Stress Management​

 

Stress is the most deadly and most underestimated force influencing our health today. Stress is defined as anything “that disturbs homeostasis. It [can] be physical, psychological or social…There is no doubt that some stress is necessary to compel us to move and perform...But, [chronic] stress can take a toll on the cardiovascular, immune, memory & reproductive systems and age us faster.” We are facing an epidemic of untreated chronic stress today in America. It makes us weaker, more tired, less patient, more sickly, more anxious and depressed, and less willing to improve ourselves. For our higher priorities, we sacrifice the most basic things that determine our health: diet, hydration, sleep, and exercise. We constantly compromise, always for a more immediate solution to our needs rather than a long-term investment. To reduce our stress and improve our health, we need to start with a strong foundation.

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Diet

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“Good nutrition is essential to keeping current and future generations healthy across the lifespan.” We have categorically bad eating habits in America, largely due to the commercialization and industrialization of the fast food industry. Food is fattier, sugarier, saltier, faster, and fattier than ever. Food is designed to work like a drug, hitting the pleasure sensors in your brain hard and fast, making you crave more and more. A single meal from most restaurants contains more than enough calories for an entire day. Poor nutrition leads to obesity, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, cancer, all of which put enormous stress on the body. But in addition to the big, scary conditions, poor nutrition causes a lot of smaller issues which make your everyday life more difficult. Take sugar—addictive properties similar to cocaine, withdrawal and relapse symptoms included, and the average American consumes over 3 times the recommended amount per day. The effects of chronic overindulgence are prevalent in our society: worsened chronic anxiety and depression, fogginess, decrease in intelligence,an afternoon crash or slump, poor dental health, joint pain, poor skin health (good for the dermatology industry), greater stress on the liver, heart, pancreas, kidneys, and of course, weight. Sugar is almost pure chemical energy, far more than your body can use—so it has nowhere to go but be stored as unhealthy fat. But how are we supposed to avoid it? Sugar is in almost everything these days. Why wouldn’t a company make a product addictive if their only goal was to sell more of it?

 

There are lots of substances that aren’t good for us added to our food in order to boost profits in the food industry—whether to improve palatability, shelf life, or as a “safer” alternative to a regulated ingredient. We fill our stomach with tasty cheap stuff and leave out the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients our bodies need. The short version is this: our food is overprocessed. I think most of us are aware of this. We’re better off eating food that has been minimally modified from its original version. We need fresh, raw food, harvested locally and preserved simply. Will it be as easy to work with? Will it be as tasty? No, it will not. But if we want to improve our health, we have to stop taking the easy way out. We have to stop prioritizing immediate rewards, and start pursuing long-term investment. This will only be possible through community cooperation; fresh, unprocessed food is expensive and can quickly become a wealth barrier.

 

In Augury, the Demeter department will partner with Physicality to provide the population with a nutritious, unrefined, and varied diet. We typically eat a tiny percentage of the edible plant species on earth—only around 0.2% of over 50,000 known, and Demeter will ensure that we improve our local biodiversity. Not only will these plants be harvested for our consumption, but these plants will be growing in public spaces, ready to be freely harvested by any citizens.

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Obesity Disclaimer

 

Obesity is a worldwide health epidemic that began in the USA around 1976-1980, largely caused by ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) like soda and energy drinks. More sedentary lifestyles due to advanced industrialization has also contributed to widespread physical degeneration. Unfortunately, obesity has become a polarizing topic, as many people (especially medical professionals) have misapplied preconceived notions shaded by the concept of the BMI to make generalizations about anyone with a certain amount of body fat, regardless of the cause. In the words of someone misdiagnosed with obesity despite an extremely health lifestyle, 

 

“Obesity is a health epidemic that has unfortunately been weaponized and misapplied [in the context of] public health. Instead of being recognized as a symptom of a larger and deeper issue, it is often treated shallowly, resulting in misdiagnosed patients and untreated health problems. It is a well known fact that weight issues can be linked to poor nourishment or [an] inactive lifestyle. It is easy to blame the patient for poor choices rather than investigate if they have access to healthy food and are able to exercise regularly or if they have an underlying health problem that makes weight loss a long term issue. Obesity is a multifaceted health concern that should be treated individually rather than with a one-size-fits-all perspective.”

In short, obesity is a symptom of a variety of health issues, some of which are controllable, and some of which are not. We will be far more successful in improving public health if we address the deeper fundamental issues of poor health like inactivity, malnourishment and gluttony rather than only looking at the surface. Besides—humans come in all shapes and sizes. Body fat is just stored energy—how much accumulates is largely genetic, and not an indicator of poor health (or poor virtue) by itself. In fact, data suggests that having a higher fat content in your body is not always a bad thing—fat serves as a cushion, better absorbing the stress from injury, illness, and environmental stressors. There’s enough information to write several books on the subject, but in short, there’s good fat and bad fat—bad fat comes from inactivity, overeating, and poor diet. Good fat is insulation, energy storage, and a tool your body needs to survive and function properly.

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Hydration​

 

Many people think that a cup of coffee in the morning, a soda in the afternoon, and a glass of wine or beer at night is enough water for a day. Those things all have water in them, right? And if I don’t feel thirsty, I must be fine! 

 

Acute dehydration is what most people think of—a severe condition characterized by a dry mouth and throat, fatigue, dizziness, confusion, and perhaps crawling through a desert. But what most Americans suffer from is a mild chronic dehydration—still a significant stressor on the body. “Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 50% to 70% of your body weight. Your body depends on water to survive. Every cell, tissue and organ in your body needs water to work properly—” and it uses a few liters per day (depending on your size and activity level). If you don’t drink as much water as your body uses in a day, you’re dehydrated. When was the last time you drank a few liters of water in a single day?

 

If you’re not getting enough, your body has trouble maintaining your body temperature, cushioning your joints, removing waste, maintaining your skin health, keeping your energy levels up, and protecting sensitive tissues. All of these things stress your body and cause other systems to work harder to compensate. So, why don’t we drink enough water? The answer I’ve heard overwhelmingly (and gave myself, as a child) is: it doesn’t taste good. We’re so used to everything having a strong, pleasing taste that we take free, clean water for granted. With time, we can shift culture away from this sense of entitlement and learn to value water for the precious resource it is.

 

In Augury, we can encourage better hydration in many ways. The sounds of water features in green spaces may trigger thirst reflexes. Filtered water fountains with bottle filling stations should be readily available, and reusable glass and metal bottles of many different kinds and styles should be manufactured by Hephaestus, and encouraged as a standard accessory for all citizens. Disposable water bottles should not be permitted.

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Exercise​

 

Our bodies are like cars in that they need to be in motion and degrade faster if left idle for long periods. Modern life lends itself to a mostly sedentary lifestyle, sitting at desks and screens all day, with physical exercise as an activity we have to go out of our way to pursue. “Being physically active can improve your brain health, help manage weight, reduce the risk of disease, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Adults who sit less and do any amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity gain some health benefits. Only a few lifestyle choices have as large an impact on your chronic health as physical activity.” Our modern lifestyle in industrialized nations lends itself to a sedentary lifestyle, so much so that office culture is turning to standing desks, office yoga, and sitting on exercise balls instead of chairs. The culture and construction itself of Augury must encourage higher physical activity. As mentioned previously, Augury will be designed with minimal powered vehicles; walking and using bicycles for travel will be a big step in the right direction. Without car dependency, Augury will suit the needs of people rather than the needs of automobile infrastructure, and will therefore have the benefits of any walkable city (which also includes greater cultural engagement).

 

These benefits include reduced risk of obesity, premature death, high cholesterol, chronic illnesses, heart disease, improved blood circulation, higher self-confidence, increased bone density and joint health, better coordination, decreased depression and anxiety and better sleep. Conditions like fear for personal safety, unfamiliarity with routes, traffic noise and fumes, poor path maintenance, unpleasant aesthetics en route, and lack of lighting tend to cause pedestrian aversion and should be avoided/ compensated for.

 

Public transportation like trams and trains will make longer distances or commutes easier to traverse. Urban sprawl should be minimized and clustered around public transportation stops (see Part 3: “Opportunities for Expansion.”) Physical activities of various kinds should be encouraged city-wide; consider Parks and Recreation organized programs for activities like jogging, rock climbing, yoga, martial arts, and certain sports.

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Sports

 

Many popular sports like baseball, football and football (soccer) are extremely space-intensive and dedicated facilities like stadiums shouldn’t be included in Augury. Green spaces can of course include small fields or lawns (but planted with something other than grass, which is resource-intensive and wasteful; moss is an effective ground cover and doesn’t require fertilizing or watering once established) for casual games, but we should avoid sports industries and large organizations like America has. The hyper-competitive culture surrounding professional sports encourages aggression, tribalism and prioritizes winning above physical and mental health, not to mention the laundry list of negative impacts on children. In general, the industry is a massively unwarranted sink of resources, in overpaid athletes and coaches (who put debilitating pressure on players), hugely expensive facilities, and endless marketing. Boxing and wrestling especially should be discouraged for their intense toll on mental and physical health. We should not worship players of a game. Games are for fun—we should not glorify winning them in our society above the things that are really important. We should not idolize athletes. We need a more casual, relaxed perspective on sports, our goal not to defeat our opponent and win at any cost, but to have fun and get a good workout. Sports are a pastime, entertainment—if players, watchers, or coaches are angry after or during a game, we’re doing something wrong.

 

Consider some alternatives to serve as popular physical pastimes. Sports like volleyball, basketball, tennis, ping pong, badminton, and  archery are less space intensive and don’t require as large or dedicated facilities. Running and racing are flexible and can be organized anywhere around the city, and encourage good long-term cardiovascular health without being overly competitive. I highly recommend encouraging various martial arts, which instill values like respect, integrity, focus, perseverance, and restraint. Martial arts would be an excellent activity to include in schools as a form of Physical Education, as they would serve as a constructive outlet for strong feelings and a way for children to gain a better control of their bodies.

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Sleep​

 

Did you know that you’ll die of sleep deprivation before starving to death? Though it’s true we still don’t fully understand sleep, we do understand how crucial it is for our health—and very few of us get enough. In his book, “Why We Sleep,” Dr. Matthew Walker (a sleep specialist neuroscientist and psychologist), reveals the following: 

 

“After thirty years of intensive research, we can now answer many of the questions posed earlier. The recycle rate of a human being is around sixteen hours. After sixteen hours of being awake, the brain begins to fail. [Adult] humans need more than seven hours of sleep each night to maintain cognitive performance. After ten days of just seven hours of sleep, the brain is as dysfunctional as it would be after going without sleep for twenty-four hours. Three full nights of recovery sleep (i.e., more nights than a weekend) are insufficient to restore performance back to normal levels after a week of short sleeping.”

 

Ask yourself the following: How often do you feel lethargic, sluggish, or foggy? Do you have trouble focusing or remembering, and do you find yourself stressed, impatient, anxious, or irritable? As you may have guessed, these are all symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation. Our culture tends towards trying to get away with as little sleep as possible; we trade higher productivity for a shorter lifespan. In most cases, it’s outside our control. A typical 9-5 schedule leaves little room for real rest. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American works 8.8 hours in a 24-hour period (yet research suggests the average office worker is only productive for 3-4 of those hours). Now subtract another hour for the commute—the average American daily commute is about half an hour one way. Next, we’ll subtract two hours for breakfast and dinner. Lastly, subtract around 8 hours for a good night’s sleep, and we’re left with around 4 hours for everything else. For a full-time high school student, that time is taken up for homework. For adults, you have only 4 hours per weekday to cook, do laundry, run errands, exercise, buy groceries, perform household maintenance, get dressed and undressed, bathe, fulfill your other responsibilities, and maybe, if you’re lucky, have some time for socializing or self care . After the hustle and bustle of a full day, many of us are prone to what the Chinese call “revenge bedtime procrastination,” in which we sacrifice sleep to have just a little more time to ourselves. Sometimes night is the only time where we’re in control of our space and schedules—but staying up late doesn’t mix well with a 9-5 schedule. 

 

“Early to bed, early to rise” is our cultural norm. But for the estimated 30% of our population that are night owls, this principle doesn’t ring true. Humans are not exclusively diurnal. There is a genuine, biological difference between people who are more active in the morning and people who are more active at night—in fact, according to research, there are as many as 6 different chronotypes for an individual’s natural circadian rhythm. This variation would have been advantageous in the era before modern lighting, but today, early rising is inexplicably considered morally superior. This is especially damaging to adolescents, whose circadian rhythms keep them up later and make it harder for them to be mentally active early in the morning.

 

What if we embraced those differences? What if the culture of Augury facilitated an ongoing cycle—one group waking up while others were going to bed, all around the clock? Similar to the concept of a first/second/third shift, but without constant work. There would always be someone awake to run machines, handle crises, open shops—and no one would be forced into an arbitrary sleep schedule at the expense of their health. In the age of artificial lighting, why shouldn’t we sleep when we want? Like hunger and thirst, why don’t we just sleep when we’re tired?

 

We need more than an average 8 hours of sleep per 24 hour period. Some nights we will stay up later, and some mornings we will sleep in—our sleep schedules don’t have to be rigid, but overall, we just need more sleep. The effects on our health and mood will fundamentally help us be better versions of ourselves.