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A review by jay_sy
Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You: Retrain Your Brain to Conquer Fear, Make Better Decisions, and Thrive in the 21s t Century by Marc Schoen
informative
medium-paced
3.0
Your Survival Instinct is Killing You by Marc Schoen is about people’s ability to deal with discomfort and how failing to do so effectively is linked to multiple health problems. Despite being an older book, it seems more relevant today than ever, with people bombarded by constant distractions. However, the idea of discomfort seems more relevant to issues of stress rather than touching on survival instincts.
The idea of state dependant learning makes sense, how we have feelings of agitation and discomfort and when paired with environmental conditions (eg, a room being hot and stuffy), we associate the physical sensations and form maladaptive coping behaviours. I’ve read about fragility/antifragility, and it’s interesting to see some of the ideas discussed here, how as we become more comfortable in life, little things bother us more.
There are some techniques for dealing with discomfort, including breathing exercises, changing your mindset, and reducing constant distractions. Overall, there are some helpful ideas in the book, but I feel like other books do a more through job of addressing the issues.
The idea of state dependant learning makes sense, how we have feelings of agitation and discomfort and when paired with environmental conditions (eg, a room being hot and stuffy), we associate the physical sensations and form maladaptive coping behaviours. I’ve read about fragility/antifragility, and it’s interesting to see some of the ideas discussed here, how as we become more comfortable in life, little things bother us more.
There are some techniques for dealing with discomfort, including breathing exercises, changing your mindset, and reducing constant distractions. Overall, there are some helpful ideas in the book, but I feel like other books do a more through job of addressing the issues.