Born To Move.
We are built to move. Movement is embedded in our genetics. We, as a human species, would never have survived, if we could not walk or run or plant or harvest. Biblically, Adam and Eve, walked out of the garden of Eden; evolutionary – ancient men and women, originally in Africa dispersed to all habitable corners of the world.
We ran from wars and epidemics and famine and poverty and droughts and floods to a promised land placed firmly in a better future construct, then after a while moved on again. The Israelites, after hundred of years of slavery, moved camp 42 times in 40 years of travel until finally crossing the Jordan river.
In the magisterial work of Dan Beuttner and colleagues, his findings from the Blue Zones are informative. There are at least five areas on the planet where significant numbers of senior citizens live to a hundred years, and relatively well. Central to all the zones is daily movement: not industrial gym workouts or Zoom delivered yoga classes.
Rather, walking to markets, to friends, to the fields to help with farming. They bend, stretch, lift and carry. They look after their little gardens: turning the soil, planting seeds, weeding, watering, and harvesting. Then preparing food, cooking and sharing. Lots and lots of micro-moves, everyday.
Movements (that includes exercise routines) especially out in the open are natural tonics for brain function, especially the networks involved in mood control and memory storage and recall. Robust, rigorous research in the elderly indicate the importance of regular movement – walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, gardening, - in lifting mild to moderate depression, without medication.
Lesson). Everyday, and in so many different ways, move your body.
Dr Mich. Very insightful. Thank you.