{"id":401536,"date":"2026-01-09T07:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401536\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T07:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:57:19","slug":"our-modern-obsession-with-wellness-is-driven-by-ancient-instincts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401536\/","title":{"rendered":"our modern obsession with \u2018wellness\u2019 is driven by ancient instincts"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n
\n Kaylee Garrett\/Unsplash<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve spent even a little time on social media in recent years, you\u2019ve no doubt come across a swathe of \u201cwellness\u201d content. <\/p>\n

From kilometre-long lines of runners<\/a> strutting the Bondi promenade at 6am, to a surge in sauna and ice bath studios<\/a>, to bizarre routines such as mouth taping, longevity<\/a> diets and facial ice rollers<\/a> \u2013 looking well is so hot right now. And being seen to be well has become the social currency of our times.<\/p>\n

But perhaps there are also other forces at play here, as wellness culture seems to tap into age-old human preferences for vitality, fertility and social status.<\/p>\n

Is 50 the new 20?<\/p>\n

Humans evolved to notice and prefer visible signs of health. Outward signs of potentially contagious disease tend to evoke disgust reactions<\/a> in us. This is part of the \u201cbehavioural immune system<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a series of preferences we evolved to avoid infection over thousands of generations when contagious diseases were both more common and less well understood than they are today.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to it than just avoiding people who might be infectious.<\/p>\n

Research suggests we are often drawn to people who have glowing skin<\/a>, symmetrical faces<\/a>, healthy body composition<\/a>, and who move elegantly<\/a> . <\/p>\n

These might historically have been cues of health, and perhaps of good genes<\/a> for staying healthy. <\/p>\n

Modern technologies make it possible to fake these cues. That may be part of the secret of wellness culture\u2019s success: it hijacks and exaggerates ancient cues of health.<\/p>\n

Skin-focussed wellness routines, such as taking collagen powders, or bathing in LED light, are appealing because they seek to amplify perceived youthfulness<\/a>. Cues of youthful nubility are associated with fertility<\/a> and with the chances of a successful first pregnancy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This is important because throughout most of human history<\/a>, our ancestors were typically those women who safely bore children.<\/p>\n

Ancient signals, modern wellness<\/p>\n

Our social preferences at least partly evoke the biological realities<\/a> of the ancient past where they evolved. Today, people have access to tools such as makeup, cosmetic surgery and wellness culture, that let them hijack these preferences. Once you get used to this idea, you start to see it everywhere.<\/p>\n

Running clubs are an arena for youthful people, and those clinging to youth, to display their social energy and endurance. It\u2019s easy to imagine how these traits can be inferred as signs of health, sociability and cooperation. No wonder many of these clubs are becoming dating scenes<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n \"Black<\/a>
\n
\n Four nude athletes train at javelin, discus, and jumping weights on this Ancient Greek storage jar, dated between 530\u2013520 BCE.
\n The J. Paul Getty Museum<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

Even cold plunges into ice baths provide not-so-subtle signals of toughness, resilience, pain tolerance and willingness to take physical risks<\/a> \u2013 traits which may be valued by a potential mate.<\/p>\n

However, when it comes to evolutionary science, it is often bad form to make up credible stories for how each trait came to be as it is, and to stop there. Scientific theories have to be tested carefully against evidence<\/a>, not the \u201cpub test\u201d. That presents a challenge. <\/p>\n

Why wellness spreads quickly<\/p>\n

There may be another evolutionary explanation that fills out the picture, and complements the approach of looking at one wellness trend after another, and trying to work out what they might signal.<\/p>\n

The evolved capacity for playing \u201cstatus games<\/a>\u201d, as author Will Storr puts it, is already well established.<\/p>\n

Yoga retreats and supplement stacks don\u2019t come cheap. Ice baths aren\u2019t particularly comfortable<\/a>. Ultramarathons always hurt<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At the same time, these activities signal a person has the interlinked luxuries of leisure time and wealth, as well as personal qualities such as discipline, perseverance and commitment. <\/p>\n


\n \"A<\/a>
\n
\n This Gallo-Roman mosaic floor depicts two boxers, Dares and Entellus, dated between 175\u2013200 CE.
\n The J. Paul Getty Museum<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

Spend a little time on Strava, the social media platform where endurance athletes post their activities, and you can see status games being played<\/a> in real-time. <\/p>\n

People are avid copiers of status signals<\/a> and this is especially true in teens and young adults<\/a>. Moreover, social media algorithms learn to amplify<\/a> signals of prestige, emotional content, and content that appears to speak to an in-group, to maximise engagement.<\/p>\n

And what is a run club, or a gym culture, or a diet fad, if not an in-group? <\/p>\n

All is not necessarily well with wellness<\/p>\n

Photos of beautiful poreless skin, sculpted bodies and picture perfect sunrise runs are supernormal stimuli<\/a> \u2013 exaggerated versions of normal cues that cause a strong reaction, and often attraction, both online and in \u201creal life\u201d. <\/p>\n

But all the downsides of social media signalling still apply, even when the topic is ostensibly about health. <\/p>\n

Ice baths can result in cold shock or hypothermia<\/a>, overtraining causes injuries<\/a>, and much of the advice and recommendations from wellness influencers are not just nonsense \u2013 they can be actively harmful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What people are imitating status rather than health, the evolutionary picture becomes even clearer: humans have long copied the behaviours<\/a> of high-status individuals<\/a>. Doing so improved survival and reproductive opportunities, and built the norms<\/a> of our institutions. <\/p>\n

But this eagerness to copy can misfire<\/a>. Copying the practices of high-status individuals \u2014 whether they are extreme diets or punishing training schedules \u2014 can come with a great cost<\/a>, especially when the signals are exaggerated for online display.<\/p>\n

Wellness culture doesn\u2019t just reflect evolved preferences for health and status; it can exploit and distort them. Beware the urge to signal wellness, as it could be leading you astray.\"The<\/p>\n

Samuel Cornell<\/a>, PhD Candidate in Public Health & Community Medicine, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney<\/a> and Rob Brooks<\/a>, Scientia Professor of Evolution, UNSW Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kaylee Garrett\/Unsplash If you\u2019ve spent even a little time on social media in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,1325,137,111612,111613,1721,128,88733,69600],"class_list":["post-401536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-general","tag-health","tag-healthy-lives","tag-medicine-health","tag-opinion","tag-science","tag-science-tech","tag-social-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}