enhancing cognitive function, mood, and neuroplasticity
really shouldn’t come as a surprise. When it all boils down,
we’re a species made to move. And yet, along with our
diets, our lifestyles have undergone a dramatic shift. We
used to roam thousands of miles on foot as hunter-gatherers,
and when we weren’t walking or hiking, we were running—
not sitting at desks, on trains, or in cars stuck in traffic.
Just how adapted to movement are we? Recently
analyzed fossils of aboriginal footprints show a stride
indicating that our ancestors were, on average, at least as
fast as Usain Bolt, the Olympic sprinting champion. Other
signs are evident in our bodies: we’re excellent at
dissipating heat through sweat. We have long legs, large
knees, and the springlike Achilles tendon, which despite its
name is one of the strongest soft structures in the animal
kingdom. And with relatively voluminous backsides and a
large percentage of fatigue-resistant, slow-twitch muscle
fibers, we may also be the endurance athletes of said
kingdom.
Today, however, we grab our lunches to go so that we
can sit and eat in isolation at our desks. We’re mostly
stationary throughout our workday and during our
commute. And then we sit on the couch and binge-watch
hours of television. Research over the past few years has
validated the notion that chronic sitting is bad for us. So
bad, in fact, that some experts have even gone so far as to
call sitting the new smoking. While this may sound
hyperbolic, excessive sitting has been linked to early
mortality, representing nearly 4 percent of annual deaths
worldwide.^1 This association shrinks dramatically with the