Not being active is essentially going against nature. Our bodies are built to
enable us to hunt and forage for the food we need to survive. In evolutionary
terms human society has been at the stage that we can nourish our bodies and
keep safe and warm, protected from the elements and predators by sitting at a
desk in front of a computer for milliseconds. So it is little wonder that leading a
sedentary life without exercise for any length of time leads to our bodies
relatively quickly starting to deteriorate and giving us an assortment of health
If you look at any other animal in nature, they are active from the moment they
are born to the moment they die. At the point that they are no longer able to
hunt or travel forage for food effectively, that is the end of the line. The period of
time between significant physical deterioration and death is generally a
relatively short one. Even within human society, if you spend time in other
cultures you will see old people active pretty much until the end of their lives.
They will work in the fields or garden and be relatively fit and active right up until
the big guy with the scythe gives the word. It is only in our western society that
many people have very limited physical activity from middle-age onwards. And I
am convinced that it is this lack of movement that leads to us becoming invalids
as we age.
If we keep active throughout our lives we can avoid this. This doesn’t mean
hitting the gym five times a week for a couple of hours. Going to the gym or
playing sports is great if you can manage it. But if you cannot for any of the
numerous reasons that put pressure on our time in the modern world, having
children being the prime culprit, you can still ensure you keep active. It requires
effort, dedication and most importantly discipline, but it is certainly very
achievable. There are so many things you can do. You can even go out onto your
street every night when you’ve put the kids to bed and do sprints for twenty
minutes. You don’t need to be fast, you just need to run as fast as you can. Sprint
as hard as you can to the end of your road, walk back slowly, and repeat.
Everyone can do that for twenty minutes a day and do you know how exhausted
you will be at the end of twenty minutes and how fit you will be in a few months
of doing that daily? So no excuses. Our bodies are built to be exercised and for
our own sakes as well as that of our families we owe it to nature to keep active
and make sport a part of our daily lives.