Following on from last month’s article - Movement, not Exercise - many of the mentioned Exceptionals who excel at exercise - training for mountaineering, triathlons, sprints and competition – are in the small percentage of people who love to exercise or get enough of it.
The following excerpt from Your Exceptional Life - which PSK members can receive the ebook and audiobook for free here - shows us that exercise has been an unmitigated public health failure.
According to Blue Zones founder, Dan Buettner. “Fewer than 18% of people in the developed world exercise enough. So, it isn’t working for the vast majority,” Buettner told Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast. “As we see obesity on the rise in most countries, school kids aren’t moving enough. It’s (exercise) just not been a successful strategy to deal with our health care problems. It sells a lot of books, it sells gym memberships and gadgets and TV shows and yoga classes. It’s a great business, but it’s not doing the job, and I feel like the Emperor’s New Clothes (saying this) – by pointing out (that) it ain’t working! “People think they have to pump iron, run triathlons and break a sweat, but actually walking gives you about 90% of the physical activity of training for a marathon. If you’re 80 years old and you can walk a mile (1.6km) in under 17 minutes it adds about six years to your life expectancy. Just the act of walking!”
How much constant and mindless movement do you have in your daily life? Can you – and do you – walk one mile in under 17 minutes on a regular basis? Are you outsourcing a lot of your mindless movement to cleaners, gardeners or using your car or public transport more than you could? Are you succumbing to modern conveniences that easily and unconsciously reduce your daily movement? I’m not suggesting you have to clean your entire house, do all the gardening and sell your car. Instead, consider if you’ve lost the balance between modern conveniences and incidental movement.
Longevity cultures don’t exercise
If the thought of daily exercise has you shuddering, the good news is you don’t need to be an exercise junkie to join The Exceptionals. “In Blue Zones, people don’t exercise – at least not in the way that we think of exercise,” Buettner continues. “In Blue Zones, people are getting plenty of physical activity into their 90s and 100s because they live in environments that nudge them mindlessly into moving every 20 minutes or so. Every time they go to work, every time they go to a friend’s house, every time they go out to eat is an occasion to walk. They don’t have a button to push for the housework and kitchen work – they do it by hand. They have gardens out the back. They’re in constant, mindless movement which is what I believe we need to start thinking about if we’re going to make healthier cities.”
On the Japanese island of Okinawa, movement comes from their traditional lifestyle. All Okinawans have a garden they tend to, they eat sitting on the floor – which means they get up and down many times each day – and do a lot of walking. None of it is structured exercise. The Greek island of Ikaria has no gyms or state of the art yoga studios. Instead, they walk and hike the undulating island, swim and body surf in the ocean, dance at their festivals, and tend their land.
In California, the graceful agers of Seventh Day Adventist community Loma Linda are partial to regular exercise, and they also have lifestyle and religious rituals that encourage regular movement. During the Sabbath, Loma Lindans are likely to hike or walk with family and friends on the day of rest and worship. On the Italian island of Sardinia, men living the traditional shepherd lifestyle walk on average eight kilometres per day whilst the women are physically active around the home.
Are your excuses lies?
So why do less than 20% of the population exercise regularly? One answer is time, or people’s perceived lack of time. The negative mantra of most of us is: “I don’t have time to exercise.” The truth is any excuse is a lie. ‘I don’t have time’ is just another way of saying I have other responsibilities or tasks that I consider more important such as sleeping, getting the kids ready for school, working, resting, catching up with friends or watching TV. Excuses overtly demonstrate what our true values are, which we’ll explore in the section on family.
Excuses are far more inclined to arise around exercise and less so around movement. Many people find it easier to go for a walk along the beach than they do going for a run. Your job in living your exceptional life is to find ways you love to move your body – it could be walking or hiking, dancing or swimming, water polo, roller skating, skateboarding, horse riding or any other type of physical activity you do for pure enjoyment.
Your biggest challenge will be drowning out the noise of the excuses that dribbles out of our mouths so unconsciously that a learned helplessness in this area of life is created. Many of us feel like we’re so busy doing everything yet not winning at anything. We feel mediocre at almost everything we do. Our job is OK, our health is OK, our relationships are OK, our finances are OK; our life is just OK. Nothing is exceptional, because we feel we don’t have the time to make anything magnificent – and there’s no pressure to rise to exceptional when average is socially accepted.
Your job and responsibility in living your exceptional life is to believe in your own divinity, as difficult as that may be. That doesn’t mean you don’t have challenges, down times, frustrations or setbacks. That’s equally a part of living an exceptional life. What sets The Exceptionals apart, whether it be in movement or any part of life, is the standards they have.
The resistance to exceptional movement is often more hardwired than changing your life’s purpose, reinvigorating your marriage or reconnecting with your estranged family or friends. And my concern for you or anyone who denies the value of movement for an exceptional life, is that you are potentially on the fast track to an undignified end. The choice is yours.
Marcus Pearce is a longevity and life design strategist and the author of Your Exceptional Life. You can take his free Exceptional Life Quiz here. He also hosts the podcast 100 Not Out: Mastering The Art of Ageing Well, and each year takes small groups to the European Blue Zones of Ikaria and Sardinia.
As for all things relating to your health speak with your GP or a relevant medical professional. For all your financial health contact PSK on (02) 8365 8300 or visit psk.com.au
General Advice Warning - Any advice included in this article has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the advice, you should consider whether it's appropriate to you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs.
