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Born to Move—and Keep Moving Scientists led by Harvard evolutionary biologist Daniel E. Lieberman have found that we evolved to remain active into old age. Staying active extends our health span beyond our reproductive years--in pre-historic times and now. "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 do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health and fitness," Lieberman explained. The research team is hopeful that their finding will make that message harder to ignore. Make people more likely to keep moving as their years pile up. The details are captivating, including chimpanzees, hunter gatherers, fossils, DNA and more. * * * "It's a widespread idea in Western societies that as we get older, it's normal to slow down, do less, and retire," Lieberman related. "Our message is the reverse: As we get older, it becomes even more important to stay physically active." Here’s how Lieberman and his team arrived at their health-span prescription. The illuminating factor is the progression from monkeys to hunter gatherers. Chimpanzees, which usually live only about 35 to 40 years in the wild, are considerably less active than most humans, suggesting that there was selection in human evolution not just to live longer but also to be more physically active. "We evolved basically from couch potatoes," said Lieberman, who has twice observed wild chimpanzees "sitting on their butts, digesting." The lifestyle of modern day hunter-gathers drives home the need for empty-nesters to keep moving. * * * Contemporary hunter-gatherers average about 135 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, about six to ten times more than average Americans. That is almost surely why they live about seven decades, approximately 20 years past the age at which humans generally stop having children. Fossil evidence indicates that these extended lifespans were common 40,000 years ago, contrary to the belief that human lifespans until recently were short. (We’ve written about what can be learned from the Tsimane, an indigenous people isolated in the Bolivian peripheries of the Amazon rainforest, still living by traditional ways of farming, hunting, gathering, and fishing. https://www.cbass.com/indigenous2.html ) The Lieberman team emphasizes that the key health benefit of physical activity is to extend the human healthspan, defined as the years of life spent in good health. Turns out that staying lean and strong with regular exercise has benefits far beyond the obvious, confirming my long held believe that exercise breaks down muscle tissue and builds it back better and stronger than before. The researchers examined two pathways by which lifelong physical activity reallocates energy to improve health. The first involves directing excess energy away from potentially harmful mechanisms, like excess fat storage. They also identified how physical activity allocates energy to repair and maintenance processes. They show that besides burning calories, physical activity is physiologically stressful, causing damage to the body at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels. The body's response to this damage, however, is essentially to build it back stronger. This includes repairing breaks in muscle fibers, repairing cartilage damage, and healing micro-fractures. The response also causes the release of exercise-related antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, and enhances blood flow. In the absence of physical activity, these responses are activated less. The cellular and DNA repair processes have been shown to lower the risk of diabetes, obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, and depression. * * * The researchers' advice? Get out of your rocking chair and get moving. "The key is to do something, and to try to make it enjoyable so you'll keep doing it," Lieberman said. (Sure sounds familiar.) I would add that rest between exercise sessions is important, to allow time for the rebuilding process to take place fully. Rest was a key factor in Legendary Coach Bill Bowerman's prescription for success. https://www.cbass.com/Bowerman.htm It's advisable to keep moving between workouts, to promote recovery, but take care not to overload and slow recovery. * * *
The following summary comes from Science Daily, where you will find the above and many more details: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211122172720.htm A team of evolutionary biologists and biomedical researchers lay out evolutionary and biomedical evidence showing that humans, who evolved to live many decades after they stopped reproducing, also evolved to be relatively active in their later years. The researchers say that physical activity later in life shifts energy away from processes that can compromise health and toward mechanisms in the body that extend it. They hypothesize that humans evolved to remain physically active as they age -- and in doing so to allocate energy to physiological processes that slow the body's gradual deterioration over the years. This guards against chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and even some cancers. Journal Reference: Daniel E. Lieberman, Timothy M. Kistner, Daniel Richard, I-Min Lee, Aaron L. Baggish. The active grandparent hypothesis: Physical activity and the evolution of extended human healthspans and lifespans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021; 118 (50): e2107621118 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2107621118 My Take Our Success Story this month about the 95-year-old law professor is a wonderful example of the power of staying physically and mentally active. Over and over Professor Mandelker overcame adversity—balance problems, falls, injuries—to stay active physically and mentally. He hired a personal trainer to oversee his exercise in the gym and at home. What’s more, he retired from teaching at 95 to take on new challenges. No rocking chair for him. Take a look at his photo at the end of his story. He looks half his age. * * * While I’m not as far along in life as Dan Mandelker, I’m striving to keep moving with a gimpy lower back. With the help of our longtime friend, Barry Rubin, strength coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, we’ve found a neurosurgeon here in Albuquerque. He spent a lot of time explaining my MRI in minute detail. He says that it reflects a lot of wear and tear. (It's complicated and I don't pretend to understand it all.) He expressed some surprise to see how well I am able to walk on both my toes and my heels. Apparently, a good sign. His bottom line was both satisfying and sobering. He does not recommend surgery. Says they would have to rebuild my entire lumbar spine and that it would require six months or more to recover. The inactivity might set me back more than surgery would help. (Made me think of Joe Weider's problems after back reconstruction and Ronny Coleman ending up in a wheel chair, with constant pain.) The new doctor recognized right away that I am exceptional. Said I look amazing for my age and that I have done a good job managing my back while continuing to train. He suggests that I keep doing what I've been doing. Continue to train around my back problem. Taking care not to cripple myself. Didn't make another appointment, but we now know where to go when I need help. * * * Professor Mandelker, our success story for this month, is a role model for the ages. Believe me, I am impressed. The bottom line for both of us is to keep moving—thoughtfully and carefully.
The Land Grant area is ideal for someone with special needs, like Professor Mandelker and myself. Here I am considering the exercise possibilities offered by a rock wall shelter. I decided to stay on the ground. There's no give in those rocks. Photo by Carol January 1, 2022 Comment on this article: FEEDBACK Ripped Enterprises, P.O. Box 51236, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87181-1236 Home | Products Index | Ripped Bks | Lean Adv. Bks | Lean For Life | Recommended Bks | |Consultations | Posing Suits | Tapes | To Order | Feedback] Copyright © 2022 Clarence and Carol Bass. All rights reserved.
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