Perceived Stress

Summary

The source of all stress is fear and at its core it's the fear of dying.
It´s primarily a concern for what may happen in the future, that gives rise to stress, but also unnatural environments, long term loneliness and sedentary, contribute to our perceived stress for example.
Some of the main sources of stress in today's society are:

  • Events that bring an unconscious feeling of risking being expelled from the group. E.g. criticism, feeling of failure, no likes on social media...
  • To be feeling lonely
  • We are programmed to be distracted, not to be calm and idle
  • Separation from nature
  • Shattered expectations, in a society that offers an endless range of choices and possibilities
  • Surounded by a lot of unknown people. Staying in crowded places
  • Too sedentary - lack of movement
  • Huge flow of information
  • Non creative, non influential job situation

Why are we so stressed?

Our brain is programmed for a life on the savannah, but it's not only today's hectic work days that lately has caused the stress to increase dramaticly compared to our evolutionary origin as hunters-gatherers. Here are some examples of what causes our mental stability to deteriorate:

  • Fear is the cause of stress, and one of our biggest (usually unconscious) fears is being rejected from the group (tribe), which during our evolutionary origins, was associated with life-threatening danger. Therefore, e.g. the workplace, social media, unstable family relationships and the experience of loneliness, constitutes major sources of stress. Losing a job, being dissed on Facebook, going through a divorce, and lack of social interaction, all trigger stress because our brain interprets these as life-threatening situations.
  • The fact that more and more people live in single households is not in itself a problem for our mental health, but the fact that we have fewer close friends than before is a source of stress. Feeling alone is a greater threat to health than smoking and alcohol for example.
  • The driving force of evolution is population growth, which means that survival and reproduction are the two most important evolutionary goals for a species. On the savanna, people who responded to all forms of potential threats survived to a greater extent than those who were less alert. This has resulted in the brain of today's people being programmed to be constantly on guard and we should rather be in motion to ensure access to food. This is the main reason why many people find it difficult to meditate for example, because the brain sees this passive activity as a risk and thus raises the stress level.
  • Man has lived close to nature for almost his entire history. The extensive urbanization in recent centuries, has contributed to increased stress. Scientific studies show that the level of stress hormones rises when we are in a city, compared to when we are close to nature.
  • The range of choices offered in today's society causes stress, when goals are not reached as expected, or when the outcome of an experience is worse than expected. It is thus the difference between expectation and outcome that generates this stress. A simpler lifestyle with fewer choices, thus generates less stress.
  • We live in societies that are significantly larger than the groups of a maximum of 150 people, which we are evolutionarily characterized by. An insecurity arises when you are surrounded by a large number of unknown people.
  • We exercise alot less than we did on the savannah. Our brain is programmed to encurage movement. Lack of movement will increase anxiety for example.
  • We are bombarded by sensational news from all over the world, and the majority of these news doesn't affect us personally. But since our brain believes that all information that reaches us, has its origin within the very limited area that we lived within during our evolutionary history, the brain interpret all these negative events, as a direct threat to our existence, regardless of its origin in the world.
  • We live in hierarchical structures. Working relationships with little personal influence lead to stress, as do class differences and income gaps.

"Feeling lonely is not being alone, it's the feeling that no one cares."

Anything in life that causes mental resistance, generates stress. Wanting the present moment to be different than what it is, thus causes stress. The more resistance you have to what is, the more you suffer. What you need to end the suffering, is acceptance. If you can't change what's going on in the present moment, you might as well accept it.

"If you can't change the present moment, accept it as if you had chosen it."
  - Eckhart Tolle

An increasing number of young people are suffering from stress, and many scientists point out that social media is one of the reasons that mental illness is increasing in this age category.
Our brain still thinks that we are living the way we did 40.000 years ago. I.e. living in small groups within a small geographic area, without hierarcic structure. When we unconsciously have our selfworth questioned when we are judged with likes or dislikes on the internet, our stress system goes crazy since our evolutionary past equals questioned group affiliation with a death threat. In the past we were compared to a few people within our small group, but now we are compared to everyone that is connected to the internet.