In Praise of Walking

EDIT: Fact-checked the story above, back pain wasn't the cause. Bad hydration was. After drinking more the symptoms passed (swollen feet).

I'm betting a pinky that we'll all be happier doing "more" simple physical things.

Sure, any conclusions you can draw from this don't have the rigor of those drawn from carefully accumulated scientific observations and controlled experiments...but it's also possible to be such a stingy devotee of scientism that it paralyzes you and divorces you from truths that are otherwise intuitive and simply a part of being human.

If you try to incorporate exercise into your daily routine you'll also have a direct experience of its benefits.

We don't necessarily need science for everything and we also don't need to establish proofs for everything. A clouded, unflagging allegiance to the scientific method is what distinguishes a dogmatic acolyte from a rational thinker (just as it does the religious fanatic and the rational practitioner)--it's just as important to circumscribe the space of the actual utility of science just as much as it is to stand firmly by its methodological principles.

I doubt it has a big impact on our health and longevity. Once a research says regular medium intensity exercise could potentially prolong our lives by 3 to 5 years. But that is it. If you exercise for 50 years, 3 times a week, and 1 hour per session plus 30 minutes preparation, that is actually 12150 hours in total and translates into about 2 years of productive life.

So its ROI from a longevity perspective is really not as high as some of us think.

If the goal is higher-level health issue, like longevity, it is trickier because of, as you said, many confounding issues. I suspect there would be cyclic causality between exercise and longevity/overall health, and it would be quite difficult to separate the cause and the effect. IMO, maybe the best way is, making educated guess based on the studies with clearer metrics.

And, I think we can control for the health decline. I.e., Stopping exercise because you have cancer vs. stopping because you have broken leg. And even then you can control for changing up the type of exercise. My wife broke her foot last year, and shifted from running 20 miles a week to doing "sit and bit fit" exercise. She actually improved her cardio capacity.

Finally, I think the logical conclusion of your argument is: exercise has no impact (or maybe even a negative impact) on health. Studies and every day experience don't seem to bear this out.

For example, people who run excessively tend to lose fast-twitch/bulk muscle mass and wear their hips, knees and ankles faster than most people. For example, one of the worst things you could do to your body would be to repeatedly run fast, downhill while letting your feet slap the ground.

And, you're never going to be able to measure all of the pluses and minuses intellectually or quantitively, which is why these choices tend to be primarily qualitatively-based with some quantified-self bits on the margins.

I was considering if a modification to a standing desk to make it a cycling desk would be a good idea but now I think there is just no point because you will be half assing both exercise and focus. Really what you want to do is do some high intensity effort while doing nothing else and then low intensity stuff while working. A walking desk might still be a good idea if you set it to 2-3km/h. I find standing to be a little uncomfortable for long periods but walking is fine.

Or, you know, just focus on one thing at a time and don't listen to music/take a call while walking.

Can you expand on that? Curious to know through your experience.