What You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise from Your Human Ancestors

What You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise from Your Human Ancestors

We all know how indisputably good exercise is for you. Yet a lot of folks still find it a struggle to engage in much physical activity. To understand the reason that this conflict and tension exists and how to overcome it, it helps to understand the lives of our human ancestors. Though, not the way the popular culture understands them, but the way someone who's actually studied them understands them.

My guest is such an expert guide. His name is Daniel Lieberman, and he's a Harvard professor of human evolutionary biology and the author of Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Today on the show, Daniel shares what we can really learn from our ancestors as to our modern relationship with exercise, while debunking some of the popular myths about our hunter-gatherer history. We begin by talking about how very recent, and actually quite weird, the whole concept of exercise is. We then discuss the fact that our ancestors were not the natural super athletes we typically imagine, what their state of physicality was really like, and how understanding their lifestyle can help us understand the competing interests going on in our own minds and bodies that can leave us feeling ambivalent about getting up and moving around. We then discuss if, as it's been said, "sitting is the new smoking," and the less and more healthy ways to sit. Daniel unpacks whether we're evolved for running, how our ancestors' strength compares to our own, and whether or not exercise helps us lose weight. We end our conversation with how this background on the past can help us in the present, by showing us the two factors that are critical in helping us moderns make exercise a habit.

Get the show notes aom.is/exercised.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(1158)

Heal the Body With Extended Fasting

Heal the Body With Extended Fasting

In the last several years, intermittent fasting — only eating for a short window each day — has gotten a lot of attention, particularly for the way it can facilitate weight loss. But as my guest will ...

9 Jan 202354min

7 Journaling Techniques That Can Change Your Life

7 Journaling Techniques That Can Change Your Life

In my twenties and early thirties, I was a regular journaler. Several years ago, however, I stopped journaling almost entirely because I wasn't getting anything out of it anymore. But my guest has hel...

4 Jan 202350min

Get Fit, Not Fried — The Benefits of Zone 2 Cardio

Get Fit, Not Fried — The Benefits of Zone 2 Cardio

When most people work out, they jump right from a resting state called Zone 1 cardio to Zone 3 cardio. But in skipping over Zone 2 cardio altogether, they miss out on a significant range of benefits t...

2 Jan 20231h 12min

Why You Don’t Change (But How You Still Can) [ENCORE]

Why You Don’t Change (But How You Still Can) [ENCORE]

Anyone who’s ever tried to lose weight, curb their temper, quit smoking, or alter any other habit in their lives knows that personal change is hard. Really hard.Most self-help books out there treat pe...

28 Des 202247min

How Testosterone Makes Men, Men [Encore]

How Testosterone Makes Men, Men [Encore]

What creates the differences between the sexes? Many would point to culture, and my guest today would agree that culture certainly shapes us. But she’d also argue that at the core of the divergence of...

26 Des 20221h 4min

The Unexpected Origins of Our Christmas Traditions

The Unexpected Origins of Our Christmas Traditions

With Christmas coming up, you're likely in the full holiday swing of things — decorating your tree, eating certain foods, listening to particular music, and buying and wrapping gifts. But did you ever...

21 Des 202255min

The Affectionate, Ambiguous, and Surprisingly Ambivalent Relationship Between Siblings

The Affectionate, Ambiguous, and Surprisingly Ambivalent Relationship Between Siblings

For most people, their siblings will be the longest-lasting relationships of their lives, potentially enduring all the way from birth until past the death of their parents. Marked by both jealousy and...

19 Des 202251min

Why Homer Matters

Why Homer Matters

Even though the legendary poet Homer wrote the Iliad and Odyssey thousands of years ago, my guest would say that these epic poems are just as relevant and significant today, and even represent a kind ...

14 Des 202240min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
mikkels-paskenotter
dine-penger-pengeradet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
foreldreradet
treningspodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
jakt-og-fiskepodden
rss-bisarr-historie
hverdagspsyken
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
sinnsyn
level-up-med-anniken-binz
gravid-uke-for-uke
rss-kull
rss-kunsten-a-leve
fryktlos
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf
hagespiren-podcast
rss-bak-luftfarten