Exercise and Don't Exercise

One of the presentations I went to last weekend was about health from an evolutionary perspective. You’re familiar with it. We used to be hunter-gathers so we walked a lot, moved a lot, slept on the ground and constantly worried about predators. It was a high stress lifestyle.

The presenter said something like this:

Exercise, it will save your life. Don’t exercise, it will also save your life.

What he was referring to was that early humans usually had periods of rest after a big hunt or travel day. Resting allowed you to hide from predators, recover, stuff your face and get ready for the next big day. 

The take away message was that our urge to sit on the couch and eat a whole pizza comes from a long time ago. That primal instinct to overeat easy calories and to not move is built into our software. In modern times we have the luxury to ignore these primal signals since we have things like refrigerators, cars and iPhones.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain