Writers and writers in ancient times used to talk about fatigue, before the romantic era writers during the 18th century talked about nervous exhaustion, which finally developed into fatigue in the modern era, so that it became common that fatigue consumed everything in our life, even our sleep that will not Get it back again, so are we really more tired than our predecessors?
On the history of "fatigue", he spoke to the French magazine Lopes, historian Georges Figarillo, director of studies at the French Higher School of Social Sciences, and one of the prominent faces in the study of beauty. He studied the body, lifestyle and sense of self, and today he publishes a book on the history of "fatigue" from the Middle Ages to present day.
In an interview with Remy Noyon, Figarello says that it is almost impossible to compare feelings across time, although it is noticeable that fatigue is more present in common interests today, as he explains in his historical research.
The historian believes that research on the topic of fatigue must be preceded by a long introduction to people's representations of the body, because these representations change over time, so the definition of fatigue and how to resist it, for example, was in the eyes of the ancients referring to the mood that affects the body organically, but in the era of Western enlightenment it has become The body sees it as fibers, nerves, currents, and electricity. Fatigue is a lack of stimulation, which is compensated for by "tonics" and "stimulants" or stimuli.
Fatigue and body representations
And the vision closest to us - as the historian says - sees the body in the nineteenth century as an active "organ", the chemical combustion embodies its strength, and the calorie reserve embodies its potential, and with this change the signs of fatigue change, turning into a loss of oxygen and the extinction of heat, and also the elimination of fatigue changes To become the restoration of calories and energy supplies, the rest of the residual slag in the body is removed by organic chemistry.
Today, however, there is another change with a more complex view, where nervous phenomena prevail, the role of stimulation, tension and psychological mobilization, and cultural and social milestones may seem equally important.
And fatigue - according to the historian - requires a "complete story" because it reveals society. In the Middle Ages, the conversation revolved around the fatigue of a fighter who defends the city or the fatigue of the cleric who "saves" everyone with his suffering from their mistakes, even if the development of society imposed new forms, such as fatigue Politicians and what caused the city or character that are important.
As for the birth of collective exhaustion as it is today, it appeared at the end of the nineteenth century after fatigue was for a long time fragmented and differentiated according to the persons or departments concerned, and in the modern time it became a unified and widespread feeling indicating the "acceleration" of the world.
The industrial, scientific, technical and urban disturbances are causing concern with their sudden appearance, which created the problem of adaptation. The word "overwork" comes to express the denunciation of the dark and Western face of progress, all of which leads to unprecedented patterns of collapse.
The concept of group exhaustion emerged at the end of the nineteenth century after fatigue for a long time was fragmented and divergent (German)
There are those who question the validity of using new information machines, and regret the continuous digital temptations that are supposed to lead to an inevitable state of dependence on the machine. However, it is necessary to alert to the flexibility that the individual has, so that he adapts and interacts, to the point that What seemed to be accelerating at the end of the 19th century has become a silly joke for us today.
Thus, the extension of the field of fatigue responds to a deeper development, which is due - according to the historian - to the increasing distance in Western societies, between the ego inflated by psychology, consumption and democratic progress, and between the continuation of restrictions that are considered more than ever before, and the suffering of imposed limits;
At a time when the "ego" asserts itself, this is one of the important sources of fatigue today, according to the French historian.
Tired of being you
But how did fatigue expand from physical cruelty to psychological harassment?
Figarillo answers that the fatigue of the mind and the feeling of fatigue were more evident with classical society, and the Enlightenment played a decisive role by enabling a dynamic that resulted in the affirmation of the "citizen" that focuses on himself more, so that fatigue becomes a "state" that stimulates curiosity, appears in letters and literature, and becomes the subject of long reports .
And here arose a state of psychological exhaustion and physical fatigue, as it appears in the novels of the second half of the nineteenth century, as the French writer Emile Zola describes a rapid escape from the mine.
French writer Emile Francois Zola was born in April 1840 and died September 1902 (Wiki Commons)
When asked, are we living the moment of the completion of a movement that began with the Enlightenment, when self-exaggeration created hope and expectation, even if this hope was disappointed, that was the origin of existential fatigue?
Figarello replies that the transformation began when the self-asserting its existence became suffering for its bearer.
To clarify, Figarillo refers to the testimony of writer Gabriel Chevalier, who said that "physical exhaustion that does not leave people time to think makes them think about nothing more than basic needs," considering that this fatigue has become a "sure means of control", and this is what is behind the concepts that arose with The 20th and 21st centuries as stress and exhaustion.
Life Companion Lieutenant
This concept leads to a contradiction associated with today's societies, whereby propaganda raises our capabilities while the systems place us with more diverse and pernicious limits, in addition to what the individual suffers from in the field of corporate work, the growth of risky professions and the increase in digital surveillance, which makes fatigue suddenly a vibrant and unprecedented presence. .
The concept of "fatigue" theoretically developed by Herbert Freudenberger in 1980 highlights this contradiction, which is manifested in the insurmountable distance between "infinite ideals" and their impossible realization, that is, the difficulty of accepting any hegemony, and the difficulty of living with all limitations.
The epidemic of loneliness
And when the British academic and social history professor David Vincent was writing his book "The History of Solitude", he had no idea that it would be published in the year 2020 in conjunction with the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, which imposed on hundreds of millions of people a kind of self-isolation, as part of preventive measures and preventing the spread of the emerging virus.
Fears of a growing "epidemic of loneliness", Vincent sought to chronicle the development of isolation over the past three centuries from his country house near British Wells, exploring how people behaved in the absence of social companionship and companionship.
In his book, which is a complete account of the history of contemporary isolation, Vincent said that intellectuals in the European Romantic era - which was distinguished by concern for feelings, emotions and imagination - saw unity as a respite for citizens living in modern and complex societies, and while loneliness was seen as a feature of modern life, It was also considered a serious disease that could lead to mental disorder and antisocial behavior.
This paradoxical nature of isolation has become a major concern in the modern era with the emergence of the so-called epidemic of loneliness.
That is why the study of the history of the human desire for isolation and separation from the world has become a more important topic in the present time than ever before.