Lack of exercise is definately. Eating more healthily is easy to do. Exercise takes more effort and most people don't bother.
I think modern life is still 10 times easier than it was for people alive several hundered years ago.
I'd bet that almost every generation said much the same things, don't you think? I seriously doubt that this is much different to what people said about "modern life" in the 20's or 30's. I'm also curious about what the article meant by "modern life"? And in what countries did the study include? Baron Max
These aren't really the things that are bothering people, are they. When you ask people what they're worried about, all they can tell you are the things they are conscious of. The more important stuff tends to be things they don't quite understand and can't articulate, or even things that they have suppressed because they're too painful. Lack of sleep is the only item on this list that correlates with the results of more scholarly studies. And lack of sleep is merely a second-order effect of two key factors that aren't even on the list: overwork and breakdown of the nuclear family. Overwork is obvious, the average American work week is now fifty hours, the same as it was a hundred years ago before the twin pressures of sociology and the labor movement shortened it to forty. The breakdown of the nuclear family results in people spending more time doing chores that used to be done by the eldest teenagers or other family members, or that didn't need to be done at all like shuttling the kids from mom's house to dad's house. I suppose "stress" covers a smorgasbord of problems, but listing it in such generic terms belies the fact that people don't really know exactly what is bothering them. Quality of life, for example. The affluent have fled from the cities, hoping to escape crime, drugs, congestion and pollution, and as a result the average American spends 30 more minutes per day commuting than his parents did--an activity that both creates stress and reduces sleep time. Transcendence, for another example. The integration of world civilization, the interconnectivity of all peoples, so that what happens in Iran affects our safety. Nobody in the First World puts war and terrorism at the top of their list of concerns because they don't want to admit it to themselves. But being here a few miles from a building that was destroyed on 9/11, I can see that the people of the Washington region have changed considerably. More on edge, less tolerant, more likely to turn a minor disagreement into a fight, less sense of humor. Yes, every generation that lives through a Paradigm Shift complains about it. When railroads made it possible for people to "leave town" and start a new life somewhere else, the ones who were left behind lamented the breakdown of the community and thought that civilization would crumble. When the prominence of farming waned and most people had jobs that often required relocating their spouse and kids to another city, the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who were left behind lamented the breakdown of the extended family and thought that civilization would crumble. Now even the nuclear family is being replaced by serial monogamy and kids spend more time chatting on cell phones and hanging out in chat rooms than eating dinner with their siblings... and the people left out think that civilization will crumble. It won't. But the process of evolving creates a lot of stress.
is it realy modern life ? or is it the same life lived in a different format ? maybe... it is just that we have technology that allows people to gather greater amounts of wealth into one spot, soo... it then increases an over all level of poverty that then requires an increase in required earning to cope with the increasing profit being taken into one centralised place? obviousely some, "once wealthy countrys" have been laid waste to and the resources are being taken out of those countrys for very little profit, while the large percentage of the profit is being syphened off by small groups that do not spread it out. is there a spreading of selfishnes accross the world that is actualy the reason behind the increased stress levels ? are people becoming more nasty and unfriendly ? obviousely quality of life is a HUGE factor, Soo... Quality is directly effected by sociology and psychology matched with socio economic structure.
I don't really enjoy working, at least in the United States. Wherever I get a job I always feel as if people care more about themselves then anyone else, even those in need. Actually the US is pretty sad, the entire economy is all that matters, then when things get difficult people begin panicing. Also things just aren't fair here. If I work a job they expect me to be fast paced, instantly perfect, and apart from this be like a robot. Because of Capitalism the USA has begun requiring things that are simply unacceptable, like standing 8 hours each day. Even in the days of cavemen we were allowed to still be human and sit down. It's really bad and I hope the USA blows to hell.
Let me see now.... >consults pocket watch< What time did I get up this morning? Oh, wait. I didn't. No. I believe it safe to say, I'm immune.
I know I am. Single benefit of being a freelancer, you may in practice end up working longer hours most weeks without the singular guarantee of either a wage packet, salary or else payment of any kind in exchange for so much as a stroke for anything you end up doing - but, your time in that is your own and if a job interferes, the client pays. There's just something about translating ones own frustrations into hard cash, remarkably de-stressing... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
