The human’s body is the fruit of billions of years of
evolution. Without going on details, life’s apparition is partially owed
to amino-acids transformation to proteins, then to Monocellular
Organisms. This first step is the fruit of life’s main function:
adaptation. In fact, without adaptation, the living beings that are
populating earth could never diversify according to their environment in
order to survive.
Why the neck of Giraffe is it
so long? Acacia is a tree which leaf is the main diet of this animal.
Now, this tree, like any vegetables, is a living being, and is under the
law of adaptation. Without adaptation, there’s no survival. So, in
order to escape to the giraffe teeth, acacia had to grow again and
again. That’s how it reached the height of twenty feet. From his part,
Giraffe had to pull its neck if it didn’t want to starve! This continual
arm race conditioned the genetic mutation of all the living being. All
of them have been subjected in forced by environment and had to adapt in
order to survive. And so appeared Zebra’s stripes, Lion’s fangs, bird’s
wings, fishes gill, etc…
The
adaptation allowed us to develop specific physical characteristics
related to our species with the aim of prolonging it. We stand to look
at the horizon; the placement of our eyes is facial (like any
predator’s) in order to stare at our prey, while herbivore’s is side to
assure them a panoramic view. We can put in opposition our thumb to our
other fingers to seize; our nails are the vestiges of the claws which
allowed our ancestors to climb whereas our coccyx, which is the final
segment of the ape vertebral column, is a rest of the tail which allowed
us to stay in balance in trees. We have bones, muscles, skin, endocrine
system, and all of these works together to allow us to live.
Which
is the role of the set of these devices? Achieve physical tasks.
Indeed, Man is a hunter, a builder and a farmer. His legs has been
profiled for walking , jumping and running, his arms has been made to
pull or to push loads, to dig, to build or to swim. The shoulders
widened to support heavy loads, like dead animals. All this
“bio-technology” is the masterpiece of billions of year of evolution. We
are built to make these kinds of things. It is printed in our genetic
code. As real as the number of tasks we are programmed to do is huge,
our diet is, too. We eat proteins, which is the basic element of our
body, and is useful to built skin, muscles, bones and innards. We eat
carbohydrate too (rice, pasta, potatoes) which is like fuel for our
organism. We eat a lot of fat too, which is used as an energy source,
and also build Biological membrane, joints and nerves. We have to
consume a great deal of water because our body is constituted in 80 % of
it. Man is an omnivore animal.
Now, for few
decade from now, in industrialized society, we can observe a total
disintegration of the human body functioning. Jobs are rather
administrative than physical. We spend a lot of time sat on a chair in
front of a computer, and the consequence is a decline of back muscles
strength, because they don’t have to support the spine anymore. Legs
inactivity and the lack of pressure under the feet cause many Diseases,
like Thrombosis. The joint cartilage atrophies because it doesn’t need
to be maintained, which cause premature degenerative osteoarthritis.
Concerning diet, we feed too much, what, with inactivity, generates
obesity. The rations are also badly proportioned, (Too much lipid, too
much salts, too much sugar, not enough proteins, vitamins and mineral)
what causes some fatigue and a chronic lack of energy, and so, does not
incite to the physical spending. That’s a vicious circle.
Fortunately,
there is sport! Between running, swimming, bodybuilding and the other
recreational activity, such as tennis, football or basketball, sport
offers a number of activity enough diversified to mobilize the skills
needed in the man survival during centuries such as strength, power,
stamina, coordination, Proprioception, kinesthesia, flexibility, etc… If
we don’t improve these skills, we can lose it prematurely.
Certainly
because of the opposition that Europe known between upper class and
working class in the 18th century, known as “Age of Enlightenment” The
brain work was valued while the manual labors were depreciated. And
Nowadays, These established facts muted into stereotypes in our society.
In fact, In France Particularly, we love to opposite “physical” and
“intellectual”. When you do sport, Weight training overall, and
especially bodybuilding, you can only be a birdbrain or a selfish or a
narcissist person. What didn’t we heard about strong men and pretty
looked women!
Modern men and
women only conceive sport as an aesthetic way. So numerous are people
who join a gym on April in order to be in good shape on June: just to
lose some fat (for men) or to fit into their tiny trousers, (for women)!
10 month of bad diet for 2 months to enjoy… and most of the time,
people are so far from their targets!
Sport has to be a lifestyle.
It has to be a way to hang us up to our initial functioning. Sport use
got to be functional, not only aesthetic! Even if looking for a
beautiful body can be a punctual motivation, it is more sensible and
smart to look for a useful and healthy body on the long term!
We have to look for balance in sport practice. We have to be well-rounded, not just strong or flexible.
We
need to look for more pleasure in sport. If it’s early introduced,
pleasure will be there, without a doubt. Moreover, when you look at
children practicing sport, you can see that they’re practically
tireless, because sport is above all a game for them. I can testify
about it. When I was a kid, I suffered from respiratory illness. I was
born asthmatic. Up to the age of 14 years, it was really crippling. But
With hindsight, I don’t have any bad memories about my past sport
session. On the contrary, I only remember enjoyment.
Children don’t have any problems with physical activity. But we grow; we inhibit, and stop having a Regular physical activity.
Furthermore,
you should not forget Endorphin! Indeed, this substance secreted by our
body during intense exercises, Allows a sensation of well-being after
working out. It has analgesics effects, and, generates some addiction,
as opiate do. But these effects don’t appear after the first five
workouts. It’s only by practicing a lot, over the weeks and the months
that the sensation of pleasure can be felt.
Another
advantage of practicing a physical activity is that, thanks to
endocrine system and hormone secretion, the sleep is easier to find.
Indeed, it is caused by endorphin and the sensation of well-being which
ensues from it. This process is generating by the Parasympathetic
nervous system. It channels our stress and makes us inclined to the
cheerfulness. Sympathetic nervous system (stress, aggressiveness) and
Parasympathetic nervous system’s regulation is also made by means of the
physical activity. Without this one, there is disorder of these two
systems. Deduced from that problem of sleep, stress, and difficulty in
the loss of weight.
Besides the physical activity, it is necessary to be in good shape to have a well-balanced feed, adapted to the type of effort.
We
do not have to spend ourselves with the aim of spending the accumulated
calories, but using the food as fuel. In theory, we can eat as much as
we exert ourselves. For example, we can talk about Michael Phelps case,
whose diet has been described during the 2008’s Olympic Games. Phelps is
training during hours and hours a day, and swims tens of miles in the
water. All those who already swam in a high pace during one hour at
least, can imagine the amount of energy needed to handle Michael Phelps
workout. In Fact, Phelps eats not less than 12,000 cal a day!!! In
comparison, an average sportsman eats about between 3,000 and 4,000 cal.
And we just have to look at Phelps to see that he’s far from being
obese. He’s even a perfect athlete. On the other hand, without this
physical spending, and with the same daily feed, I’d be probably dead.
The important thing concerning food is to eat in its hunger and varied
to cover all its nutritional needs.
Nowadays, we
are totally mistaking concerning the lifestyle that we have to adopt.
Not enough physical spending, consumption of harmful products, (alcohol,
drug), bad food, or Malnutrition. We live a stressful life and contrary
to our forefathers, whom the physical activities and intellectual
worked together, some of us can spend years to generate an internal
stress by means of the work and the social relationships, but have no
necessary physical activity which could serve as decompression valves.
It is fundamental for us to refocus around real values, and maybe is it
necessities for us to be inspired by our ancestors to get closer to our
real nature, to be in adequacy with ourselves. Maybe that the keys of
happiness are there.
Alioune DIAKITE
