I will be the first person to advocate for physical activity. Being active is such a wonderful and beautiful part of life–in some ways I believe movement is the human body’s true calling. I mean, when we were created the purpose was not for us to sit behind a desk pushing papers 60 hours a week. In that regard, being a workaholic is self-destructive.
Have you ever seen those pictures of captured animals trying to get out of their cage on TV?
That’s what the body is trying to do when sitting at a desk all-day. Those aches? Back pain? and Tiredness? Yeah, that’s your body’s way of saying: “THIS SUCKS! I WANT TO MOVE!”
Many people don’t seem to realize the detriment that inactivity can have on the body. It’s similar to the effect that overactivity has. Unfortunately, people just don’t realize it until it’s too late. Diabetes, heart disease and stress related health issues can all occur due to sitting in front of a TV or behind a desk too much.
Overactivity or overtraining has consequences as well. Similar to inactivity, the signs and further consequences seem to be oblivious to people. Not that I blame people for lacking to see either end of the spectrum. Naturally, we have a tendency to think we are doing things just right–achieving the perfect amount of daily activity. But of course, hardly any of us achieve that equilibrium. We are either over or under.
Interestingly enough, people put themselves through crazy bouts of intense exercise and for what? Well, for the accomplishment, duh! Why do we people run marathons? Not for the health aspect, in fact, putting the body through that extreme is destructive to many of the body’s properties–joints, muscles, ligaments. The body is not made to consistently run 26.2 miles. It’s like taking your car on a cross country road trip every week–it’s gonna break down sooner or later. So, why do people do it? For no other reason than to say: “I ran a marathon.”
Don’t get me wrong here, I completely support running marathons and equally, working to earn a living. However, I think as a society we need to stop overdoing it! Moderation is a fully wonderful thing and while it’s a daily battle, we should take it head on. Moderation is so unexciting and goes against the whole “all or nothing” principle, but trust me, it’s soooo much better than facing the consequences of either end of the spectrum!