Journal ArticleDOI
An evolutionary perspective on human physical activity: implications for health.
S. Boyd Eaton,S B Eaton +1 more
TLDR
The retrojected level of ancestral physical activity might meet this need, and the best available such reconstruction suggests that the World Health Organization's recommendation, a physical activity level of 1.75, most closely approximates the Paleolithic standard, that for which the authors' genetic makeup was originally selected.Abstract:
At present, human genes and human lives are incongruent, especially in affluent Western nations. When our current genome was originally selected, daily physical exertion was obligatory; our biochemistry and physiology are designed to function optimally in such circumstances. However, today's mechanized, technologically oriented conditions allow and even promote an unprecedentedly sedentary lifestyle. Many important health problems are affected by this imbalance, including atherosclerosis, obesity, age-related fractures and diabetes, among others. Most physicians recognize that regular exercise is a critical component of effective health promotion regimens, but there is substantial disagreement about details, most importantly volume: how much daily caloric expenditure, as physical activity, is desirable. Because epidemiology-based recommendations vary, often confusing and alienating the health-conscious public, an independent estimate, arising from a separate scientific discipline, is desirable, at least for purposes of triangulation. The retrojected level of ancestral physical activity might meet this need. The best available such reconstruction suggests that the World Health Organization's recommendation, a physical activity level of 1.75 ( approximately 2.1 MJ (490 kcal)/d), most closely approximates the Paleolithic standard, that for which our genetic makeup was originally selected.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
The evolutionary basis of risky adolescent behavior: Implications for science, policy, and practice
Bruce J. Ellis,Marco Del Giudice,Thomas J. Dishion,Aurelio José Figueredo,Peter Gray,Vladas Griskevicius,Patricia H. Hawley,W. Jake Jacobs,Jenée James,Anthony A. Volk,David Wilson +10 more
TL;DR: The evolutionary model contends that understanding the evolutionary functions of adolescence is critical to explaining why adolescents engage in risky behavior and that successful intervention depends on working with, instead of against, adolescent goals and motivations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Physical Activity and Cardiorespiratory Fitness as Major Markers of Cardiovascular Risk: Their Independent and Interwoven Importance to Health Status
Jonathan Myers,Jonathan Myers,Paul A. McAuley,Carl J. Lavie,Jean-Pierre Després,Ross Arena,Peter Kokkinos +6 more
TL;DR: The evidence supporting the premise that PA and CRF are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as the interplay between both PA andCRF and other CVD risk factors are discussed, with a particular focus on the inter play between CRF, metabolic risk and obesity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Role of Inactivity in Chronic Diseases: Evolutionary Insight and Pathophysiological Mechanisms
Frank W. Booth,Christian K. Roberts,John P. Thyfault,Gregory N. Ruegsegger,Ryan G. Toedebusch +4 more
TL;DR: It is proposed that physical inactivity could be considered a behavior selected by evolution for resting, and also selected to be reinforcing in life-threatening situations in which exercise would be dangerous.
Journal ArticleDOI
Longitudinal gains in self-regulation from regular physical exercise.
Megan J. Oaten,Ken Cheng +1 more
TL;DR: The uptake and maintenance of an exercise programme over a 2-month period produced significant improvements in a wide range of regulatory behaviours.
References
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TL;DR: This report is the first report of the Surgeon General on physical activity and health, and strong evidence is shown to indicate that regular physical activity will provide clear and substantial health gains.
Journal ArticleDOI
Exercise capacity and mortality among men referred for exercise testing.
Jonathan Myers,Manish Prakash,Victor F. Froelicher,Dat Do,Sara L. Partington,J. Edwin Atwood +5 more
TL;DR: Exercise capacity is known to be an important prognostic factor in patients with cardiovascular disease, but it is uncertain whether it predicts mortality equally well among healthy persons and there is also uncertainty regarding the predictive power of exercise capacity relative to other clinical and exercise-test variables.
Journal ArticleDOI
Increasing Prevalence of Overweight Among US Adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1960 to 1991
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