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Topic: Movement

Movement and evolution: what the evidence says

Everything this site carries on movement, gathered in one place: the book's chapters and where they say to start, every popular claim they grade, and the reference topics and terms behind them.

1 chapter of the book3 graded claims8 reference topics236 sources

Published Updated

Where does the book say to start on movement?

Chapter 3: The Body That Walks

  1. Walk every day, building toward 7,000 to 8,000 steps from wherever you are

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.for the curveProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.for the exact number

  2. Break up sitting every half hour

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

  3. Swap your table salt for a potassium-enriched salt substitute

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.for blood pressureProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.for strokes and deaths

The full protocol for Chapter 3

Which popular claims about movement hold up?

  • Do barefoot shoes fix your feet?

    Probable for foot strength; unsupported for injury prevention.

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.for strengthEmergingEvidence grade: Emerging. Early, small, animal-only, or actively contested.for injuries

  • Is sitting the new smoking?

    Exaggerated about tenfold. Break up sitting, but above all, move more.

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

  • Is 10,000 steps a day a myth? How many steps you actually need

    A round number, not a threshold.

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

What does the body expect, and what does it get now?

The mismatch cards of the reference topics behind these chapters, as the library states them.

  • Topic 2: Standing Up

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    The upright, running, sweating body: spine, knees, springy tendons and sweat glands.

    What it expects
    Kilometers of walking most days, some running, carrying and throwing, and warm air that sweat can cool.
    What it gets
    Chairs, cars and desks; nearly a third of adults worldwide below minimum activity.
    What happens in the gap
    Built-in weak points meet modern ways of loading, moving and weighing: low back pain is the world's leading cause of years lived with disability, and knee osteoarthritis in the United States has doubled beyond what age and weight explain.

  • Topic 6: The Sitting Disease

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Leg muscles, bones and joints, and the blood-sugar control that working muscle provides.

    What it expects
    Hours of walking and carrying, and rest in postures (squatting, kneeling, ground-sitting) that keep leg muscles working.
    What it gets
    About 7.7 sedentary hours a day for the average American, and too little activity for nearly a third of adults worldwide.
    What happens in the gap
    Higher blood sugar after meals within hours; lost fitness within weeks; bone loss within months when loading stops, and lighter skeletons over millennia; higher mortality where long sitting meets low activity.

  • Topic 7: The Foot That Forgot the Ground

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    The foot, a sensing, spring-loaded base for walking, running and balance.

    What it expects
    Bare or thinly shod feet on varied ground, working the arch and toes daily.
    What it gets
    Cushioned, arch-supported, toe-sprung shoes on flat floors from early childhood.
    What happens in the gap
    Less ground feel, softened impacts of unknown cost, likely weaker foot muscles and, in some studies, flatter arches; in old age, weak toes and poor balance are linked to falls.

  • Topic 8: The Heart That Remembers the Savanna

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    The heart and blood vessels, a pump built to move large volumes of blood for hours.

    What it expects
    Hours of light and moderate activity daily, little salt, plenty of potassium, a lean body and low LDL for life.
    What it gets
    Long sitting, about 11 g of salt a day on the global average, too little potassium, abundant food.
    What happens in the gap
    Blood pressure that climbs with age, earlier and commoner atherosclerosis, a lower aerobic ceiling; 1.4 billion adults aged 30 to 79 with hypertension.

  • Topic 9: The Invisible River

    EmergingEvidence grade: Emerging. Early, small, animal-only, or actively contested.

    The lymphatic system: self-pumping vessels, 500 to 600 nodes, drains around the brain.

    What it expects
    Kilometers of walking a day, shifting postures, regular nights of sleep.
    What it gets
    Unbroken sitting, long-haul seats, short nights and, for some, severe obesity.
    What happens in the gap
    Swollen feet, more clots on long journeys, lymphatic failure at very high BMI; after sleep loss, amyloid rises of uncertain meaning.

  • Topic 21: The Pain You Were Not Supposed to Keep

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Pain, the body's protective alarm, and the opioid and endocannabinoid systems that quiet it.

    What it expects
    Injury, then a return to use while still sore, among people who help.
    What it gets
    Rest, scans that find "damage" in pain-free people, fear and, for a time, freely prescribed opioids.
    What happens in the gap
    A sensitized alarm keeps ringing after tissue heals, and ordinary pain hardens into disability.

  • Topic 10: The Breath You Forgot How to Take

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Breathing: the nose as the default airway, and the breath as a lever on heart rhythm.

    What it expects
    An open nose at rest and in sleep, with the mouth joining in for hard effort.
    What it gets
    Noses often blocked by allergy, which pushes breathing to the mouth, and breathing hacks that outpace their trials.
    What happens in the gap
    When the mouth takes over in sleep, the throat collapses more easily: snoring, apneas and oxygen dips.

  • Topic 40: The Handrail I: Move, Eat, Drink

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Skeletal muscle, heart and lungs, the gut and the thirst reflex, all of them signal-driven.

    What it expects
    Several hours a day of unremarkable movement, occasional hard bursts, loads carried, food that spoils, and water when thirsty.
    What it gets
    About 5,100 steps, chairs, engines, food engineered to be eaten quickly, and a hydration industry.
    What happens in the gap
    Systems tuned by use drift downward in their sleep, and the drift shows up decades later as disease.

Terms

The chapters and reference topics on this page cite 236 distinct works, each listed on its own page and in the source register. Educational content, not medical advice; read the disclaimer.