Daniel E. Lieberman

Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise--to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences, Lieberman recounts in layperson's terms how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, he suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, and explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.

Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding

Exercised

Bo Heroman

I object to the myth of the athletic savage (…) I have talked with hundreds of Tarahumara and can assure you no one there wakes up in the morning and thinks, "Gee, what a beautiful day. I think I'll run fifty miles just for fun." They don't even go for needless five-mile runs. When I ask Tarahumara on what occasions they run, the most common answer is "when I chase goats."

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