Over the years, it has become common knowledge among my friends and acquaintances that my plans, daily decisions, and overall mood are directly impacted by my physical activity. As someone with an excess amount of energy (and anxiety), exercise is a non-negotiable part of my daily routine. It is crucial not only for my physical health but also for my mental well-being. However, physical activity and proper nutrition haven’t always been at the forefront of my priorities. While I was active through club sports in middle and high school, my understanding of proper nutrition and the impact that food and exercise have on overall well-being was minimal. I wasn’t aware of the massive influence that nutrition, outdoor activity, and physical movement had on multiple systems of the brain and body.
Upon entering college, the stress of creating a new routine, balancing academics with social life, and dealing with personal challenges heightened my anxiety. I found that exercise became the only outlet that allowed me to reorganize my thoughts and maintain focus. It became a critical aspect of my daily routine and a reliable way to manage my stress. However, what started as a healthy coping mechanism lost its balance. Eventually, my excessive movement paired with a lack of proper energy intake led to severe health complications, landing me in the hospital with multi-organ system failure and refeeding syndrome. During this time, I was unable to engage in any form of physical activity for months, a devastating reality for someone who relied so heavily on movement to manage stress.
That experience profoundly shifted my perspective on physical activity and proper nutrition. What I once took for granted became something I deeply valued. Not everyone has the ability to engage in physical activity due to illness, injury, or other limitations. Having that ability taken away made me determined to take the right steps to regain my strength and return to an active lifestyle. The journey back to health taught me to appreciate movement on a much deeper level. Exercise became a form of gratitude, and I now feel fortunate that I can move, push myself, and grow stronger every day. A muscular build is simply a byproduct of that disposition.
After my experience, I often wondered how able-bodied individuals could possibly view exercise and healthy eating as a chore rather than a privilege. My experience inspired me to study exercise physiology and preventative medicine, which sparked my fascination with the biological heritage of humans and our evolutionary adaptation to physical activity. One of the main epidemiological issues impacting humanity today is the rise in sedentary behavior and physical inactivity, due to the emergence of an urbanized, highly technological society. Social developments and technical innovations significantly alter the biological conditions of human nature. In our modern society, children – who are naturally spontaneously active – spend increasing amounts of time indoors, are taught to conform to societal norms of controlled conduct, and are increasingly inclined towards sedentary behavior as they age. This shift in lifestyle norms contributes to epidemiological studies documenting alarming trends in sedentary behavior worldwide, correlating to increasing rates of chronic diseases.
When considering biomechanics of human mobility and muscle physiology, it is crucial to understand that multiple organ systems in the body function to service skeletal muscle and maintain internal equilibrium. This means that humans are physiologically adapted to physical outdoor activity and the constant use of skeletal muscle, as hunting and foraging for survival was a driving factor for habitual physical activity thousands of years ago. In our current society, however, increased food abundance and the decreased need for physical exertion have already resulted in detrimental health issues – including high rates of obesity and the chronic illnesses that accompany it. Physical outdoor activity was an adaptation to the conditions of human life. Our brains, still wired like those of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, are built for physical activity, yet modern life presents few opportunities for the kind of movement we are adapted to.
Food and physical activity impact all aspects of intellectual, emotional, social and physical health. After my experience, and devoting time to research in neuroscience and exercise physiology, my relationship with exercise has evolved into something far more profound than a simple daily routine or goal. To answer the question of how I work out every day, I would ask: if you have the privilege to do so, why wouldn’t you?