The other day I learned of an old book which is about a provocative idea:
Cancer is the result of boredom.
How’s that work?
You’re a lazy cheater, that’s how.
…
No need to feel insulted.
That’s a basic fact of the human organism. We’re all lazy cheats. Living creatures are survival machines, and if you value survival above all other goals it makes good sense to spend the least possible energy, effort, and attention.
You ever notice that an activity you do regularly turns into a “thoughtless” habit after awhile?
That’s laziness at work.
It’s a good thing, too, because just imagine how hectic life would be if you couldn’t switch on the autopilot for most of the things you do. You wouldn’t have much attention left if you had to pay close attention to breathing, walking, picking up a cup, and using a knife to slice cheese.
But there’s a price tag attached to that robotic efficiency.
A life lived by habit is flat, dull, repetitive, and often boring. The more you adjust to a routine, the less excitement you get out of it. Think of things you once loved when they were brand new and full of uncertainty, which are now tired and forgotten like an old bike collecting cob-webs in the garage.
Too much habit saps all the vitality out of living.
You see this happen as we age. With age comes experience and knowledge, true enough, but these are like a sword that cuts the user. Knowledge makes the world predictable, which makes it easier to sleepwalk through the day without every making any conscious effort.
The more you know, the easier it is to lock yourself into a routine where you live like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
Time passes but not really.
Unless some kind of crisis happens outside the cage of monotony, we sort of drag on in a limbo of our own making.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that your mind is no different from your body, both of them being living systems that adapt to stress in the environment.
Without challenge and effort, body and mind wither away.
By now you might be tapping your foot wondering what this has to do with cancer. Wait no more.
The book I discovered the other day was written by a developmental psychologist who, unfortunately, passed away a few years ago. Despite his passing, here are his words from beyond the veil:
some types of cancer (and associated pain/sensory stimulation) might be conceptualized as yet another bodily-expressed sensory information-control mechanism by which understimulated (“bored”) bodily structures (including the brain and non-CNS structures) regulate a higher level of sensory information flow for themselves, thus helping to mitigate/regulate their “information underload/isolation” and “boredom experience.”
Not exactly the clearest confectionary of words, I agree, but you might get the basic idea.
Cancer might be a way that a “bored” organism gives itself something interesting to do.
Is this the revolution of a lifetime or nonsense on stilts?
Who knows.
All I can say for sure is that ethics and US Federal law prevent me from making any claims to cure cancer by spicing up your boring life. I’m risking a trip to the Spam folder by even mentioning it.
The theory would explain a few things, though. I’ve long believed that physiological aging has a whole lot to do with how active and interested we stay as we age.
I’ll never forget that MRI scan of the 70 year old Iron Man athlete compared to a man the same age who did no exercise.
The Iron Man guy had legs almost identical with a 40 year old control.
The sedentary guy? His thigh looked like an extra-flabby marbled ham, almost no muscle.
Use it or lose it is not just a clever slogan.
I gotta say though, the idea that your body gets so bored it will risk death is one of the most novel explanations I’ve ever heard. The craziest part is that there’s nothing crazy about it. Boredom is a kind of insanity. Nothing would surprise me one bit if living tissues and cells went mad with boredom.
True or not, though, it’s a good reminder of how important it is to make an effort. Mental, psychological, and emotional effort are as important as energetic physical activity.
Life is for living, not for thinking about.
And in that spirit…
If you’re a small businesses looking tighten up your messaging and marketing game with communication that won’t bore people to death — or if that describes somebody in your network — then hit Reply and let’s see where I can help you.
Matt Perryman