Daniel
Lieberman, not related, is an Evolutionary Biologist at Harvard. His new book
“Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding” Is provocative
to say the least. Dr. Lieberman
maintains that the way we exercise is odd in that “we never evolved to
exercise.” He pointed out that in the last 150 years or so we developed
machines that assist us in every way. In
fact, it negatively contributes to burning fewer calories and limits blood flow
to both arms and legs. In his study of the Hadza .the Hunter-Gatherers of a
Tanzania tribe, like our Stone Age cousins, found they were strong but lean so
as not to waste calories on activities that did not contribute to acquiring
food. They did not look like the body builders of today. They were afraid to
lose calories because it might result in their death. Dr. Lieberman acknowledged that aerobic
exercise, strength training and high intensity interval training are beneficial
for physical health in dealing with diseases like obesity ,diabetes ,cardiovascular
conditions, Alzheimer’s and cancer. He didn’t blame many for not exercising
because he realized that exercise isn’t fun. It is my position that the need to
play, a physical activity, coupled with other needs are associated with
exercise and are significant and necessary components for well-being. Play and
exercise bring joy and aplomb.
It’s
apparent that aggressiveness is in man’s nature .Aggressiveness is built into
our cortex and serves as a defensive function against threats to survival and is
necessary for survival. It’s also apparent that man has created aggressive and hostile
producing conditions. There are major differences between biological adaptive
life serving benign aggressive conditions and biological non-adaptive
malignant, sadomasochistic, and hostile aggression. Further, within biological
adaptive life serving benign conditions, we can identify and illustrate
pseudo-aggression.
Pseudo-aggression
may cause harm but it is not intended to do so. An example of pseudo-aggression
can be initial playful aggression that centers on exercise, skill and not
intended to harm and not motivated by hate. Take a Stone Age child that runs {play}
because it feels good to move. Later, he may test his ability by running {achievement,
dominance, affiliation} with others. He may also throw a rock at a considerable
distance and then test the skill against others. He then learns to throw a
spear for distance, accuracy and becomes a hunter {dominance} for survival.
Mike Keller,
was a Michigan All-American and Dallas Cowboy. At four years of age, Mike raced his mother.
His mother never let him win. Initially playful activities prepared the Stone
Agers and Mike for adolescence, survival and competitiveness. Initially, the
need to play surfaces which is often physical activity. It was simply having
“fun” at first. Later, it became an enjoyable way to relax and remove stress.
Much later, the need to play evolved to competitive games along with other
needs (dominance, abasement, affiliation, achievement}, resulting in activities
of sports, dancing, career, health etc.
According to
Lewis Mumford, “to exert power in every form was the essence of civilization,
the cities found a source of ways of expressing struggle, aggression, domination
and servitude .” With the development and evolution of civilization, man’s psychological
needs of dominance [to control one’s environment]; abasement [ to accept
injury, blame, criticism, punishment and to seek and enjoy pain, illness and misfortune]; achievement [to
accomplish something difficult, to master, overcome obstacles, establish a high
standard, to excel, to rival and surpass others to increase self-regard by the
successful exercise of talent];
affiliation [to draw near and to
cooperate or reciprocate with an allied other, to please and win
affection of a cathected object and to adhere and remain loyal to a friend] ;
play{ to act for fun without further
purpose, to like to laugh and make jokes, to seek enjoyable relaxation of
stress} were developed within character . Character evolves and develops
as a consequence of interpersonal interactions with parents, society within the
culture.
Games, play,
competition, skill and needs of dominance, abasement, achievement, affiliation
and play were exemplified in 776 BC with the establishment of the Olympic Games
which also honored Zeus. These games became a political tool used by the city
states to assert dominance over their rivals. They even had a truce that
enabled the athletes to travel from their cities to the games in safety. These
games spread the Hellenistic culture, and featured religious celebrations .In
fact, the statue of Zeus, at the Olympics, was described as one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. Note, only freeborn Greek men were allowed to
participate and have fun.
Today, we
have “amateur” sports at the high school, club and college levels. Some that
excel at the high school level are given scholarships to attend college. Those
that excel at the college level enter in the professional and economic world of
sports. Once again we see needs of dominance, abasement, achievement,
affiliation and play necessary for sports participation. In order to
participate in sports, one exercises. Practice can be brutal stated Mike
Keller.
Physiologically
we evolved to be upright. We know that movement is beneficial for physical and
psychological health. Developmentally, we learned to walk. Note, we are psychologically
aggressive for survival and with the development within our psychological need and
physiological structure, the need to play surfaced. Play allowed us to develop
running, kicking, throwing, and catching. These skills became apparent in individual
competitions with games, and for team sports. Additional need structures were
developed like dominance, abasement, achievement, affiliation and play that are
expressed within character. These need factors allowed us to succeed, master,
achieve and live productively.
Exercise for
an athlete may entail routine, repetition, and overuse injury. Some may think
it’s idiotic to run in a circle while keeping track of the time it takes. Yet,
the competitiveness and the fear of failure can provide the fuel to motivate
the behavior. I admit to continuing to run in circles totaling about 80 kilometers
per a 7 day week. Exercise and competition brings joy of victory and the pain
of defeat. A. E. Housman’s elegant poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” comes to
mind as one example. The young athlete’s funeral suggests the man has died
early with the anxiety about the meaning of his mortality. The young athlete
perhaps was a hero and then his fame faded into despair.
In today’s society, Individuals are superficially
crowned, elevated to hero status and then torn down as humans. In any event, an
athlete like all others has to confront and deal with age and mortality. Some
consider exercise boring and difficult because it is difficult. Daniel, on the
positive side, look at the many benefits physically and psychologically of
exercise. Running allows me to clear my head and create essays; it allows me to
laugh and interact with Tony and Paul; it allows me to compete with Tony {since
1997}; it allows me to be in nature; and enjoy movement; it contributes to my
mental and physical well-being. Is it
difficult, of course it is? If something
is not a challenge, then it’s boring and irrelevant. Daniel, exercise is not
boring but because of my character, exercise, competitiveness and fear of
failure have become a significant component of who I am. I feel sorry for those
that do not nor are unable to exercise. Psychologically, because of our
aggressive nature, and societal conditions, the need to play has evolved as in
exercise with beneficial physiological and psychological health consequences.
References
Lieberman,
Frank. Bo’s Warriors Bo Schembechler and
the Transformation of Michigan Football. Triumph Books, 2014
Murray, H.
A. Explorations in Personality. New York: Oxford, 1938.
