Welcome to the Anti-Fragile Human Body. This website is devoted to exploring and documenting the many ways in which the systems of the human body are antifragile. Antifragile is a term coined by the author Nassim Taleb and describes a system that becomes stronger when exposed to disorder, stress, or sudden, unexpected changes. As long as a challenge is below a certain threshold, an antifragile system will adapt in ways that will enable it to withstand even higher levels of stress. The other side of antifragility, which is not often written about, but of course is implied, is that any system that gains from stressors will also be harmed and weakened when the environment or an individual’s life choices make fewer or more predictable demands. We will focus on the changes that occur in the human body that make it antifragile – that is, harmed and helped by stresses and challenges.

From Nassim Taleb’s book, Antifragile …

Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure , risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience vs robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better. This property is behind everything that has changed with time: evolution, culture, ideas, revolutions, political systems, technological innovation, cultural and economic success, corporate survival, good recipes (say, chicken soup or steak tartare with a drop of cognac), the rise of cities, cultures, legal systems, equatorial forests, bacterial resistance … even our own existence as a species on this planet.

Key Questions

1. What preconditions must be present for a system of the body to benefit from a stressor?
   
2. What conditions must be present in the aftermath of a sudden, unexpected change, challenge, or stressor for a system of the body to become more robust?
   
3. What physical changes occur in the human body when it’s exposed to a challenging situation?
   
4. What physical changes occur in the human body when it is not sufficiently challenged?
   
5. What characterizes an antifragile mindset?