A book by a Harvard professor explains why humans are designed to sit, not run.

JVTech News A book by a Harvard professor explains why humans are designed to sit, not run.

This Harvard professor confirms it: the human body is not for sports, but …

Our modern liberal western societies are increasingly uplifted Sports at the level of worship. It is true, with the growth of the tertiary sector, we are getting dirty. It is also true, at least physical activity is very good for your health. The problem is that this cult of the game is so developed that people who don’t do it are judged negatively and ridiculed by almost everyone. So it’s interesting to hear serious scientific voices coming throughDon’t bring some subtlety to all this.

Daniel E. Lieberman, a researcher in evolutionary biology and distinguished Harvard University professor, analyzed and destroyed The myth that a healthy lifestyle depends on consistent exercise over time. In his book “Exercised”, Lieberman explains “why the activity we never developed is healthy and beneficial”, this quote in quotation marks is actually the subtitle of the book itself. Please note, the researcher is not recommending a sedentary lifestyle at any point, which would go against the current consensus. Still, his findings are very interesting to consider when talking about the game.

Check out Exercise on Amazon

According to Lieberman, you guessed it from the title of this paperHumans are not made for sports. No serious scientific evidence will support this. From the perspective of evolutionary biology, we are simply not coded to exercise. In other words, this is not what our bodies evolved for. We repeat, The science here is descriptive, not prescriptive. The author obviously believes that exercise has many benefits, especially in terms of your health.

Lieberman still stresses one point: sports can be harmful if not done in moderation. More and more people around the world are overexerting themselves to get as much exercise as possible. So it calls for regular regulation of physical activity sessions. We must ensure that we get the right amount, neither too much nor too little. Similarly, there is no point in playing games every day. It’s all in the dose.

Throughout the pages of the book “Exercise”, Lieberman simply supports his thesis that evolution did not make us athletes in general and runners in particular. Through great scientific demonstrations, he asserts that humanity evolved in an environment that did not require standing for long periods of time. For thousands of years, Homo sapiens took advantage of sitting or lying down to tell stories or perform manual labor, and this allowed them to dominate the planet, not their physical abilities.

Let’s add a little more nuance: Yes, when the time was right, our ancestors could walk more than 12 kilometers a day to get food, whether by hunting or gathering. We’re talking walking here… not running. The author explains that walking is a more natural and less demanding physical activity on our bodies than running, and that exercise does not have to be extreme to be beneficial. Getting out of the metro station to walk a little more every day already seems like a very good thing.

Important tasks that drain our energy

In “Exercises” the author points out that we have An innate “energy saving” instinct. To quote Lieberman: “Compared to other mammals, humans have certainly evolved to be particularly reluctant to exercise.” This is explained by a seemingly simple reason, but has a complex nature: basal metabolismAlso called basal metabolism.

Basal metabolism corresponds to the minimum amount of energy required by the body to maintain vital functions at rest., i.e. in case of complete physical and mental inactivity. Blood circulation or regulation of body temperature is part of basic metabolism. These types of minimal tasks alone represent a large portion of daily energy expenditure., or approximately 60 to 75% of the total energy used by the body. The brain alone consumes 20 to 25% of the energy required for basic metabolism. According to Lieberman’s data, a person weighing 82 kg burns about 1,700 calories even if he spends the whole day resting.

Thus, Lieberman does not believe that sitting, a normal activity in human life, should be demonized. Instead, he advocates embracing it in a healthy way By limiting the time spent in uninterrupted sitting to 45 minutes And avoid sitting all day. As with everything, you need balance.

Although we cannot give a complete summary of the contents of the “Exercise” book here, it is worth noting that the author recommends some proven methods for staying in shape, such as aiming for about 7,000 steps per day (and not 10,000, even though this is a myth. .is hard core). Lieberman examines how sport influences our health and how it can help us prevent disease. For a full understanding of his advice and analysis, the book is recommended to be read in its entirety.

Check out Exercise on Amazon