In Brave New World, Huxley envisaged a world in which happiness is the

supreme value, and in which everybody constantly takes the drug soma, which makes
people happy without harming their productivity and efficiency. The drug forms one of
the foundations of the World State, which is never threatened by wars, revolutions or
strikes, because all people are supremely content with their current conditions. Is our
modern lifestyle irreconcilable with our desire to have a deeper sense of our inner well-
being? I believe modern lifestyle can be compatible with our attainment of true
happiness, on the contingent that one can withdraw oneself from the frantic pace of the
world and ones dependence on drugs. True happiness is dependent on ones ability to
overcome pain by oneself, as well as ones health.

Much like Huxleys dystopia, we have become over reliant on drugs in all
respects, save for its extent. According to the Economic and Social Research Council in
the United Kingdom (UK), at least 1 in 10 people regularly depend on some form of
sleep medication thats at least 6.5 million people, purely in the UK. Statistics on
painkiller usage shows that of the 38 million working adults in the UK, about 7.5 million
people are reliant on it to function at work. Modern lifestyle has increased the
accessibility of drugs, allowing for people to turn to over-the-counter medication to
provide more instant relief for their wellbeing, thus spurring the increasing reliance on
chemical means for us to be happy and function in society. Furthermore, taking into
account of drugs which are less accessible or inaccessible or even illegal, our
overdependence on drugs becomes evident. Prior to the nation-wide legalization of
marijuana for recreational use in America, there was an estimate of 20 million users.
Our unhealthy reliance on drugs, a product of our modern lifestyle, indicates that we are
unable to overcome pain, physical or emotional, by ourselves, and this prevents us from
attaining true happiness. Hence, our modern lifestyle cannot go hand in hand with our
quest for true happiness.

Our reliance on drugs begs the question: What is causing this reliance? This
points to the increasing work hours we have, as well as the sedentary work life that are
a part of our modern lifestyle. Adults in the UK lose an average of 378 million hours of
sleep every week due to work. Our average annual working hours, across the OECD
countries, is nearing 2000 hours. Furthermore, we spend most of our working hours
sitting before a computer, with a general lack of physical movement. Studies have
shown prolonged sitting increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, as well
as all-cause mortality, even for those who regularly exercised. Hence, our modern
lifestyle, which involves a hectic and long work schedule that lacks physical movement,
compromises our health, which in turn compromises our attainment of true happiness.

While some may say that in the modern day and age, we have greater access of
professional services such as therapy, which can help us better accommodate our
modern lifestyle and our desire for true happiness, this is not an effective argument.
Across the globe, our efficiency at work has skyrocketed since the 20th century, which
links to our increased pace of life. This promotes a vicious circle where the exhausting
fast pace of life promotes overstimulation and overscheduling, which become chronic
stressors that lead to behavioral, mood and attention disorders. We are blind to our
physical, emotional and behavioral health problems in our frenzy and turn to medication
for instant relief, as mentioned previously. With modern technological advances, we are
exposed to a significant mass of incoming information that has eroded our attention and
our creativity. People have less time to reflect on anything as they become dominated
by a need to act, a need to be online, robotically always checking; this multi-tasking
stimulates internal chaos and fragmented attention. By the time most patients seek
therapy, the modern lifestyle would have jeopardized their attainment of true happiness
very severely, according to a survey of therapists in America. Hence, the frenzied
modern lifestyle we have cannot come together with our attainment of true happiness.

Hence, modern lifestyle is incompatible with our true happiness as we are unlikely to
resolve the contingents of true happiness, which is to remove oneself from the rushed
pace of life and to resolve ones pain and maintain ones wellbeing, physically and
emotionally, as our heavy work life and overdependence on drugs take a toll on our
quest.