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Book Review: "Too Much of a Good Thing"

How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us . By Lee Goldman (Little, Brown and Company)

I f your New Year’s resolutions to eat better, exercise, and stress less are already a dim and distant memory, perhaps you shouldn’t blame it on your weak willpower but on your stubborn genes.

According to a new book by Lee Goldman, dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, our cravings for salty french fries, our tendency to eat past the point of satiety, and even the twinge of anxiety we feel when we step on the scale are all survival mechanisms that have been hardwired into the human body over some two hundred thousand years.

Once, these and other impulses helped to protect Homo sapiens against starvation, dehydration, violence, and bleeding, but, Goldman warns, genetic traits that served Paleolithic hunter-gatherers do not suit “a species of gradually aging, sedentary people who live indoors, ride in cars, take elevators, and may or may not engage in occasional exercise.” As a result, he argues, the traits designed to help us survive have paradoxically become our greatest killers.

Goldman, a renowned cardiologist (he developed the Goldman criteria, guidelines that determine which patients with chest pain require hospital admission, and the Goldman index, which predicts which patients will have heart problems after surgery), delivers a clear-eyed account of how our bodies have fallen out of sync with our environment.

He reminds us that, in just two hundred years, industrial and technological revolutions have completely transformed our world. Adaptation, of course, takes place over tens of thousands of years, so “we’re stuck with genetic traits that were finely tuned over millennia to deal with a pre-industrial age.”

Goldman’s argument may bring solace to those who find it difficult to kick their bad habits. He tells us that we overeat and store the excess calories because our ancestors did not have a consistent food supply and needed to gorge when calories were at hand.

Our preference for salty foods is also biological, since salt helps us retain water and avoid dehydration, but as we age, excess salt can lead to high blood pressure and damage our hearts, kidneys, and blood vessels.

We have developed fears, hyper-vigilance, and aggressive tendencies because these defensive instincts help us avoid getting killed by our enemies. Today, Goldman argues, “the anger that used to be directed externally toward other people is now increasingly directed internally, where it’s manifested as anxiety and depression.” Suicide, he observes, is the tenth most common cause of death in the United States.

A fourth survival trait, a blood-clotting system that saves us from bleeding to death if we are grievously injured, is of course still essential. However, as our bodies age and become more sedentary, that clotting mechanism can become deadly. In America, according to Goldman, “diseases caused by clots — heart attacks, clotting strokes, pulmonary embolism, and the like — cause about 25 percent of all deaths, more than four times the number of deaths caused by all forms of bleeding.”

Though Goldman’s message is alarming, it’s not pessimistic. Even while the author is demonstrating our biological inability to adapt to a rapidly changing world, it’s obvious that he is in awe of the body and its miraculous complexity. While on the subject of dehydration, for example, Goldman describes in elegant detail the wonder of our sweating mechanisms. He marvels at the prodigious output of our eccrine glands, which can evacuate “as much as 3.5 quarts per hour in a highly acclimated person living in the tropics,” and at the fact that the evaporation of sweat produces a cooling power equivalent to four thousand BTUs. 

The author has faith that science and modern medicine will help save us from ourselves. He points out that medications that treat high cholesterol, depression, and high blood pressure are already helping us adapt. He also believes that as we enter a new era of personalized and precision medicine, it will be entirely possible to manipulate our genomic profile so that we might silence or deactivate genes that don’t serve us anymore. 

Goldman, who has published more than 480 medical articles, writes that he has done his best to make the book “as scientifically rigorous as possible while still being understandable and, I hope, enjoyable for a broad audience.” He has succeeded in these goals. Goldman’s argument is both clear and compelling, and the book is full of fascinating offbeat facts and figures. Is the book enjoyable? Yes. But once readers begin to understand that the body’s survival mechanisms are now responsible “for more than six times the number of deaths they prevent,” they might describe this book differently. Perhaps the words “alarming,” “concerning,” or even “slightly terrifying” might be more apt.

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Redefining the way we live and work

Collaboration: Too much of a good thing?

PhD Candidate, Griffith University

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Libby Sander advises organisations based on findings of her research. She has previously received research funding for a project from BeneAG.

Griffith University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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It’s not your imagination. Involvement by managers and employees in collaborative endeavours has increased by 50% in the past two decades, according to research published in the Harvard Business Review. The study found that in many companies, the time spent in meetings, on the phone and answering emails takes up to 80% of employees’ time . Collaboration is seen as a vital precursor to the production of creative ideas, problem solving and improved social capital.

In designing new workplaces, collaboration is often the holy grail against which all other office requirements are measured. Some workplaces are now so open and transparent, that it is possible for a group of employees to talk face-to-face about a work problem while seated simultaneously in the office cafe, at the work station area and on a rowing machine. At Apple’s new campus in California, the design is intended to get employees to collaborate in key interaction areas, such as the restaurant. However, if an employee’s desk is at the wrong end of the building, walking to the restaurant will mean undertaking an 800 metre trip .

The focus on open workplaces is driven in part by a desire to reduce real estate costs for organisations, but also by a belief that increased interaction leads to increased collaboration. However, a study of 42,000 employees showed there was little solid evidence that open layouts improved interaction. Other research has shown that increased awareness through being able to see others doesn’t translate clearly to collaboration. The study also suggests that most office design is an experiment, and that the outcomes beyond self-report surveys are rarely tested.

Both the processes and places where work is occurring are allowing increasingly little room for employees to undertake the solitary work required to achieve results. Between 2008 and 2013, a survey showed that amongst knowledge workers, time spent on collaborating had decreased by 20% while time spent on focussed work requiring deep thought had increased by 13%. When employees can’t focus and think clearly they actually collaborate less and become more withdrawn.

Further, the perception that collaboration adds value and improves team productivity is likely to be overstated. The Harvard Business Review research has shown that in most cases, 20% to 35% of value-added collaborations come from only 3% to 5% of employees. Other research has shown that a single employee in a team who constantly goes above and beyond the scope of their role, can drive team performance more than the rest of the team combined.

Employees feel increasing pressure to assist others and go beyond their scope. University of Oklahoma professor Mark Bolino told the Harvard Business Review this phenomenon is called “escalating citizenship”. The result of this is increased burnout and lower satisfaction. Employees who are seen as the best source of information and most helpful collaborators score the lowest on engagement and career satisfaction.

To address this situation, organisations need to reconsider how to balance focussed and collaborative work both from a process and space design perspective. Knowing which employees are bearing the brunt of the collaborative burden is essential. Putting up your hand to take on more and more is seen as an essential prerequisite for career advancement. Alarmingly though, given the nature of collaborative helping, this extra work can often go unnoticed , leaving employees burnt out and disillusioned. The best solution to a problem may not involve having a meeting, forming a committee, or a putting together a new project team.

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