The Ancient Cure: Why Modern Life is Making Us Sick – and How to Reclaim Our Health
A growing number of physicians are arguing that the roots of chronic disease lie not just in individual lifestyle choices, but in a fundamental mismatch between our modern environment and the bodies we evolved to thrive in.
A family medicine resident physician sees a disturbing trend: a constant influx of preventable illnesses. “Like a firefighter, I stop smolders from becoming forest fires,” he observes, acutely aware of the escalating health crisis facing communities. But simply treating symptoms isn’t enough. He, and a growing number of healthcare professionals, believe the answer to improving public health lies in understanding – and reconnecting with – our ancestral past.
The basic rules for a healthy existence, according to this perspective, are surprisingly simple: nourishing food, hydration, avoiding toxins, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, a sense of purpose, shelter, and supportive relationships. Yet, these foundational elements are increasingly challenging to achieve in the modern world, leading to a cascade of negative consequences – economic, political, ecological, and, crucially, health-related. Every day brings a wave of chronic conditions: heart disease, COPD, obesity, diabetes, depression, dementia, kidney disease, cirrhosis, stroke, and infectious diseases.
The core argument isn’t about blaming individuals, but recognizing the powerful influence of “social determinants of health.” As one physician explains, “We often underestimate the society and culture we are anchored to and cannot see the forest for the trees.” ZIP codes, remarkably, remain one of the strongest predictors of life expectancy, highlighting the systemic barriers to well-being. While many understand the importance of diet and exercise, these changes become significantly harder when faced with back-breaking labor, food deserts, pollution, and societal pressures.
A Mismatch Between Biology and Modernity
The crux of the issue, according to this emerging perspective, is that Homo sapiens evolved over 300,000 years as small-banded, egalitarian hunter-gatherers in the African savanna. Our bodies are optimized for a life of constant movement, a varied omnivorous diet, and strong social connections. “Our upright posture, arched feet, large glutes, and long legs mean we should be moving, constantly,” the physician notes. Historically, humans hunted by endurance, working together to bring down large prey. This lifestyle fostered language, intelligence, and intricate social networks built on cooperation and protection.
However, modern civilization has fundamentally altered these conditions. We are now largely sedentary, consuming highly processed foods, and often isolated within fragmented communities. The result? A surge in “diseases of civilization” – heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes – conditions rarely seen in contemporary hunter-gatherer populations.
“We are sicker than our prehistoric ancestors,” the physician asserts. While advancements in modern medicine have dramatically reduced infant mortality and improved treatment for congenital syndromes, overall health outcomes have stagnated or even worsened. The relentless pursuit of economic growth, coupled with unsustainable practices, has created a world that is actively detrimental to our well-being. Over the last few thousand years, the physician argues, society has created more wars, inequality, disease, and environmental destruction than in the previous 200,000 years combined.
Reprioritizing Our Needs
This isn’t a romantic call to return to a primitive lifestyle. The physician acknowledges the hardships faced by our ancestors and recognizes that a literal return to hunter-gatherer existence is impractical, if not impossible. Instead, the argument is for a fundamental reprioritization of needs. We must align our daily lives with the biological imperatives honed over millennia, rather than the demands of a “myopic, hyperindividualistic, hypercapitalist, utilitarian civilization.”
This requires a systemic overhaul, encompassing not just health and food systems, but also community, culture, resource consumption, technology, infrastructure, governance, and education. The physician has begun to implement these principles in his own life, through gardening, local shopping, composting, mindful consumption, and community engagement. He actively reframes the health narrative for his patients, normalizing conversations about nature and ancestry.
“If we work to restore the wildness of the world, we awaken the wildness within ourselves,” he concludes. The key is to recognize ourselves not merely as modern humans navigating a hyperindustrialized society, but as descendants of cooperative hunter-gatherer bands, and to act in ways that honor both our health and the habitat that sustains it. By doing so, we can transform the current crises into opportunities for renewal, for ourselves and for generations to come.
