Exercise, a Modern Problem?

Love it, tolerate it or even hate it, exercise is synonymous with the quest to live better. It’s accepted dogma that exercise is a healthy activity but why is it so hard to make it happen? Why do we start with great intentions but succumb to the little voice in our heads telling us to stop?

One significant reason is modernity and the mismatch between our environments and physical needs. Physical activity let alone exercise is incredibly avoidable in the 21st century leading to physical inactivity being labelled a global pandemic (1). The consequences of this pandemic cannot be understated with significant increases in metabolic diseases and musculoskeletal pain disorders, leading to a great deal of suffering (2).

‘We evolved to be physically active through necessity, but modern lifestyles reduce the necessity to be physically active’

300,000 years ago, the human form as we know it had evolved and we were hunters and gatherers with two instinctive purposes, survival and reproduction. Achieving this required a delicate balance of energy availability. Using too much energy would risk weakness, increasing vulnerability to predators and illness. However, using too little would risk not finding food and water or having adequate shelter.

Many modern hunter-gatherer groups, average 7–10 miles of walking and occasional slow jogging per day, often hitting 15,000+ steps, while rarely staying in one posture (standing, squatting, or sitting on the ground) for more than 15–20 minutes thanks to constant foraging, digging, and carrying children or loads (3, 4). The idea of pushing their bodies hard just for 'exercise', without a real purpose like finding food or water, simply didn't exist

In contrast, the average modern westerner walks about 2-3 miles per day (4000-6000 steps), does not search far for food or water, carries very little and sit’s and lie’s for hours on end in comfortable and supportive chairs, sofas and beds (5).

When contrasting these different lifestyles, we can see how we evolved to be physically active through necessity, but modern lifestyle reduces the necessity to be physically active. This mismatch requires a conscious effort to introduce exercise into our life. This is most troublesome as we evolved to move but our minds have not evolved to want to exercise!

We evolved to move!!

Through necessity, our ancestors bodies evolved powerful mechanisms to reward and support physical activity, boosting survival and reproduction.

Quick thought experiment: Who was more likely to thrive and pass on their genes, someone with strong bones, good muscle function, lower inflammation, and stable mood, or the opposite?

Moderate to intense activity first triggers a short pro-inflammatory response, which is quickly followed by a much stronger and longer-lasting anti-inflammatory one (6,7), this powerful shift is exactly why regular movement helps maintain, repair, and even strengthen our tissues while keeping chronic inflammation in check.

On top of that, it helps clear excess sugars from the bloodstream, trims harmful fat around organs, strengthens immune function, and boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a vital molecule that supports brain cell repair, maintenance, and new growth (8).

No wonder the brain boosts motivational and feel-good chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins (along with their receptors) in response to movement (9), one reason exercise often eases depression symptoms (10).

For those who are overweight or inactive, these reward pathways can start at lower levels, meaning it may take weeks or months of consistent effort to normalize them (11). Plus, noticeable endorphin boosts often require >20 minutes of solid exertion, which demands a baseline fitness level to reach comfortably (12).

On the flip side, highly active people can develop exercise dependence through these same surges (13). In healthy balance, though, most of us simply feel that natural urge to move when levels dip.

OK, so how much is enough?

Current guidelines recommend 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity (or 75–150 minutes vigorous) physical activity per week and hitting this range can boost your odds of living longer by up to 30% at any age (14) (Fig 1).

Even just 90 minutes per week (about 13 minutes a day!) starts to improve longevity, with benefits compounding more noticeably as we age potentially increasing those odds by up to 50% in later years (15). Some movement is always better than none, and it's never too late to start.

Fig 1

Despite this, 150 minutes is just 2% of our weekly waking hours, yet many people fall short (16). In contrast, modern hunter-gatherer groups often rack up 14+ hours of moderate activity plus 2–3 hours vigorous activity each week, up to 6 times the minimum guideline level (17). No surprise they maintain solid upper-body strength without gyms, lose strength much more slowly with age, and keep blood pressure youthful well into later decades (18,19, 20,21).

Active people generally enjoy better lifelong health: lower risks of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and musculoskeletal pain, fewer medications and higher quality of life overall (22,23).

Higher volumes beyond 150–300 minutes/week offer modest extra benefits to health and longevity, but the key is building sustainable habits in (or near) the recommended zone rather than rushing to do more (Fig 2).

Fig 2. Taken and modified from; Physical activity: associations with health and summary of Guidelines, Katja Borodulin1,* and Sigmund Anderssen21Age Institute, Helsinki, Finland; 2Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway

I do not like exercise though

No problem, simply try to increase the necessity of physical activity in your life, for example

· Use public transport and stand for the journey. Besides helping the environment the extra minutes on your feet and inevitable perturbations will challenge your balance and stability.

· Replace the hoover with a hard bristle broom and manually clear all the dust and dirt from your carpets and floor. The push and pull actions engage the entire body and from experience, gets a sweat on!

· At the supermarket park the trolley and use a basket or two, as they get heavier you can put them down, take a short break, and then go again. Over time, you will get stronger and find that you can complete this trip quicker and with fewer breaks.

· At work, introduce walking meetings, not only do they increase physical activity but may stimulate thought, creativity, and productivity (24). Crazier yet, whoever is speaking can carry something heavy, you will be surprised how quickly someone may get their point across!

I want to try to exercise

Excellent! In that case, choosing activities that are fun and or purposeful is vital to amplify our brain's reward mechanisms. Our ancestors occasionally ran and danced in groups in the name of spirituality and social bonding (25). Indeed, exercising in a group is likely to reduce stress, increase exercise time, and intensity compared to exercising alone (26).

Running or dancing is not for everyone, fortunately, though there are a plethora of exercise classes, groups, teams and events to perk your interest and match your current abilities. After trial and error, you are likely to find something you can tolerate and perhaps even enjoy. Remember, shifting from feelings of discomfort and angst to pleasure and satisfaction may take weeks or months!

Making exercise, a weekly habit, therefore, is essential to recognise its full benefits. Motivating oneself week to week will last only so long, just ask 80% of January sign up’s who quit the gym within 5 months (27).

Make exercise happen

Let’s face it when choosing between chilling on the sofa or going to exercise, the sofa is naturally more appealing. Therefore, to make exercise happen one needs to learn the art of self-coercion. Will you require a gentle prod or a strong push to make it happen? Here are some examples

Gentle prod

· Schedule exercise for the same time and day each week

· Make your exercise clothes visible and accessible

· Wake up in your exercise clothes – ready to work!

· Create or join a WhatsApp group full of accountability buddies i.e reminding and motivating each other.

· Wearable nudges, most electric watches will provide ‘stand goal’ or ‘steps’ reminders.

Strong push

· Schedule exercise with a group or friend in advance – you are accountable for showing up.

· Join an exercise class – when you are slowing or stopping the group will drive you on

· Get a coach – A fitness instructor will set you targets and hold you accountable

· Set an achievable goal – specific body weight or complete an event. Post about your progress and outcomes on social media.

Turn a strong push into a full-on shove by signing a commitment contract on a website such as SticKk.com. Pledge money to an organisation or cause you dislike and your nominated referee updates SticKk weekly about your progress.

For example, an animal rights friend of mine pledged £120 to Countryside Alliance, an organisation promoting the right to hunt and shoot certain animals. If she did not walk or run, at least 30 miles a week for 12 weeks (Approx. 10,000 steps a day for 6 days of the week) Countryside Alliance benefited. ‘Countryside ain’t getting a penny’ as my friend would say.'

Your Inner Voice

Strengthen and support these habitual aids by reappraising negative thoughts and interpretations during and after exercise to more factual and realistic ones. For example, reappraising signs of breathlessness and aches as signs of poor fitness and weakness to proof that you are stretching your current physical limits making you fitter and stronger. Evidence shows this can increase your exercise time, how difficult it feels and reduce the risk you will quit (28). How we talk to ourselves matters!

Do not beat yourself up!

Finally, when trying to exercise we are competing against thousands of years of evolutionary biology and all of modernity’s luxuries. Our minds have not evolved to choose exercise over comfort so when you struggle and falter do not beat yourself up.

Start simple and make basic physical activity more necessary in your life. When you are ready to start exercise, accept it will be hard, over time it will get easier and the benefits outweigh the health shocks of inactivity.

Thanks for reading, it would be great to hear about your experiences and challenges with exercise and how you have tried to tackle them.