In addition to being the coolest name ever for a hypothetical rock band, a cytokine storm is the biological equivalent of “Too Much of a Good Thing.” Briefly, cytokines are molecules that play a major role in fighting infection by stimulating immune cells. However, they also stimulate those immune cells to produce more cytokines in a positive feedback loop. The body normally down-regulates this production as needed, but in some infections the feedback loop is not broken resulting in the body being attacked by overwhelming numbers of its own immune cells. It's called a Cytokine Storm and it often leads to death.
The bad news is, well, the whole death thing. The good news is that our bodies, more often than not, do a pretty good job of regulating just enough cytokines to be beneficial. Our brain however is not as good in telling us what is ‘enough’, or in down-regulating our quest for more. More money, more things, more time, more recognition, more satisfaction. Whatever the category, we are inherently unsatisfied with what we have and always want more. Unfortunately when we achieve our desired success it seems fleeting and we return to a sense of inadequacy with what we have achieved. Whether in comparing our new salary to a new set of peers, or buying the car you always wanted then realizing you’re jealous of the person who has two dream cars, we seldom pause to appreciate our successes. Harvard professors Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson in their book “Just Enough” call this ‘success’ “at best a series of temporary highs and at worst a difficult slog through an endless string of quick solutions that never quite satisfy complex desires.”
They argue that we tend to view success in a maximization paradigm; that we are constantly “seeking success in highly individualistic, meteoric, record-breaking feats.” When in reality our happiness is tied to identifying successes that are just enough.
“Instead of trying to have it all and do it all, you have to learn to recalibrate to go after just enough. The critical level that gets you there is determined by a reasoned calculation of what will really satisfy your particular needs in one category for now, for tomorrow, and for the larger picture. Beyond that, you really begin to waste your energy at the cost of your opportunity to address your other needs.”
Well spend more time later on how to avoid the cytokine storm, but right now we’ll reinforce the idea with the song of the day.
Let me hear how you avoid the ‘storm’, and the name of your hypothetical band!
Song of the Day
In honor of more not always being better, and early 90’s east coast hip hop, the song of the day is “Mo Money, Mo Problems” by Notorious B.I.G ft. Ma$e and Puff Daddy.
(by the way, we’re going to come back to Ma$e in a future post. Stay tuned.)
My band would be: Incumbred by Idgits
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