By Nicholas Bourne/The Conversation
Many of us want to live long, happy and healthy lives. Yet it’s often confusing to know the best way to achieve this, and many aspects of modern, westernized living conspire to keep us from achieving this goal. The solution may be to step back in time. For the bulk of our existence, we evolved following a hunter-gatherer lifestyle of foraging for food and hunting animals. Today, only a few hunter-gatherer communities still exist, such as the Hadza of Tanzania.
Research shows that many of the health problems that plague modern society, such as cardiovascular disease and poor mental health, have very low prevalence among hunter-gatherer societies of both past and present day. This suggests there’s much we can learn from hunter-gatherers to improve our lives.
Building connections
Hunter-gatherers knew the best strategy for survival was connecting and staying together.
With finite resources, they are egalitarian by nature. Each member contributes, shares equally and belongs to a collective greater than themselves. Life has meaning and purpose.
According to James Woodburn, an anthropologist who studied the Hadza, tribe members “value their life as hunter-gatherers, they regard it as a wonderful life. They have a living which makes sense.”
The Japanese call this fundamental reason for being “ikigai”, which can add quality years to your life. Living in small communities of around 20-30 people creates close relationships and a strong social…
