How Our Ancestors Managed Anxiety and Stress: Lessons for Today

How did our ancestors manage anxiety and stress?

Happy Relaxation Day! There is a day for everything these days. But today, it made me wonder if, with everything our ancestors had to go through, they were in a constant state of anxiety. Our ancestors, facing huge threats, coped by focusing on their next step to manage stress.

I often think about the anxiety and stress our ancestors faced hundreds of years ago. When I read about a 14-year-old crossing the ocean with only one bag and $5 in his pocket, I not only think about the anxiety he was experiencing but also about the worries of his loved ones back home, especially his mother. My son is in his mid-20s, and I cannot imagine him making that kind of journey.

Throughout much of human history, people have encountered immense threats. Children often engaged in dangerous manual labor, while villages faced frequent invasions and pillaging. Whether witnessing these events firsthand or hearing about them from others, the dangers were ever-present.

Imagine living in a time when calling 911 or seeking emergency medical care wasn’t an option. Our ancestors faced health challenges without the benefits of modern technology like X-rays or CAT scans to diagnose their conditions. Every pain could escalate into a life-threatening situation. Even something as simple as a toothache meant enduring the discomfort until the tooth decayed enough to fall out on its own. How did they cope with the inevitable anxiety that came with such uncertainty?

Be conscious of the fact that they had more realistic expectations. They understood that being happy every minute was not a realistic goal. They realized that others weren’t happy all the time and that they were not missing out. They also recognized that feeling fearful sometimes didn’t necessarily mean something was wrong with them.

Our ancestors actively worked on building self-soothing skills. They recognized that finding serenity wasn’t about good genes or relying on medicine. They saw it as a skill that could be learned and developed, so they dedicated time to cultivating it.

They focused on their next step. Focusing on the next step is a fundamental self-soothing strategy for our brain. Let’s take a closer look at this. Imagine you’re hungry prey. Every step involves the risk of being eaten by predators, but you must venture out to find food and avoid starvation. Therefore, focusing on the next step becomes crucial. Our ancestors weighed the sensory evidence with each step and made choices – moving toward a reward or away from a threat. Approaching a reward triggered the brain’s dopamine release while escaping a threat relieved cortisol. Then, they analyzed their next step, just like the prey who doesn’t wait for complete safety but moves forward confidently.

Before refrigerators and supermarkets, people had to work hard to prepare simple meals like bread and butter. They had to grow wheat, grind flour, heat an oven with firewood, milk a cow, and churn butter. In those times, our ancestors constantly sought food for survival.

Without birth control, there was pressure to meet the needs of many children as well as your own. Failure to find water or firewood could mean death, so people focused on their immediate needs, with dopamine as their reward.

Today, we have a lot of energy left after we eat bread and butter. Our brain has sufficient energy to continuously produce a flow of imagined threats and imagined rewards. Suppose we fill our minds with imagined threats. In that case, we flood ourselves with cortisol and deprive ourselves of dopamine. We can end up feeling bad despite the unprecedented level of safety and comfort we enjoy.

We are here because our ancestors were survivors.

As we reflect on the resilience of our ancestors, it’s clear that their ability to focus on the next step, build self-soothing skills, and embrace the reality of their circumstances were key to their survival. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we can learn from their strength and determination. By taking things one step at a time and appreciating the progress we make, we too can manage our stress and anxiety, honoring the legacy of those who came before us.

Breuning, L. G. (2024, August 15). How did our ancestors manage anxiety?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-neurochemical-self/202103/how-did-our-ancestors-manage-anxiety