Healthy Living Reconsidered

In recent years, the evolutionary approach to health and medicine has led to major advances in our understanding of physical and mental health. A core concept in this area pertains to evolutionary mismatch, which helps explain why people gravitate toward unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. Further, several common mismatches can help us understand issues with mental health. For instance, the large-scale prevalence of highly addictive cell phones and related technologies ultimately has adverse psychological consequences for people for various reasons. If we want to understand issues of human health, we must utilize an evolutionary perspective. Practices like selflessness, virtuosity, temperance, altruism, and even diet and exercise are nothing new. By studying facets of positive psychology through an evolutionary lens, it can be seen more clearly how these positive emotions and practices of healthy living have been adaptive for humans all along.