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Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine

Why We Get Sick delves into the intersection of evolutionary biology and medicine, explaining how evolutionary pressures have shaped our susceptibility to certain illnesses. The book examines the evolutionary basis of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, providing a fresh perspective on health and wellness. more

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Randolph M. Nesse
Randolph M. Nesse

Randolph M. Nesse is a renowned American author born in 1948. His works primarily focus on biology, evolution, and human behavior, having a profound impact on the scientific community. more

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“Just as the capacity for experiencing fatigue has evolved to protect us from overexertion, the capacity for sadness may have evolved to prevent additional losses. Maladaptive extremes of anxiety, sadness, and other emotions make more sense when we understand their evolutionary origins and normal, adaptive functions.”

LifeHistoryHealthTheoryEvolutionDiseaseSicknessPsychiatry
Book:Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine
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“Emotional capacities are shaped by situations that occurred repeatedly in the course of evolution and that were important to fitness. Attacks by predators, threats of exclusion from the group, and opportunities for mating were frequent and important enough to have shaped special patterns of preparedness, such as panic, social fear, and sexual arousal. Situations that are best avoided shape aversive emotions, while situations that involve opportunity shape positive emotions.”

LifeHistoryHealthTheoryEvolutionDiseaseEmotionsSickness
Book:Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine
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“Depression may seem completely useless. Even apart from the risk of suicide, sitting all day morosely staring at the wall can't get you very far. A person with severe depression typically loses interest in everything -work, friends, food, even sex. It is as if the capacities for pleasure and initiative have been turned off. Some people cry spontaneously, but others are beyond tears. Some wake every morning at 4 A.M. and can't get back to sleep; others sleep for twelve or fourteen hours per day. Some have delusions that they are impoverished, stupid, ugly, or dying of cancer. Almost all have low self-esteem. It seems preposterous even to consider that there should be anything adaptive associated with such symptoms. And yet depression is so frequent, and so closely related to ordinary sadness, that we must begin by asking if depression arises from a basic abnormality or if it is a dysregulation of a normal capacity.”

LifeHistoryHealthTheoryEvolutionDiseaseSickness
Book:Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine
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