a worthwhile read- The Comfort Crisis

[Marbles]

9 minutes in (got the audio book). I had to laugh when Easter said "I come from a long line of men who seam to run on booze, bullshit, and self serving chaos." It is fitting for the over dramatic style of chapter one.

I doubt many guys would enjoy it, as it is an understated telling of adventure, but Easter could use dialing the drauma back and splitting the difference between his style and Van Hemert's in The Sun is a Compass.

Ok, I'll shut up and finish the book.

 

[JasonWi]

I'm enjoying the book so far. About 50 pages in and have already learned a few things and I enjoy his style of writing.

 

[*zap*]

We live in a society in which quite a few people do not even want to work up a good sweat let alone have discomfort. So, I agree with you mtwarden.

 

[Marbles]

I'm on chapter 7 now. It gets better after chapter 1 and is proving to be interesting. Some things remind me of concepts from the military, such as stress inoculation.

I disagree with the 'don't die' rule, more in semantics than in practice. I would say, don't be stupid and take reasonable safety measures is a better rule. Even the rights of passage events he talks about clearly carry the risk of death.

Perhaps I am miss understanding the rule though. Perhaps it is more 'survival trumps completion.' Risking death is allowed, but getting "summit fever" (to barrow from mountaineering) or "sun poisoning (to borrow from Backcountry skiing) is unacceptable. From the context of his caribou hunt, this actually appears to be a more accurate interpretation.

 

[mtwarden]

I disagree with the 'don't die' rule, more in semantics than in practice. I would say, don't be stupid and take reasonable safety measures is a better rule. Even the rights of passage events he talks about clearly carry the risk of death.

Perhaps I am miss understanding the rule though. Perhaps it is more 'survival trumps completion.' Risking death is allowed, but getting "summit fever" (to barrow from mountaineering) or "sun poisoning (to borrow from Backcountry skiing) is unacceptable. From the context of his caribou hunt, this actually appears to be a more accurate interpretation.

That's the way I took it. Many (most?) of our backcountry outings there is always a risk of death, mitigate it and don't take "stupid" risks, but by all means get out there and enjoy it (even when it's unpleasant )

 

[LostArra]

One of Steve Rinella's better comments was about taking kids hunting and the idea of "voluntary discomfort". Being cold, wet and a little hungry while pursuing game has some life lessons even if you don't kill anything.

 

[3forks]

Glad to see the concepts in this book resonating with so many people.

If the Comfort Crisis becomes the “companion“ book to Rokslide, I hope the discussion in the book about not doing things because you want an audience (i.e. likes and attention on social media) is embraced as much as the concepts of challenging yourself and delayed gratification are.

 

[Sapcut]

Worth reading- The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. Easter is a freelance journalist who write for Men's Health, Outside and a few others. This book offers a good discussion on a lot of interesting topics relating to health, but with a focus on why it's important to to challenge ourselves and embrace some discomfort for both our mental and physical health. In the backdrop is Michael Easter (a non-hunter until right now) on a multi-week caribou hunt in the Brook Range- he definitely is out of his comfort zone

“We are living progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged, safety-netted lives.”


"Do hard things and the rest of life gets easier”

Totally agree. Suffering is underrated. Ask Jesus

 

[Q child]

Books are for nerds.

 

[*zap*]

I love a good book, will not use e-books...would much rather read and I do not drive long distance much at all.

 

[elkyinzer]

The premise is once a year, you setup a challenge that you 'should' fail.....run 30 miles, etc......and see how you respond....it was quite interesting

I sure as hell can't run 30 miles, but I could make a run at drinking 30 beers. I think I have this figured out, I'll tell my wife the next guys trip is inspirational guru wellness type stuff.

 

[MattB]

One of my kids was very advanced and ended up in a special class for gifted students. In the class at the age of 6 she was expected to name 50 countries and their capitals as well as place them on a map and a bonus for naming 25 rivers of the world.

I spoke with the teachers about the curriculum as it would be difficult for most adults.

The teachers explained to me that the goal was to cause failure. People do not do well with failure if they have never experienced it before. High level students are particularly hard on themselves once they do fail and the class was designed to not only test them to failure, but also show them that it's normal and recoverable.

I never even considered that before the conversation.

My wife has a phrase, "fail forward". Basically, fail but learn from it and get better. Snowflake medicine. ;-) Too many kids these days never fail early in life and then fall flat on their face because they are too far along in life before they experience it.

 

[knale87]

More like hard lessons. If you not learning something from these hard lessons, then you are failing.

As for the book, I enjoyed it. Im not a reader so I listened to it during my hour drive to work/home. Got to the point where I didn’t want to go inside so I could keep listening.

 

[Marbles]

So, I found the brown fat bit fascinating as it fills in a hole in my understanding of physiology and explains things. Such as, how come I no longer shiver in moderate cold and why some people do not shiver at temps that I do and vice versa.

I had to do some more reading as the book just touched on it.

Cool Temperature Alters Human Fat and Metabolism

Men exposed to cool temperatures for a month had an increase in brown fat along with changes in metabolism. The finding hints at new approaches to conditions such as obesity and diabetes.

www.nih.gov

Effect of Intermittent Cold Exposure on Brown Fat Activation, Obesity, and Energy Homeostasis in Mice - PMC

Homeotherms have specific mechanisms to maintain a constant core body temperature despite changes in thermal environment, food supply, and metabolic demand. Brown adipose tissue, the principal thermogenic organ, quickly and efficiently increases ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

How brown fat improves metabolism

Researchers gained key insights into brown fat’s effects on the body’s metabolism. The findings reveal targets for developing new treatments for obesity and diabetes.

www.nih.gov

So. It looks like moderate cold exposure increases brown fat and increased brown fat improved metabolic markers (and probably health). However, the body likely compensates for increased caloric burn by increasing intake, so without calorie restriction simply exposing oneself to cold is unlikely to result in weight loss. However, like activity, cold exposure can be used to combat decreased metabolic rate due to calorie restriction (as indicated by including an animal study, not the strongest level of evidence for some of that).

 

[mtnrunner260]

Just finished listening to the book.
Great recommendation @mtwarden
Is the video of the hunt with Donnie available?

 

[mtwarden]

Just finished listening to the book.
Great recommendation @mtwarden
Is the video of the hunt with Donnie available?

I haven't see it if it is. I'm not 100% they filmed the hunt????

 

[Claypa]

Great book. It's not hard to see these things in myself and those around me. Would recommend it to anyone.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Been telling my son for years, that without misery, there is no pleasure.

 

[Wyobohunter]

Just finished chapter 1. This is an awesome read. Thanks @mtwarden.

 

[schlumpyj]

The ironic thing, as Joe Rogan pointed out, is that the author is not really going out of his comfort zone by publishing this. Who (reasonably) is going to suggest not challenging yourself?