Understanding evolution for a physically and financially healthy you
Evolution is the gradual process of change and development. Our pre-historic ancestors sourced their food from the wild, were on the go, moving from one place to another, putting in more than 10,000 steps regularly, subjected to feast and famine so their bodies would store energy in order to survive.
Fast forward to today. Food is readily available, mostly in their processed form, consumed anytime we want to, usually while sitting. In fact, we’re sitting down not just while eating but practically while doing anything such that doing 10,000 steps a day has become an effortful endeavor.
Our lifestyle has changed significantly over the years while our body has remained basically the same since over one million years ago! In other words, we are stone-age bodies trapped in a fastfood world doing finger-clicking on gadgets as our main physical exercise throughout the day! No wonder, obesity continues to rise worldwide. This huge mismatch in the pace of our body’s evolution and our lifestyle change has made us suffer from civilization diseases.
One of the books I am currently reading is "Outlive (The Science & Art of Longevity)" by Peter Attia, a medical doctor and math person who also worked in the finance industry. He talks about the cause of 80% of deaths which he calls the four horsemen of chronic disease:
1. Atherosclerosis – comprised of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
2. Cancer
3. Neurodegenerative diseases – ex. Alzheimer’s
4. Foundational/metabolic diseases – such as insulin resistance, fatty liver, type 2 diabetes
He differentiates lifespan from healthspan, and wants us to focus on the latter. Life span is all about longevity, while healthspan is not just about prolonging our life but taking care of its quality as well, by postponing the onset of the four horsemen. His approach is proactive such that he urges us to take charge of our health early and not just when any of the four horsemen is upon us.
Evolution parallelism with our financial health
Our financial environment has also drastically changed compared to the evolution of our internal money beliefs and values. There is also a mismatch here that has caused many of us to be afflicted with chronic financial diseases.
While most of us still want that financial stability in order to provide well for ourselves and our loved ones, our spending appetite has increased exponentially. Inasmuch as food supply is readily available now in their processed forms, things to buy have also proliferated and their availability and ease of purchase have both aggressively increased. Everything can be bought anywhere, anytime, 24/7, whether you have the money for it now or not.
On the earning side, more and more workers are earning erratically, similar to a feast and famine mode. Unfortunately, our spending habits have not “evolved” to address this as we hardly see anyone reduce his standard of living when the going gets tough. Subscriptions and other luxuries are still hard to give up even when we need to.
On the investing side, our emotional Emong behavioral biases such as loss aversion, money myopia, etc. are still with us such that we find it difficult to set aside money for our future self. (See previous articles on this. Loss aversion (The psychology of money series*), Why doesn’t the 99% invest in the stock market? Answer: Myopic loss aversion (The psychology of money series*)
I’m sharing this thought for you dear readers to understand that while change in our lifestyle is inevitable and usually brings about improvements, we have to remember that some things really remain the same. So, for a healthy physical and financial you, “Hinay-hinay lang. Hinay-hinay sa kain. Hinay-hinay sa gastos.” (“Take it easy! Easy on the eating. Easy on the spending.”)
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This article is also published in FQMom.com.
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