Play and Exercise

 

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.