71–80 of 156 posts
Let me die in peace. For some reason, it is always assumed that everyone wants to live as long as possible. If you don't have a cola each day, you can dribble into a towel for another 3 years when you are older.... No thanks, Ill take the coke. put it on the reapers tab.
If we have always been lazy, why is there now an obesity epidemic? It seems to me that means the cause of obesity lies elsewhere.
Given that most people don't make the time to make fresh meals from scratch, they're getting fairly unhealthy food even if they cook at home. (And many folks short-cut with fast-food options, which are usually worse.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly, all of those activities you list seem to have an underlying purpose beyond merely "fitness for the sake of fitness" - exercise (and the fitness which follows) are incidental side-effects of completing those activites. Not sure what you mean by "actual" evidence, but we know a lot of what we know from studies of modern-day hunter gatherer groups and it seems unlikely that the ancients would have signifi…
Modern day hunter gatherers do not "play"?
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There's a little bit of cognitive dissonance going on here. If they're responsible for their actions, and they're adults, why are you taking an option away from them in fears that they're "making a mistake"? This is universally seen as hand-holding.
So should the meal plan serve alcohol, too, to avoid reacting to 'fears that they're "making a mistake"'?
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None of those things you mentioned are exercise. They are physical activity yes, but productive (including mentally productive) physical activity. Exercise is physical activity without being productive at all.
But that's false. While exercising, we socialize, we can explore our immediate surroundings as well as provide a useful function, like getting to work. Are you saying my commute by bike isn't exercise? Do you think dancing isn't now seen as a form of exercise?
Your argument was originally that the ancients performed the latter, but you've supported yourself with examples of the former. Hunter-gatherer tribes certainly did and do activities which happen to be exercise all the time, and that (and other reasons) are why they didn't need to set aside time and energy for the express purpose of staying in shape.
Is there actually any evidence that ancient hunter gatherer groups didn't do what we now call "exercise" on a voluntary basis? Some ideas come to mind: dancing, walkabouts, spirit quests, right of passage rituals, ?ancient forms of martial arts? I am compelled to believe that early man did things merely to do them, including exercise.
Interestingly, all of those activities you list seem to have an underlying purpose beyond merely "fitness for the sake of fitness" - exercise (and the fitness which follows) are incidental side-effects of completing those activites. Not sure what you mean by "actual" evidence, but we know a lot of what we know from studies of modern-day hunter gatherer groups and it seems unlikely that the ancients would have signifi…
Seems more likely it's backed by wanting to have sex (or maybe I'm just projecting my own motivations).
"But humans also “evolved with a very large stick: if you didn’t exercise, you had nothing to eat.” Exercise was mandatory. For many humans today, he points out, there are very few incentives and no penalties." Not entirely true - in fact further down in the article: "Furthermore, says HUHS director Paul Barreira, the same surveys show that students’ own sense of health and well-being tracks the amount of exercise th…
Eating crap feels great right now (endorphin release and whatnot). Sleeping in feels great right now. I know what exercising feels like, I know what being lazy feels like. I don't know what diabetes and hypertension feel like. Getting the will to overcome that and make the right choices consistently takes diligent practice and sometimes a little coercion.
As someone whose parents never forced me to play sports, exercise is a particularly bad struggle. I stepped into the gym for the first time in college. I've never really experienced being skinny (I would love to someday and am working towards that). Motivation is slightly more complicated than people like to acknowledge, especially when you consider that the environment we experience now is so drastically different from the environment we evolved in.
Also, in a social species, reproduction is a less acute need for individuals. See: why condoms exist. Personally, I hate the idea of having children. My act of "reproduction" will be making the world a better and more survivable place for the other children of the world whose DNA is 99.99% similar to mine.
Let me die in peace. For some reason, it is always assumed that everyone wants to live as long as possible. If you don't have a cola each day, you can dribble into a towel for another 3 years when you are older.... No thanks, Ill take the coke. put it on the reapers tab.
Let me die in peace. For some reason, it is always assumed that everyone wants to live as long as possible. If you don't have a cola each day, you can dribble into a towel for another 3 years when you are older.... No thanks, Ill take the coke. put it on the reapers tab.
A coke a day, probably not a huge problem if you're moderately active. But, smoking, excessive drinking, excessive time spent physically idle, etc, will all reduce your health. They may also reduce your lifespan, but that's not guaranteed. My great-grandfather made it to 90 (or very near, maybe 88) smoking cigarettes almost daily from age 12 on. He may have shortened his life, but he also significantly reduced his quality of life. His last 5-10 years were spent in the living room during the day sitting and watching TV because he couldn't get around well anymore. Similar for a grandfather who made it to 83, but the last 3-5 years he was senile due to (it turned out) brain tumors, consequences of lung and colon cancer, which were (most likely) consequences of his drinking and smoking habits.
And living a healthy lifestyle offers no guarantee of longevity. But it offers a greater guarantee on quality.