25. Evolutionary Mismatch 101: Ancient Genes, Modern Diseases

🎉 One-Year Anniversary Episode 🎉It's our 25th episode and one-year podcast anniversary, and we're going to the foundation. Why are heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, obesity, and depression exploding in modern life but virtually absent in hunter-gatherer populations? The answer is evolutionary mismatch — the growing gap between the environment our genes were built for and the one we live in now. This is the "why" behind everything we've covered this past year.

In This Episode:

What evolutionary mismatch is and why 10,000 years of agriculture is nothing compared to 2 million years of hunter-gatherer evolution. How mismatch drives disease through appetite dysregulation, chronic stress, circadian disruption, and social isolation. The Six Horsemen framework — expanding beyond the familiar four to include frailty and depression/mental illness. Why you're not broken, you're mismatched — and why that's actually good news. The practical playbook: movement, real food, sleep, connection, stress management, and purpose. Plus: Vikas announces his upcoming book, Playing the Long Game.

Key Takeaway:

Chronic diseases aren't inevitable aging — they're predictable outputs of ancient biology in a modern environment. And because they're environmental, they're modifiable.📝 Free Substack: mdlongevitylab.substack.com🌐 mdlongevitylab.com📸 @mdlongevitylab🎧 Subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with one person who needs to hear it.