A century ago, people threw medicine balls and did callisthenics to stay fit. Then came the hula hoop, vibrating belts and aerobics, before people started dancing their way into Latin-inspired cardio workouts or joining a high-intensity fitness programme. While how people exercise changes with each new trend, the idea that physical activity is key to good health is more than a passing fad.
Even the ancient Greeks – namely Herodicus, considered the father of sports medicine, and Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine – were convinced exercise was key, although they could not agree on how strenuous it should be. That question would not be resolved for thousands of years. And as science continues to evolve, the answer may change yet again.
“There is an abundance of evidence that being physically active is associated with most health outcomes,” says Dr Bethany Barone Gibbs, chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at West Virginia University in that US state. “In fact, there are very few outcomes that being physically active does not improve.” It was not always so difficult to keep moving.
People did it because they had to. “One hundred years ago, people’s lives were a lot harder, so there was a lot of physical activity built into their lives,” Gibbs says. As cars proliferated and electric appliances reduced the amount of manual labour people had to do, “we got to a point where we weren’t so physically active”.
Scottish epidemiologist .
