It's That Time of the Year
It’s that time of the year - time to be on the look-out for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Came across this today from Art De Vany’s site:
(De Vany is kind of a character (my assessment). Officially he is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Irvine, where he was a member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences. The main objective in his blog is to work on his book Evolutionary Fitness. He advocates the position that the human body evolved for hunting and gathering, and in evolutionary terms, we are still “there”. Modern society with its over-abundance of food and sedentary work conditions wreaks havoc on us in a number of ways. Interesting stuff.)
This reminded me of something I saw in the news about monkeys, and how they developed depression as a coping mechanism of sorts.
What this means to us - or at least to me - humans in northern latitudes (MN for example) are prone to depression this time of year. That I understand. Bored humans, like those in corporate cubeville for example, may develop the same behavioral remedy for coping that monkeys did - strategic withdrawal.
Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm not in a cave, and I am not strategically withdrawing - - yet. Just taking you along as passengers on my "train" of thought.
There are many substances and experiences today that are outside the physiological limits of our evolutionary-based genetics and ancestral experience.
One of them may be boredom. I don't know, but I think it is possible to more bored today than ever before and certainly far beyond what a human may have felt 100,000 years ago (my baseline for relevance). A long winter in a cave at a Northern Latitude was probably hard. Depression may have been a coping mechanism that kept our ancestors from killing one another.
(De Vany is kind of a character (my assessment). Officially he is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Irvine, where he was a member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences. The main objective in his blog is to work on his book Evolutionary Fitness. He advocates the position that the human body evolved for hunting and gathering, and in evolutionary terms, we are still “there”. Modern society with its over-abundance of food and sedentary work conditions wreaks havoc on us in a number of ways. Interesting stuff.)
This reminded me of something I saw in the news about monkeys, and how they developed depression as a coping mechanism of sorts.
Monkeys in these groups seem to have hit upon a behavioral remedy for such chronic stress: strategic withdrawal. "The monkeys spend more time alone, out of physical contact with other monkeys," Shively says. "These animals look very much like depressed people. But by withdrawing, they have fewer chances to get beat up. It's actually an evolutionarily sound strategy. They get to stay in the group and function. Not optimally, but you survive. You still have a chance to reproduce." And monkey groups are very fluid: With a change in members, which can happen monthly or even weekly, a marginal monkey could very well end up on top again.
What this means to us - or at least to me - humans in northern latitudes (MN for example) are prone to depression this time of year. That I understand. Bored humans, like those in corporate cubeville for example, may develop the same behavioral remedy for coping that monkeys did - strategic withdrawal.
Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm not in a cave, and I am not strategically withdrawing - - yet. Just taking you along as passengers on my "train" of thought.
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