How grind culture is killing us

[Applause]

let me take you back

to last year my junior year of high

school

i had a rigorous course loan a part-time

job and extracurricular responsibilities

like so many other students in america

and also like so many other students in

america

i was only getting five to six hours of

sleep every night i was hardly spending

any time outdoors

and my diet consisted entirely of coffee

and carbs

i’d create to-do lists and schedules

every night before i’d go to bed

i’d even pencil in time for social

interaction

and bathroom breaks yup that was me

and i did this all with just one end in

sight to

maximize my productivity i wanted to be

a living

breathing machine of a student and it

kind of worked

i mean i was making good grades my

teachers took notice of my work ethic

i was in good shape for college

applications i was making money

the system was rewarding me but you want

to guess what wasn’t rewarding me

my body let me tell you i’ve always been

blessed with relatively good health up

until last year that is

that’s when i started to fall ill very

frequently with

various colds and ailments a different

one every time

it got to a point where by mid year i

was getting sick almost every other week

and every time i’d get sick i just think

to myself

push through it don’t miss school don’t

miss work and don’t

fall behind and once i recover

i’d start up my bad habits again little

sleep poor nutrition no fresh air and my

days planned to the minute

i mean at a certain point i realized i

was leading an unhealthy lifestyle

one that left me especially vulnerable

to disease but i viewed it as a

necessary

trade-off to success and i know this

isn’t a mentality limited to myself

we often view our bodies as just a

vessel to get us from point a to point b

as an obstacle that we need to put up

with in order to reach

peak efficiency now

at the time i did sort of a cost-benefit

analysis

very objectively evaluating the value of

my health

i mean was it really such a problem to

continue living the way i had been

not prioritizing my physical or mental

well-being

well let’s take a look on the one hand

sure

i’m losing free time and i’m getting

sick a lot but the benefits

by putting my health on the back burner

i’m able to focus more time on

schoolwork

i’m able to balance clubs job

extracurriculars and perhaps most

importantly

i am successful in the eyes of others

my mentors teachers parents even

linkedin connections

the whole world was validating my

accomplishments accomplishments that i

thought were only possible

through this unhealthy lifestyle that i

was leading

now why would i quit doing something if

it was getting me the results i wanted

it was earning me respect from people

that i

um also respect if the benefits

outweighed the cost

as it seemed to do in this case the

answer is

i wouldn’t quit i’d continue living the

way i had been

and my situation last year is just a

snapshot

of a larger issue

our culture has stopped prioritizing

health in today’s post-industrial world

we are rewarded for hyperproductivity at

the expense

of our physical and mental well-being we

tend to fetishize

the grind or the hustle as it’s called

and that’s why we see things like rising

workaholism in the united states

phenomena that are inextricably linked

to american society

and american culture a

study conducted by national today found

that the average american

works 140 more hours than his japanese

counterpart

and 500 more hours than his french

counterpart

every year moreover the united states is

one of the

only developed nations that doesn’t

guarantee pay time off

for illness same goes for the thousands

of american schools and

colleges with rigid attendance policies

i mean how can we be expected to care

about our bodies

if it could cost us our jobs our

livelihood our education

to dissect this cultural problem we

really need to begin with capitalism

the free market economic system that

governs the society

and it breeds individualism

under a capitalist system productivity

is the principal driving force of

economic growth

and an improved standard of living

everyone wants to be productive

but capitalism has transcended economics

it’s injected itself into the social

fabric of the united states

it tells us to be productive to an

extreme we begin to feel like

every waking moment of our lives must be

spent towards some greater goal

or we’re just wasting our time now with

that comes a lot of issues but i want to

focus on arguably the most important one

how capitalist pressures combined with

modern grind culture

is destroying perceptions of health and

wellness in america

and to do that allow me to present to

you three myths that american culture

tells us to believe about health and

wellness

the first myth that i want to get into

is that health

is a mindset now let me ask you

have you ever wished that you could just

wish away an illness

follow-up question have you ever tried

to just wish away an illness

with sheer willpower you know how it is

sometimes you wake up in the morning you

feel a little bit of a slight cold or

the chills coming on

but you continuously ignore it and power

through the rest of the day

you’re all the cold never bothered me

anyway until the next day

when it’s full on flu season in your

house it’s abundantly clear

that the world isn’t put on pause when

you fall sick

school’s still in session work continues

on and your responsibilities start to

pile up

but we’re fed this narrative that

somehow our work ethic

can supersede our physical ability to

work for example you might think to

yourself

yeah i don’t need to worry about that

sore throat i can still nail that

history presentation in fifth period

as long as i man up and i’m mentally

strong enough

granted there is some truth to this myth

and that wellness of both

mind and body are equally important to

holistic care

moreover you shouldn’t you shouldn’t

fall into a pit of despair

at every scrape or sniffle you

experience

but this idea that health is all mental

is a complete

lie proper rest and sleep

are important to recovery from any

infirmity

ignoring your symptoms and can only

hinder your productivity and cost

more in the long run especially if it

leads to a more serious condition

with that let’s move on to myth number

two we do not

have a social responsibility to protect

others from illness

up until last year there were hardly any

there were little to no

public health safeguards put in place to

protect vulnerable people from illness

and there was certainly no room in our

busy schedules to take on take time off

when we were sick

as a result persevering through sickness

became the norm it was the way to go and

it was seen as an achievement

because of this capitalist pressure to

be productive at all times

working while sick started to

demonstrate resilience to us

rather than carelessness

let me tell you i fully internalize this

myth though

last year i attended a academic

competition

after an 18 hour international flight

and let’s just say

i wasn’t feeling well at all i’m talking

all the cold and fluid symptoms

you can think of you name it i probably

had it

but regardless of my physical condition

my paralyzing fear of inactivity

led me to continue attending this

competition

and i actually did quite well for myself

at the time i remember being proud of

myself

for working through this competition and

attaining success

even despite the obvious obstacles

but then the coven 19 pandemic hit last

year

and everything changed we i

like so many others finally became

conscious of the effect

that my actions had on others and i was

ashamed

by going to that competition last year i

was putting other people’s health

at risk and

i wasn’t just putting other people’s

health at risk i was putting elderly

people’s health at risk

people that were most more vulnerable

luckily

nobody got sick because of bee at the

time but

what about the thousands of coven 19

cases that can be traced back to

ignorance

to someone going out while ignoring

their red flag symptoms

concerns like this are why this myth is

a complete lie

we do have a social responsibility to

protect more vulnerable others from

illness

to social distance during a pandemic and

to disclose when we’re feeling unwell

finally i’d like to move on to the third

and biggest myth

health is not to be is not something to

be maintained

but rather something to be treated once

a problem arises

a study conducted by dr paula prinzi at

university of mississippi

found that only 2.7 percent of americans

met the basic requirements for a healthy

lifestyle which researchers defined

as clean eating weekly exercise and

healthy body weight

this is even more concerning when you

consider the health disadvantage america

has compared to

other developed countries in study after

study

american health outcomes rank far lower

than other comparable modern countries

now why is this the case it’d be easy to

shift all the blame onto the weaknesses

of the american healthcare system

and there’s definitely some fault there

as well but i’d again like to

shed some light on the cultural dynamics

at play americans

share this common mentality that work

comes before self-care in a 2019

one poll survey the most common reason

american respondents gave

for not pursuing a healthier lifestyle

was because they simply didn’t have

enough time in the day to do so

we’re so caught up in being productive

in other ways

for example in the workforce at school

wherever it may be

that we fail to recognize self-care

as a necessary and productive task

but this kind of thinking is so flawed

self-care and maintaining your health is

is a priority and it should

be important to you and it’s not

something that should just sink to the

bottom of your to-do list

your health should be a priority now

taking it’s so much better to engage in

preventative self-care

rather than restorative medical care

once you’ve already developed

a problematic condition taking time

to eat a little cleaner exercise go on

walks

and visit the doctor when needed will

only help prevent illness

in the future so we need to stop using

a lack of time and a surplus of

responsibilities

as a crutch or as an excuse for not

pursuing healthier habits

now now that i’ve gotten into the three

myths spread

by capitalist culture why don’t we take

a second look at that cost benefit

analysis from earlier

upon realizing that i was internalizing

these myths spread by capitalist grind

culture

i took a second look at the

costs of my unhealthy habits

i wasn’t just i wasn’t just falling

sick more often and losing free time

i was actually endangering public health

by going out while i was sick

on a personal level my mental health was

deteriorating as my workaholism grew

i was putting myself at risk for

chronic conditions like heart disease

and diabetes

by not exercising or eating right

the financial costs of such of treating

such conditions would far exceed the

time commitment

of preventative self-care and finally

the ultimate cost was the risk of

mortality

a longitudinal study conducted by dr

keith diaz at columbia university

found a strong association between

premature

death and prolonged sedentary periods

not unlike those that we engage in when

we’re doing desk work or school work

so when i look at the scales now it

becomes abundantly clear

that my lifestyle was a lot more costly

than i

initially thought

so what did i do to turn my life around

well i wish i could tell you

that i ditched the self-imposed

schedules and went full

on carpe diem health nut but i didn’t

what i did do was start prioritizing

myself a little more

i’m more conscious of what i put in my

body

and how i feel and i’m less conscious of

how i look to others and how much time

i’m wasting

i’ll be the first to admit that i’m not

perfect though i still sometimes believe

in these lies

but i’ve seen noticeable improvement in

my health over the

past year and while i can’t be sure of

why that is

i’d like to think that my lifestyle

change and mentality changes

were a huge part of it but

at the end of the day it doesn’t matter

what myself or any one person does to

improve

there will always be others who

prioritize work over their health

as long as these myths that i’ve

identified for you today

continue to be part of mainstream

american culture

and that’s why american cultural

perceptions surrounding health

and wellness need to be revamped

entirely

and the great thing is you can help make

that happen

by taking ex some extra time to sleep at

night

to go on walks to enjoy the world around

you

you’ll be rejecting these myths

perpetrated by grind culture

so take a step back from work

school or whatever occupies the most of

your time

and start putting your wellness first i

promise

your body will thank you in return