into the "abstract chronic stress" period. Humans have been around a while.

shmageggy 1y ago

I’m sure I’ve heard of research along these lines, and indeed searching for something like “modern stress versus…” finds some work, such as https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8832552/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8832552/

jazzyjackson 1y ago

chronically worrying about climate change is no different than chronically worrying about death. it's simple, stone age, existential fear. ancient men and women coped with existential fear by either embracing that everything is a cycle, or inventing some semblance of immortality by raising children or believing in life after death. I guess I have no stress about climate change because it seems very normal to me that society and biosystems occasionally collapse. The stress comes from thinking there's something that can be done to stop it, and feeling that you're unable to achieve it. Maybe that's me throwing my hands up and accepting death instead of trying to stave it off, I just want to throw out there that the stress is self imposed, not environmental.