
TED Health
So much sitting, looking at screens. Can we combat our sedentary lives? | Body Electric
Jan 11, 2024
Author Vybarr Cregan-Reid discusses how economic eras shaped the human body. The podcast explores negative effects of sedentary lifestyles and screen time, impact of settling and the agricultural revolution, harmful effects of sitting, benefits of movement breaks, and the importance of mindset shift to combat sedentary lifestyles.
28:56
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Quick takeaways
- Our bodies have adapted to sedentary work and efficiency throughout history.
- Taking short movement breaks every half hour can offset the negative impacts of sitting and improve overall health.
Deep dives
The Discovery of Animal Electricity
In the late 1780s, Italian doctor Luigi Galvani discovered that animal muscles could be made to contract when exposed to an electrical circuit. This led to the hypothesis of animal electricity, the idea that animals store electricity in their cells like a battery. Galvani's findings were later questioned by Alessandro Volta, who determined that the contraction of muscles was caused by a circuit between different metals, creating an electrical current. Volta's experiments ultimately led to the invention of the battery.
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