“we evolved basically from couch potatoes,” said lieberman. he went to tanzania to observe wild chimpanzees and was surprised by how much time they spend “sitting on their butts, digesting.”
even though being physically active puts stresses on bones, muscles and tissue, which can sometimes lead to injuries, the body works to repair the damage by building it back stronger.
this in turn causes the release of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, and enhances blood flow. for people that are less active, those responses occur less frequently.
the repair processes of the body can lower the risk of
diabetes,
obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, alzheimer’s, and depression, the study said.
“the key take-home point is that because we evolved to be active throughout our lives, our bodies need physical activity to age well. in the past, daily physical activity was necessary in order to survive, but today we have to choose to exercise, that is to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health and fitness,” lieberman said.
and it doesn’t take much effort to realize the benefits of being active.
“the key is to do something, and to try to make it enjoyable so you’ll keep doing it,” lieberman said. “… even small amounts of physical activity – just 10 or 20 minutes a day – substantially lower your risk of mortality.”
share story
share this story
get physical: exercise necessary for older people later in life, study says