Last week’s article, “Fountain of Youth” was about how exercise and a healthy diet enhance life and increase longevity. Exercise though has only existed for the blink of an eye in our grand evolutionary experiment. Exercise to increase strength, speed, and endurance began about 2600 years ago in Greece. Soldiers would lift heavy rocks, run long distances, and compete in wrestling matches to refine their fighting skills.
The military training led to sports and competition, and the Olympic Games were born. Before that in the “Clan of the Cave Bear” days, physical fitness wasn’t a consideration. I don’t think any Neanderthals came home from a hard day at the office and said, “Hi honey I’m home. We speared a Woolly-mammoth at work today and it should feed the clan for a week or so. I was lucky enough to outrun Joe Bob by a couple of meters, and he got eaten by a Saber-toothed Tiger. So I think I’ll go to the gym and get a workout in before dinner, I need to work on the fast-twitch fibers in my quads.”
“If you don’t find the time, if you don’t do the work, you don’t get the results.” ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
R&R
Hunter-gatherers needed to pursue as much rest as possible because they were constantly on the move, hunting and foraging for food, or running from predators. Their survival relied upon getting rest when they could. I wonder if they had a barcalounger tucked in a warm corner of the cave? Interestingly life has flipped a nearly perfect 180 in the last couple of centuries and evolution has not kept up with the biological imperative.
Daily life was exercise for millions of years until modern technology made life so much easier and our evolutionary penchant for rest turned us into a society of couch potatoes. Exercise was not something the average person took part in even a few centuries ago. If you weren’t a soldier, there was no reason to do extra physical activity. Historically, folks didn’t need extra exercise because their daily lives gave them all the exercise their bodies required.
“The industrial revolution allowed us, for the first time, to start replacing human labour with machines.” ~ Vitalik Buterin
People walked and they carried their stuff. They constantly moved and performed manual labor. Formal exercise didn’t exist. The 21st century has brought the luxury of convenience and technology, it’s possible to go for months or years without raising your heart rate anywhere close to the aerobic zone. Ironically the technology that has made our lives much easier, has removed our natural exercise requirement, leaving a society of fat, sick people.
Woolly Burger
A million years ago the Hunter-gatherers chased down lunch with spears and clubs. Can you imagine taking on a bear, a sabertooth tiger, or a woolly mammoth with a sharpened rock tied to the end of a stick? Quite a bit different than stopping by Mickey-Ds in the Ford. Back then, folks were hungry most of the time, so they ate as often as possible, in an attempt to stave off a nutritional deficit. In the present paradigm, it seems like people never stop eating but sadly they’re still in a nutritional deficit.
Almost all Americans know that exercise promotes health and think they should exercise. Yet, most people report they don’t meet minimum levels of physical activity, and 70 percent of adults report never exercising in their leisure time. When folks have to choose between sitting comfortably in the Lazy-Boy or muscling through a sweaty workout, the Lazy-Boy generally wins out.
“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” ~ Ray Kroc
It’s an evolutionary anthropological problem. Our minds and bodies have not evolved to recognize sedentary, inactive, out of shape, and obese. Our ancestors couldn’t be that way. Engaging in voluntary exercise to maintain health and fitness was not necessary, and runs counter to normal evolutionary behavior patterns. That little voice in your head says, exercise isn’t needed or fun, it’s optional.
Happy Hormones
Exercise is hard, there’s no denying that fact, and the payback only comes after a significant amount of pain and suffering; blood, sweat, and tears, if you prefer. Very few of our ancestors were fat or out of shape, so the brain’s hedonic response to exercise hasn’t evolved to work with the sedentary lifestyles of the technological age. Exercising requires a significant time investment before it becomes enjoyable.
Adaptations to your new lifestyle are required before physical activity begins to feel rewarding. It takes several months or even years of effort to improve fitness and develop new habits, it’s not a treatment, it’s a way of life. Once you get over the hump exercise feels good, and becomes enjoyable. Your brain manufactures a powerful cocktail of happy hormones, (dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins) in response to physical activity.
After a good workout, you feel alert, euphoric, and tranquil. Exercise becomes addictive. If you don’t get over the hump though, a vicious cycle can trap you on the out-of-shape side. The more sedentary you become, the less your brain can reward you. It’s an evolutionary mechanism that gives an advantage to physically active folks and penalizes those who aren’t.
“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Exercise may not be a biological imperative yet, however, at the present rate of obesity and chronic illness, it is becoming more urgent with each generation that we manifest change if we don’t want to go the way of the Woolly Mammoth and the Dodo. The body is designed to move and even though we are still hardwired to seek rest, that urge is left over from a time that is very far removed from the present paradigm. We are all free to choose the rewards and enjoyment that come from exercise and physical activity or the penalty that comes with being inactive, out of shape, and obese.