What science says we’ve been getting wrong about exercise

By Michael J. Coren

The Washington Post

Every year, I climb to the top of Everest. It’s no big deal. I take it one step at a time, 80,000 steps per year.

By the time Dec. 31 arrives, I calculated, I have ascended at least seven vertical miles, carrying loads roughly equal to the weight of three pickup trucks, mostly composed of laundry, groceries and small children.

You see, I live on the top floor of a duplex.

Public health messaging has convinced us that the only way to work out is “exercising.” Yet, for most of human history, of course, living was exercise. Humans got most — if not all — of the physical activity needed to stay healthy through natural movement in their daily lives.

After a half-century asking us to exercise more, doctors and physiologists say we have been thinking about it wrong. U.S. and World Health Organization guidelines no longer specify a minimum duration of moderate or vigorous aerobic activity.

Movement-tracking studies show even tiny, regular bursts of effort —as short as 30 seconds — ...