The Shoebox Effect
I've spent a lot of time indoors. In fact, I'd wager I've spent more than half of my time on this planet inside of a house or an apartment, usually sitting in a chair or on a couch. Let's do some math for perspective: I'm 26, so that's about 9,490 days–or 227,000 hours on earth. If my assumption is correct, I've spent more than 113,000 hours lounging indoors. Just reading that made me jump out of my chair and apologize to my poor legs. It's not just my legs that are feeling the strain of a sedentary lifestyle–it's my mind, too. Staying for too long in one place has a well documented impact on our psyche. Some call it cabin fever. My roommate and I have dubbed it "The Shoebox Effect."
Since moving to Manhattan in November, I've felt the affect of this phenomenon even more than I did in Florida. Sharing a 400 square foot apartment will do that. Tack on the shorter, darker days of winter and you have a recipe for binge-eating, tv-watching, and existential crisis. Why is that?
The Science
As society advances on the technological front the necessity for physical movement decreases. We can work from home, have food delivered to our doors, and communicate with others on our phones or laptops. Our push toward convenience in modern society is a simple problem exchange–solutions to some, but the creation of others. Though not a perfect metric, average daily step count is a strong indicator of this downward trend in activity. A study published by Cell Press and conducted among smartphone users in middle and high-income countries yielded an average of ~4,961 steps per day. In a stark comparison, the average step trend in hunter-gatherer and subsistence farming societies around the globe is a whopping range of ~10,000-18,000 steps per day. While nuanced, the general pattern is clear: modern society is moving much less than it used to.
It is well documented that our physical health is declining in tandem with movement metrics. I also think our mental health is taking a huge hit as a result of moving less. There is no better example to point to than our experience during the COVID lockdowns. A study published in Psychiatry Investigation covered the affects of staying indoors among a group of Chinese individuals in both the UK and China who had no previous history of mental illness. In the lockdown period ~60% experienced depression, ~53% had trouble sleeping and, most interestingly, ~82% of participants didn't go outside at all during the lockdown. Of course there are other contributing factors to feelings of depression like social isolation, but decreased movement almost universally impacted participants' mental health in a negative way during the pandemic. In other words, not going outside really sucks. When we feel trapped physically, we feel trapped mentally.
Okay. So What?
So what's the point of my yapping about step counts and tiny apartments? I used to be very sedentary. I'd play video games or watch Netflix for 10+ hours a day, all while slouched in a chair to the point where my muscles were stiff and contorted. I was also very, very depressed. I had no ambition to chase business ideas or creative pursuits, nor did I put much effort into building relationships with friends and family. I was stuck in the shoebox. At some point I got bored enough with the games that I started going outside. I discovered the warmth of sunshine and the joy of activities like rock climbing and mountain biking. My muscles stopped hurting so much. It became easier to smile and to sleep. I realized how fulfilling it was to prioritize my current relationships and build new ones.
As I try to adjust to the confined spaces of life in New York City, I'm writing about this idea for two reasons: To remind myself of the importance of movement, and to share what I've learned with anybody feeling stuck in life. On those days when its tough to get out of bed and the TV remote is so tempting, go outside. Move. Physically change your scenery. You don't have to have a destination in mind or some 10,000-steps-a-day workout plan. It's a reminder that the world is actually much bigger than the four walls in which we call home. The antidote for the shoebox effect is just good old-fashioned exploration.
It's the start of a new adventure–let me know what you find!
Ethan Mark
Works Cited
Wang, H. C., Ting, W., Li, Z., Sun, E. T., & Wang, X. (2020, July 14). Mental health problems of individuals under the stay-home policy. Psychiatry Investigation. https://psychiatryinvestigation.org/journal/view.php?doi=10.30773%2Fpi.2020.0219
Raichlen, D. A., & Lieberman, D. E. (2022, November 7). The evolution of Human Step Counts and its association with the risk of chronic disease. Current Biology. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982222014749
