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The Comfort Crisis
Exploring the intimate connection between pleasure and pain, and why too many comforts and pleasures are contributing to modern man's mental and physical malaise.
The Realities of Our Ancestors
1
Intense Physical Activity
Our ancestors walked miles to find water and forage food, expended enormous energy bringing down large mammals, and regularly engaged in persistence hunting, often covering over 25 miles in a day.
2
Enduring Mental Stress
They endured the elements of nature without modern comforts, dealt with sickness and infections without modern medicine, and lacked the distractions of technology, drugs, and processed foods.
3
Seeking Comfort
Whenever possible, they would rest and relax, taking full advantage of the available comforts and pleasures to help their minds and bodies recover from the harsh realities of life.
The Dangers of Comfort Creep
Physical Inactivity
The comforts of cars and delivery platforms have led to a life of near total physical inactivity, with 27% of people doing no physical activity at all.
Obesity and Chronic Ailments
This physical comfort creep is a major cause of the growing epidemic of obesity and chronic physical ailments that arise from living an inactive life.
Weakening Strength
Without conscious discomfort and purposeful exercise, our natural movements and strengths continue to weaken as comfort creep takes hold.
The Pleasure-Pain Balance
1
Overlapping Brain Regions
Pleasure and pain are processed in overlapping brain regions and work via an opponent process mechanism, maintaining a balance between the two.
2
Overindulgence in Pleasure
When we overindulge in pleasure, our brain follows with pain, be it physical, mental, or emotional, in an attempt to re-establish equilibrium.
3
Neuroadaptation and Tolerance
Habitually indulging in the same pleasures leads to tolerance and neuroadaptation, requiring more stimulation to feel pleasure and resulting in more severe pain.
4
Anhedonia and Craving
The relentless pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain can lead to anhedonia, the inability to enjoy pleasure, and a craving for the original pleasure just to feel normal.
Techniques of Self-Binding
Intentionally creating barriers to mitigate compulsive overconsumption
Abstinence and self-binding techniques, like Odysseus tying himself to the mast, can help reset the brain's reward pathway and regain the capacity for simple pleasures.
Restricting digital consumption with timers
Nietzsche recommended setting strict time boundaries for indulging in digital pleasures as an effective way to stop compulsive overconsumption.
Avoiding opportunities for gratification
Nietzsche also suggested avoiding opportunities for pleasure gratification and going through periods of non-gratification to weaken and control the drive for pleasure.
The Power of Intentional Pain
Physical Exercise
Exposing ourselves to the temporary pain of physical exercise can trigger the body's homeostatic mechanisms, improving our mood and reducing cravings for unhealthy pleasures.
Cold Water Immersion
Studies show that the temporary pain of cold water immersion can release neurotransmitters that improve our mood for hours after.
Challenging Goals
Setting lofty goals and struggling each day to achieve them can also temporarily tip the scales towards pain in a way that makes us happier and healthier.
Solving Hard Problems
Seeking out hard problems that involve mental, emotional or physical stress can also temporarily tip the scales towards pain, leading to greater pleasure and capability.
The Wisdom of Diogenes
Embracing Discomfort
Diogenes the Cynic spent his days seeking out ways to make himself uncomfortable, from rolling over hot sand to sleeping in a clay storage jar.
Frugal Living
He lived frugally, consuming the simplest of foods and sometimes going for extended periods without eating, a practice we now call intermittent fasting.
Welcoming Pain
Diogenes believed that by voluntarily seeking out discomfort, he was able to enjoy his simple life far more than the Persian ruler Xerxes enjoyed his palace.
Paradoxical Pleasure
As the philosopher William Desmond wrote, "True pleasure, the cynics often contend, can only be had by scorning it and by welcoming its opposite, pain."
Embracing the Tub
1
Scorning Pleasure
In our world of abundance, we must be willing to scorn pleasure and welcome its opposite, pain, in order to maximize our strength, pleasure, and joy.
2
Welcoming Discomfort
As Nietzsche said, we need "a bit of cynicism, a little bit of the tub" - intentionally making our lives a little more difficult, uncomfortable, and painful.
3
Hedonistic Asceticism
By embracing pain and labor, we can become "hedonistic ascetics," finding true pleasure through the pursuit of its opposite, as the cynics of old understood.
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