The Comfort Crisis

Discover the evolutionary mind and body benefits of living at the edges of your comfort zone and reconnecting with the wild. "Changes the way we think about the modern world and how everyday conveniences are eroding our understanding of what it mean to be human."--Richard Dorment, editor-in-chief, Men's Health In many ways, we're more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort. Easter's journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA's top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who's found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more. Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself. Industry Reviews "Entertaining and enlightening, Easter's quest for a 'rewilded' diet, creative boredom, and other sensation-restoring discomforts is chock-full of solid science as well as a rollicking adventure."--Dan Fagin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation "Breezy and yet bracing synthesis of tough adventures and hard science. Ironic, perhaps, for a book about how we need to challenge ourselves to be so enjoyable to read."--Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails: An Exploration "An entertaining and thought-provoking adventure that weaves together findings from anthropology, physiology, neuroscience, and other disciplines. Easter makes a convincing case that happiness is more than the absence of cold, hunger, and boredom--in fact, a little discomfort may be exactly what we need."--Alex Hutchinson, New York Times bestselling author of Endure "This revelatory, illuminating book is packed with big ideas on how our overly comfortable lives and routines have chipped away at our physical, mental, and emotional health."--Liz Plosser, Editor-in-Chief of Women's Health "An unconventional clarion call to swim upstream against the currents of comfort and ease that we seek and have grown unquestioningly used to. Not for the soft, or faint of heart, this appeals to the tough, or those who seek to be. A good read that challenges conventional wisdom about living life."--James Clapper, former US Director of National Intelligence "Shows why human greatness seldom rises from a perch of comfort and ease--and what you can do to maximize growth and fulfillment."--Brian L. Losey, (ret) Commander of US Navy Special Warfare Command "Made me look differently at adversity, at challenges, at discomfort. Reading it made me want to be better, and a book simply can't deliver more than that."--Tamar Haspel, columnist, Washington Post