Exercise myths busted: Practical steps to sustain your health

ZOE Science & Nutrition

ZOE

Nutrition, Science, Health & Fitness, Education

4.6 • 5.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2023

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Admit it, exercise isn't everyone's favorite pastime. Of course, our ancestors weren't hitting the gym by choice — our evolution has wired us to stay active, and this natural activity actually slows down the aging process. The good news is that you can achieve the benefits without feeling like you're "exercising." In today’s episode, Prof. Daniel Lieberman debunks exercise myths. He also teaches us how exercise impacts our health and how learning from our evolution can unlock the secrets of a longer life. Daniel Lieberman is a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University. He’s the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences and a professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. He’s best known for his research on the evolution of the human mind and the human body. If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to zoe.com/podcast, and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program. Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 01:34 Quickfire questions 03:22 The Rudyard Kipling view of our ancestors 04:54 Is exercise good for us and why do most of us hate it? 06:19 For millions of years, people were physically active for 2 reasons only… 15:38 Our bodies have evolved to save calroies and preserve energy 18:31 It’s normal to think your life is normal 22:27 We need to exercise because we don’t move enough! 34:00 Diet, exercise and sleep can prevent these diseases… 39:54 The active Grandparent hypothesis 43:10 Study of men matriculating as undergraduates at Harvard University 49:44 How can we enjoy keeping physically active? 01:00:00 The importance of weights exercise 01:06:43 Summary Mentioned in today’s episode: Three generations of HSPH researchers explore health benefits of exercise from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Stanford marshmallow test experiment, a summary from Simply Psychology We also mention Daniel’s book Exercised: The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health, and you can find it here. Episode transcripts are available here. Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Zoe, science and nutrition, where world-leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health. Today we discover that many of the things we've been told about exercise are a myth.
0:20.0	We learn that it's normal not to enjoy exercise and how to overcome this problem.
0:25.0	How? By learning from our ancestors.
0:31.0	Harvard Professor Daniel Lieberman is a world-renowned expert in evolutionary biology and anthropology.
0:39.0	Beyond the walls of his lab, Daniel has travelled from Africa to Greenland to study non-Westernized populations and their physical activities.
0:47.0	In his latest New York Times bestseller, Exercise, Daniel brings together a decade of his research to debunk common myths about fitness and health.
0:57.6	You are in for a treat.
0:59.2	Daniel, thank you for joining me today.
1:04.0	My pleasure.
1:05.0	And it's fun to do this in person.
1:07.0	Now, we have a tradition that we always do on this show, which we start with a quickfire round of questions, which in general professors don't love because the rules are you can say yes or no, or if you have to a one sentence answer.
1:21.0	Are you willing to give it a go? That's trying. All right.
1:25.4	Did our ancestors exercise? No.
1:29.5	Is sitting bad for us? No. Is it normal to dislike exercise? Yes. Do we need to do 10,000 steps
1:38.4	per day? Not sure. Okay. And lastly, can someone start exercising late in life
1:45.1	and still benefit?
1:46.0	Absolutely.
1:47.5	That wasn't so bad, was it?
1:48.9	So I have one that you can have a whole sentence for.
1:52.1	What's the biggest myth about exercise that you can have a whole sentence for, what's the biggest myth about exercise
1:54.7	that you've discovered through your research?
1:56.5	Well, I think it's the one that you just asked,
	...

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