Five Ways to Combat Evolutionary Mismatch

"A mismatch exists when an organism (like you or me) finds itself in an environment that differs in important ways from the ancestral environments that shaped its evolutionary history. If you live in a modernized, industrial country (as I do), you likely run into all kinds of mismatches every day. You likely encounter strangers at a higher rate than was true during the lion's share of human evolution. You likely engage in much less face-to-face communication with others than was true in ancestral times."

"Some proportion of your diet likely includes processed foods (think breads, pasta, cheese, baked goods, chips). In the industrialized world, mismatches abound. And we are only now starting to see the adverse physical and mental health consequences of this fact (see Geher and Wedberg, 2022). The good news is that, as we begin to understand the nature of mismatch and its adverse effects on our lives, we can consider ways to mitigate them."

"Below are five things that you can do right now to help minimize the adverse effects of evolutionary mismatch on your life. Get outside. You don't have to climb to the top of Mt. Rainier to have a significant nature experience. You can take five minutes and walk into your backyard. Listen to the songbirds. Notice the blossoms on the trees. Check out the sun's rays as they spread across the land. Or look at the cloud formations hovering overhead."

Evolutionary mismatch occurs when an organism lives in an environment that differs in important ways from the ancestral environments that shaped its evolutionary history. In modern industrialized settings, people encounter many mismatches daily, including more frequent encounters with strangers, less face-to-face communication, and greater consumption of processed foods such as breads, pasta, cheese, baked goods, and chips. Adverse physical and mental health consequences of these mismatches are only beginning to be recognized. As understanding grows, practical steps can help mitigate mismatch effects. One immediate approach is to spend time outside, even briefly, by walking in a backyard, observing nature, listening to birds, noticing blossoms, and observing sunlight and clouds.

Read at Psychology Today