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How much exercise you REALLY need each day (the Constrained Energy Expenditure model)



Exercise represents a hormetic stress, improving cardiovascular health by reducing nitric oxide, reducing inflammation by releasing anti-inflammatory cytokines, and and improving brain health and reducing risk of dementia by increasing neurotrophins and brain blood flow. In addition, the constrained total energy expenditure model (which I came across in Herman Pontzer's book 'Burn') helps explain other health benefits of exercise including further anti-inflammatory effects and immune function benefits, as well as reductions in chronic diseases including bowel cancer and reproductive cancers such as prostate cancer and breast cancer. The Hadza and Tsimane may provide a better health model to follow, and hopefully this video motivates you to be more physically active.







Energy Constraint as a Novel Mechanism Linking Exercise and Health: https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physiol.00027.2018 Graphics used from this article by Herman Pontzer, copyright material used under fair usage policy.


Hunter-gatherers as models in public health: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12785


Coronary atherosclerosis in indigenous South American Tsimane: a cross-sectional cohort study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/28320601/


Constrained Total Energy Expenditure and Metabolic Adaptation to Physical Activity in Adult Humans: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/26832439/


Physical activity patterns and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk in hunter-gatherers: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.22919


The active grandparent hypothesis: Physical activity and the evolution of extended human healthspans and lifespans: https://www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10.1073/pnas.2107621118


Exercise as medicine – evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in 26 different chronic diseases: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sms.12581


Leisure Time Physical Activity and Mortality - A Detailed Pooled Analysis of the Dose-Response Relationship: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2212267


Physical Activity in the Prevention and Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/jaha.117.007725


Testosterone and paternal care in East African foragers and pastoralists: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2674347/


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