The above map used to hang in our dining room when I was a child.
I used to think it was pretty, but that was about it.
Over the years as I have learnt more about how it, and others like it, were created by explorers taking many years in sail boats to travel all the coastlines.
I realise how much toil and painstaking effort went into such things.
Even in our lifetime we have seen an increase in more health foods, greater access to information, global positioning and access to ANY food we want.
ALL the information is out there on the internet that we need to convince, inform and guide us to get to the optimum health we can
However, at the same time we can use that same internet to:
- Order fast food
- Book a cleaner
- Find a mate
- Get anything we want delivered
- We can entertain our kids with a tablet or a smart TV
- We don't even need to leave the house to run a business.
At the centre of all this we DON'T need to use our bodies as our ancestors used to do.
We can use our
brains..for pretty much the first time in history as we live in the cerebral age.
The most powerful of our society no longer needs to be the loudest, strongest and those willing to fight to the death.
The wisest, most thoughtful and fair can now have a
voice!
However...
We also live in a body that after 200,000 years of evolution NEEDS to have movement and challenges to maintain optimum health
It EXPECTS and NEEDS to have to:
- Walk 3 miles a day to the water hole
- Climb trees
- Carry children from birth up to toddler age (no coincidence that children of indigenous humans our there first walk MANY months sooner than the
developed worlds toddlers)
- Carry heavy things (prey, wood for fires, stones for weapons, wriggly children and water)
- Hunt
- Forage
- Run from things
- Sit and sleep on the floor
- Fight (for their life and
for a mate)
After this busy day, the need to rest was then vital for survival to ensure we can do it all again the next day.
We are therefore primed to rest when all the above needs are taken care of....our deep set programming encourages us to conserve all the energy we
can
We are also primed to consume the MOST calories we can to ensure we keep that expensive, powerful body fit for life
These two paragraphs above are pretty important to remember. In this lies the reason we are struggling considerably
as a species.
Most of the above needs are taken care of by SOMEONE or SOMETHING else.
We are warm, fed, watered and clothed daily...without having earned it physically.
Of course we use our brains to earn the above and we work hard for it.
However, we estimate that our ancestors actually only spent 20 hours a week in actual work or effort to meet all their needs. The rest of the time was spent with the community and resting.
Who has it right then, when we think about it like
that?
So is it no surprise that getting to the gym or outside for a run or walk is so hard sometimes after a day at work, lots of food and sitting in a nice warm cosy house?
Positioning physical activity as
vital for YOUR survival as is water, oxygen and food can create a step change in your behaviours
