Go wild with movement

‘Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.’

~John Muir

Watch a child in a park; running, climbing and throwing. They are innate and natural movements woven like tapestry through our DNA. Kids allowed to run free in nature explore, climb trees and roll down hills; movement and play go hand in hand.

I have noticed during the COVID-19 lockdown there are more people running and walking on my daily running loop. I believe this is not only because people are working from home, so have more time to exercise, but because gyms are shut due to social isolation. It’s another silver lining, more of us out in the fresh air and morning sun, smiling and moving.

However, we are still not incorporating enough variation in daily movement and we move differently from our primitive ancestors. Loren Cordain and colleagues published a paper reviewing the breadth of research into how primitive humans moved and where we are going wrong.

The study suggests that to emulate hunter- gatherer activity we would need to cover distances of between 6-16km daily. Although this is a wide variance, it’s not easy to achieve for everyone. However, we should all endeavor to dedicate time to walking in nature daily at a moderate intensity. Variation in movement was normal for our primitive ancestors as some days they would be hiking and foraging, other days running and hunting. There were intermittent bursts of energy (running after the deer in the forest), and strength training was a regular occurrence (climbing, swinging, throwing, lifting).

The most important point is all activity was performed outdoors.

Hunter- gatherer days were tough and they were fighting to survive. They exercised often and often under fasted conditions. While we don’t want to stress our body to that extreme, we haven’t evolved fast enough to be physiologically able to cope with sedentary lifestyles. We lack primal fitness in the 21st century, but we can adopt exercise that mimics that of our predecessors and reap health rewards.

Interestingly a study examined if a four-day nature trip, involving dietary changes and hunter- gatherer type activity improved metabolic health. Researchers took two groups of 14 people and isolated them in nature over four days and four nights. They hiked for 16.4 km daily and were active for 5.49 hours a day. They only ate twice a day to stimulate a more paleolithic easting routine and the food comprised of lean meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, fruits nuts and herbs, with water to drink.

To mimic foraging activities, participants hiked for at least four hours and spent the whole time outdoors. They measured metabolic parameters such as cholesterol levels, inflammatory markers, blood glucose, body composition and fatty liver index.  At the end of the study over just four days, body composition improved, muscle mass increased, fatty liver index, insulin levels, and fasting glucose dropped. This were just preliminary results as a pilot study and more research in the area is needed. Regardless it makes sense that good food, regular movement outdoors would have positive metabolic rewards.

Dance

Dancing is another ancient workout lost in modern life.  We allocate dancing to entertainment, forgetting that our ancient ancestors used dance to celebrate. It brought people together in musical, ritualistic, egalitarian and joyous ways. Rhythmic, primal movement is fun and doesn’t even feel like work.

In her book Primitive expression and dance therapy, Frances Schott- Billmann proposes that in traditional societies humans are thought of as being bound to the cosmos, to nature and to community, and dance brings this bubbling to the surface.  She proclaims that dance reignites genetically programmed behavior buried deep within us healing the body.

It’s likely that very early humans may have used dance to attract a mate and a study published in the Public Library of Science’s genetics journal in 2005 hypothesizes the ability to dance was actually linked to survival.

Dancing was a way for our primitive ancestors to bond and communicate, particularly during tough times. So, scientists believe that early humans who were coordinated and rhythmic could have had an evolutionary advantage (not sure I would have survived if it came down to a sense of rhythm).

If you want to connect with your ‘wild side’ I suggest you research African tribal dance classes, either in your town or online. It’s so much fun and great for fitness. Better still, go with a group of friends so you feel a sense of community as you get wild!

Structured exercise is important for our health and wellness, but we really should strive to move when we can during the day. Walking to the store is close to hiking to forage for food in the wild; attending a dance class is close to dancing with your tribe; and lifting some weights is close to carrying a heavy animal. Swimming, jumping and throwing are all activities that we have weaved through our DNA.

To move feels good, so let’s try to do more of it. 

JH O'Keefe, R Vogel, CJ Lavie et al (2010). ‘Organic fitness: physical activity consistent with our hunter-gatherer heritage.’ The Physician and sports medicine. Vol 38 (4)pp 11-8 .

 J Freese, D Pardi, B Ruiz-Núñez et al (2016). ‘Back to the Future. Metabolic Effects of a 4-Day Outdoor Trip Under Simulated Paleolithic Conditions – New Insights from The Eifel Study.’ Journal of evolution and health. Vol 1 (1) article 16.

 R Bachner-Melman, C Dina, AH Zohar et al (2005). ‘AVPR1a and SLC6A4 Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Creative Dance Performance.’ PLoS Genetics. Vol 1(3): e42. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0010042