The idea of living like our ancestors has become something of a wellness craze. Take the Paleo diet, barefoot running, and cold plunges — trends that encourage you to shed the comforts of modern living.
But anthropologist Michael Gurven, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says these fads miss the deeper meaning of how our ancestors survived and thrived.
Gurven has spent decades living and working with remote tribal populations to learn how humans evolved to thrive in challenging environments.
He has spent time with indigenous tribes like the Moseten and Tsimane in Bolivia, who follow traditional subsistence lifestyles and have extraordinarily good health, with strikingly low rates of chronic illnesses like heart disease and dementia.
Studying their lifestyles not only taught Gurven how our own ancestors might have developed resilience but also how we may be able to implement that knowledge today, he said.
Cue his new book, “Seven Decades,” which explains why humans evolved to live so long and shares some lessons for modern life.
Their habits don’t look like any wellness influencer’s routine. Here are four tenets they live by, from social bonds to steady exercise.
Humans are built to be social
One major lesson of living with hunter-gatherer groups is that humans evolved to work together, according to Gurven.
“Middle-aged and older adults are part of the reason that we’re actually fairly successful as a species,” he said.
Multiple generations of the Tsimane share the burden of daily tasks like hunting, fishing, preparing food, and caring for children.
On a recent trip to Bolivia, Gurven said he was struck by how tribe members were socializing almost constantly, and everyone was expected to join in across multiple age groups.
“It’s an inspiration for rethinking the story of older people in our growing population,” he said.
Gurven has taken that to heart. While modern society is more segmented, with people confined to their age groups, he finds ways to connect.
“Even as much as I work, it’s rare that I turn down social invitations because in the end nurturing that kind of community and friendships is really what’s important,” he said.
We thrive on learning new things
Some of the longest-living people in the world swear by learning throughout their lives, from a 100-year-old woman who reads the newspapers daily to a 91-year-old grandma who travels the world.
Gurven sees this in tribal communities, too.
Tribe elders that he’s observed are deeply immersed in cultural traditions and skill sharing, and that engagement and sense of purpose help them maintain vibrant physical and mental health.
Our essential activities take decades to master — from survival skills like hunting, farming, cooking, and medicine to cultural skills like art and storytelling. It’s part of what makes us human. Meanwhile, our close ancestors, chimpanzees, develop the life skills to be self-sufficient much faster and also age much more quickly.
“The ability to live well into seven decades, that’s just very human,” Gurven said. “You only get really productive well into adulthood, and it wouldn’t really make sense to adopt that strategy if you couldn’t be guaranteed to live long enough to reap the gains of all that effort.”
Healthy eating doesn’t need to be complicated
According to Gurven’s research, the Tsimane have some of the healthiest hearts in the world, in part because of what they eat.
They don’t follow a low-carb, high-fat Paleo diet. Tsimane staples include rice, corn, starchy sweet potatoes, and plantains, along with fruit, nuts, fish, and wild game.
Don’t rush to eat just like that. “I think it’s just absurd to think that there’s any single optimal diet,” Gurven said. Instead, focus on two main lessons from the hunter-gatherer menu: eating fewer empty calories and more whole foods.
To paraphrase Michael Pollan, who also wrote about this community, the Tsimane eat real food and not too much, since there isn’t a lot extra to go around beyond what they need to fuel daily activities.
As for himself, rather than mimicking a hunter-gatherer diet exactly, Gurven said he’s cut back on salt, eats more moderate portions without overthinking it, and never drinks soda.
Slow and steady exercise
It’s a myth that the hunter-gatherers of our past were super fit.
“We tend to have in our minds vigorous hunters chasing down game and doing triathlete-type activities all the time. And that’s just not true,” Gurven said.
However, modern society is more sedentary by comparison, with the average American taking about 5,000 steps per day.
Members of the Tsimane tribe get an average of 17,000 steps per day while foraging for fruit and nuts, harvesting corn and plantains, and hunting and fishing.
“It’s a lot more than I’m getting,” Gurven said. “But the big motivation is that it’s a lot of light and moderate activity.”
He opts for walking and hiking outdoors whenever possible, and making it a social activity so it sticks as a habit and doesn’t feel like a chore.
“Anything helps in the activity domain. I think in some ways it’s encouraging to a lot of Americans who are intimidated by gyms,” Gurven said.
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