I know, intellectually, that a workout at the end of a long day would not only benefit my long-term health, but also boost my mood and energy almost immediately. Even still, I often can't resist the allure of my couch and a Love Island binge. Why, I began to wonder, do I put off doing something that I'm fully aware would benefit me in multiple ways? It turns out I'm not alone. Humans are hardwired to gravitate toward rest, a holdover from a long-ago time when we needed to conserve our energy for activities crucial to survival, like hunting for food. The problem, of course, is most of us are far less active than our hunter-gatherer ancestors, so we're conserving energy for...more sitting around. That doesn't mean we're doomed to totally sedentary lives, though. We just have to work with our brains instead of against them, finding ways to make physical activity a built-in—and, perhaps more importantly, enjoyable—part of our daily lives. READ MORE |
