But I don ’t feel like exercising …

Not long after the first fitness magazine was published, a list probably followed soon after, ranking the best fitness equipment. This tradition has continued, with the implicit message: use this and exercise will be yours. And that’s part of the problem, says Dr. Daniel E. Lieberman, a professor of biological sciences and human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. There isn’t one “best” anything to achieve fitness. Besides, people already know. They’ve heard the federal recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. They understand that exercise is good for them. Knowledge about exercise still doesn’t motivate Before you can answer why, it helps to look at history. Before the Industrial Revolution, people fetched water and walked up stairs because they had to. But then technology, like elevators and cars, made life and work easier. Exercise has become something that people have to carve out time for and want to do. Not surprisingly, they usually don’t. “It’s a fundamental instinct to avoid physical activity when it’s neither necessary nor rewarding,” he says. It would seem like being healthy would qualify as necessary, but a doctor’s prescription to exercise “can make it like taking cod liver oil,” Lieberman says. “Sometimes it works, but more often than not, it doesn’t.” And it’s still coming across as an order, usually tied to losing weight or avoiding disease, and “not having a heart attack in five years is ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Behavioral Health Exercise and Fitness Source Type: blogs