Cambridge University anthropologist Alison Macintosh has been studying human bone strength and density in humans from 5,300 BC to 850 AD, basically the first 6000 years of farming. What she found is that femur and tibia bone strength decreased dramatically during that time. The earliest humans studied had the bone strength of college cross-country runners, but within 3000 years the average strength had decreased to be equal to sedentary college students.
Ms Macintosh said:
Ms Macintosh said:
“My results suggest that, following the transition to agriculture in central Europe, males were more affected than females by cultural and technological changes that reduced the need for long-distance travel or heavy physical work,”
“This also means that, as people began to specialise in tasks other than just farming and food production, such as metalworking, fewer people were regularly doing tasks that were very strenuous on their legs.”
Read more here.
This research shows the amazing ability for the human body to adapt to the demands placed upon it. I have always stressed to clients that the human body is a stimulus response organism and it is merely responding to the stimulus you give it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Your body responds to every stimulus it is given, whether that stimulus is running marathons, lifting hay bails, or slouching in a chair all day. The great part about this fact is that when we change the stimulus the body automatically responds and adapts. If you increase the demand on your muscles - they grow stronger; if you increase the demand on your bones - they grow denser; if you increase the demand on your range of motion - your body becomes more flexible.
What kind of stimulus are you going to give your body today?
This research shows the amazing ability for the human body to adapt to the demands placed upon it. I have always stressed to clients that the human body is a stimulus response organism and it is merely responding to the stimulus you give it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Your body responds to every stimulus it is given, whether that stimulus is running marathons, lifting hay bails, or slouching in a chair all day. The great part about this fact is that when we change the stimulus the body automatically responds and adapts. If you increase the demand on your muscles - they grow stronger; if you increase the demand on your bones - they grow denser; if you increase the demand on your range of motion - your body becomes more flexible.
What kind of stimulus are you going to give your body today?
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