A little anxiety is good for us

[Angela]

See:

 

[Vandemonian]

Oh - by "Anxiety is good for us" you mean "Anxiety was good for us," in the sense that anxious people would have had better fitness in the environment of evolutionary adaptation. Just not anymore:

Birth-Cohort Effects in the Association Between Personality and Fertility


The present study investigated whether associations between individuals’ personality traits and whether they have children have been modified by birth-cohort effects in the 20th-century United States. Participants were from the Midlife Development in the United States study (n = 6,259) and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (n = 3,994) and were born between 1914 and 1974. Data on personality traits of the Five Factor model and fertility history were collected in adulthood. Higher levels of openness to experience in both sexes and higher levels of conscientiousness in women were associated with lower fertility, and these associations strengthened linearly as birth cohorts became younger. In the total sample, high extraversion, low neuroticism, and women’s high agreeableness were associated with high fertility rate, but there were no systematic cohort effects. The fertility decisions of people with certain personality traits may be influenced by prevailing societal and cultural circumstances.

 

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I've always thought that humanity had a certain capacity for anxiety, earned when we were being chased by lions. Humans had to be able to deal with this extreme anxiety in order to function. In today's safer world I think the lack of existential worries (I mean personal concerns about immediate death) leads to an exaggeration of minor issues to fill the void. Whenever I hear that the level of anxiety or stress is perceived to be higher than ever, I tell me wife, "we need to be chased by more lions."

 

[davef]

I've always thought that humanity had a certain capacity for anxiety, earned when we were being chased by lions. Humans had to be able to deal with this extreme anxiety in order to function. In today's safer world I think the lack of existential worries (I mean personal concerns about immediate death) leads to an exaggeration of minor issues to fill the void. Whenever I hear that the level of anxiety or stress is perceived to be higher than ever, I tell me wife, "we need to be chased by more lions."

Chased by more lions! Clever! I have diagnosed anxiety disorder myself and trust me, when anxiety arrives, rationality leaves. Maybe I need more lions in my life...

 

[Rickhopes74]

I think that from stress it only gets worse ... If you like being in such a state, then it seems to me that it is sadism ... I do not want to offend you in any way.