Harvard Professor: They’re Lying To You About Running, Breathing & Sitting! - Daniel Lieberman

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One thing I have learnt from listening to all your podcasts, is that EVERYTHING IS GOING TO KILL ME! Caffine, breathing, sitting, anxiety, depression, meat, dairy, processed food, oats, protein, medications, technology, social media, childhood trauma, retireing, poverty, sugar, harsh chemicals!

I’ve recently gotten off social media, decluttered my studio apartment that was a victim of overconsumption, cut a credit card that was my accomplice of overconsumption, and did a three day fast for mental clarity. My realization is that LESS is MORE. I have more energy when I have SPACE to move and I’m on my phone LESS! I’m going to keep pushing on, even when life seems “boring” (peaceful)

As soon as you stop watching these podcasts the world start to look better again 😅

Does chronic anxiety caused by watching these podcasts reduce my lifespan?

00:00 🌐 Evolutionary Mismatch Diseases: Chronic stress, obesity, heart disease, and many cancers are considered mismatch diseases caused by our comfortable, sedentary lives in a world of abundant choices. 01:25 🏃‍♂ Actionable Steps for Health: Combatting mismatch diseases involves being physically active, avoiding prolonged sitting, and embracing activities that challenge our bodies, fostering better endurance and overall health. 02:49 🤔 Understanding Human Evolution: Dr. Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, explores how studying human evolution helps unravel the origins of health issues and offers solutions. 03:48 🍽 Evolutionary Diet: Humans are ultimate omnivores, evolved to eat a wide range of foods. While hunter-gatherer lifestyles offer insights, a simplistic return to a paleo diet is termed a "Paleo fantasy," as evolution is not a one-size-fits-all guide to modern health. 07:20 🏹 Hunter-Gatherer Transformation: The shift to hunting and gathering around 2 million years ago marked a crucial phase in human evolution, influencing our bodies, diet, and cooperation as a species. 15:13 👃 Evolution of the Human Nose: The external nose, evolving around 2 million years ago, is considered a humidifier, improving air contact with nasal mucous membranes, crucial for moisture retention during breathing. 17:42 💤 Modern Breathing Challenges: Discussion on modern breathing issues, such as mouth breathing, sleep problems, and potential solutions, highlighting the importance of understanding our evolutionary adaptations for better health. 18:09 🏃‍♂ Nasal breathing during running is not supported by evolutionary evidence; humans evolved to breathe through their mouth while running to dissipate heat efficiently. 20:01 🦎 Human sweating, a unique adaptation, allows effective heat dissipation during physical activity in hot environments, providing an advantage during hunting in the heat of the day. 23:20 🧠 The increase in brain size in humans is linked to the transition to hunting and gathering, providing more energy for brain development through improved food processing and cooperation. 27:27 🍼 Infant body fat is crucial for providing constant energy to support the high metabolic demands of a growing brain, and fat storage is connected to brain development and reproduction. 32:52 🤯 Stress-induced cortisol elevation can lead to visceral fat accumulation, causing inflammation and contributing to various diseases; stress is a risk factor for health issues. 34:29 🩸 Low body fat in women due to dieting or intense physical activity can disrupt hormonal balance, affecting menstrual cycles and fertility; energy availability plays a crucial role in reproductive health. 36:18 🏋 Physical activity significantly reduces breast cancer risk in women; sedentary lifestyle linked to abnormal hormone levels. 37:13 🤰 Body's sensitivity to energy influences reproductive decisions; low energy levels signal a suboptimal time for pregnancy. 38:09 ⚖ Chronic stress, cortisol, and mismatched environments contribute to various modern diseases; stress management crucial for health. 39:18 💔 Mismatch diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancers, stem from inadequate adaptation to modern lifestyles. 41:25 🌎 Most people in the Western world likely to die from mismatch diseases; heart disease and cancer top the list. 42:20 🥗 Diet and exercise can prevent or alleviate many mismatch diseases like heart disease; lifestyle choices play a crucial role. 43:00 📚 Writing a book on diet from an evolutionary perspective; aims to help people make healthier and more informed dietary choices. 46:18 🔄 Cultural evolution outpaces biological evolution; rapid environmental changes lead to mismatches between biology and modern lifestyles. 52:08 💊 Overreliance on treating symptoms rather than preventing causes in modern medicine; the need for a shift towards preventive healthcare. 53:18 🦠 Cancer is not solely a mismatch disease; linked to energy levels, physical inactivity, and exposure to carcinogens in modern environments. 55:08 🍽 High energy levels, influenced by diet and physical activity, correlate with increased breast cancer rates. 56:31 🌍 Cancer rates among Hunter-gatherers are believed to be much lower, possibly due to fewer menstrual cycles and higher energy demands. 57:25 🚼 The number of menstrual cycles influences breast cancer risk; more cycles, higher risk. 58:30 🤰 Hunter-gatherer women, often pregnant or nursing, experience fewer menstrual cycles, potentially reducing cancer risk. 59:12 🏃‍♂ Rapid weight loss from diets like keto is often due to water loss, not fat loss. 01:00:47 💡 Fat is essential for life, storing significant energy. Insulin helps store fat in adipocytes; hormones regulate fat retrieval. 01:05:34 ⚖ Chronic inflammation from overpacked fat cells can lead to various health issues. 01:06:02 🔄 Fasting and exercise share common gene activation in response to negative energy balance. 01:08:30 🍔 Keto diets, by relying on ketone bodies instead of glucose, may have short-term weight loss effects but are less proven for long-term success. 01:10:22 🛋 Excessive comfort, particularly in childhood, may contribute to physical weakness, impacting skeletal health and overall fitness. 01:11:45 💪 Inadequate exercise during youth contributes to lower peak bone mass, increasing the risk of osteoporosis later in life. 01:13:09 🦴 Loading bones through activities like playing tennis can lead to asymmetry, where the arm used to hit the ball has significantly thicker bones. 01:14:18 🦷 Chewing hard food, like resinous gum, may positively impact jaw growth and reduce issues like malocclusion. 01:15:28 🌍 Puberty age has changed due to energy availability; more energy leads to earlier puberty. Historical data shows this shift in various populations. 01:17:17 🪑 Prolonged sitting can be an issue, especially if combined with sedentary leisure time. Regular breaks and not sitting excessively outside of work are recommended. 01:19:21 💪 Back strength, particularly endurance, is crucial for preventing back pain. Weak backs with low endurance are prone to fatigue and spasms. 01:21:12 🔄 Modern living is filled with mismatched elements. Being aware of these mismatches helps make better decisions regarding diet, physical activity, and lifestyle. 01:23:15 🚑 Treating symptoms of mismatch diseases without addressing the underlying causes contributes to a vicious cycle, worsening the overall situation. 01:27:23 🤒 Overly sanitized environments can lead to weakened immune systems and an increased risk of allergies and autoimmune diseases. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that exposure to normal pathogens is essential for a robust immune system. 01:29:28 🏃‍♀ TV presenter Deina McCo was inspired to run after listening to the podcast with Dr. Daniel Lieberman, emphasizing the impact of conversations on lifestyle. 01:30:12 📚 "The Story of the Human Body" by Dr. Daniel Lieberman is considered essential reading and is used in schools and educational institutions. 01:30:25 ❓ A closing tradition involves the last guest leaving a question for the next guest. The question for Dr. Daniel Lieberman is, "For what would you be willing to die today?" 01:31:13 💔 Dr. Lieberman expresses that he might be willing to risk his life for the people he loves and cares about, and potentially for the greater benefit of humankind. 01:31:57 🤔 Reflecting on the question, Dr. Lieberman discusses his initial response about what he would die for, including family and the complexity of the

I love that he let's his guests speak! He asks great questions and leads the discussion... I hope that doesn't change.

I'm 47, British, no car, live within my means, focus on my inner journey and show gratitude everyday, not on any tablets or have any issues like bad back. What I observe is the majority of people I am surrounded by have depression, drink all the time, eat processed food and most women have inflammatory diseases. They all look to Western medicine but don't look at their lifestyle and diet to improve their lifestyle. It's astonishing how many WANT a label to give them a purpose. I work in the NHS so see it everyday.

Dr Lieberman gave a great 7 minute talk on exercise here on YouTube. It was one of the best talks on the topic I’ve heard.

I just LOVE listening to this man. Thank you for this interview and such great guests on this podcast❤

Just want to say thank you to your team and all the work you put in 💙💙💙❤️❤️❤️ for really interesting guests and mind-provoking discussions. Thank you 😊

Dr lieberman talk is so educative as he breaks nature down for us its so awesome. But it amazes me how nature is so perfect and flawless.

This is one of the greatest guests you have had On since I subbed. Brilliant observations , grounded in reality. I rarely agree 90% with "professors", but this man is sharp . And you are a host capable of bringing out the best and worst in your interviews . Good fricking video. So much truth here. Take if from a healthy 60 year old.

This episode is for sure one of my favorite one ever. As we all know, health is wealth. We live in an age of excess and our lifestyles have led to health crises. Making meaningful changes and balances can help us improve our wellbeing in the long run. Thank you for bringing this to us.

Why no-one talks about the fact that these days in Western countries people do not only eat ultra processed foods which have no nutrients, but they also eat for many other reasons than for being hungry. Most of the people I know - who are over weight - eat at meal times, but also when they are bored, happy, unhappy, sad, to celebrate something or to "release stress". Those of my friends who eat few warm meals a day and few snacks only if they really are hungry, are all normal weight. Also I have lived on the country side in Tanzania, East Africa, with a local family and there people only ate a light breakfast, two warm meals and rarely snacks which if eaten, were small amount of fruits or peanuts or cashew nuts. NO-ONE was overweight. So in the West people these days are using food to almost everything else than to treat their REAL hunger!!

my grandfather died at 102 with half century diabetes my father at 70, the one lived through WW1 WW2 (as soldier) smoked and drunk everyday and my father died from stress to attain material things while my grandfather had a very different attitude towards life quiet and optimistic and close to nature.

He’s spot on about sitting for work then also for leisure time being just about the worst thing you can do. You can end up with nerve issues from constant pressure from the surrounding tissues, weak/tight muscles, etc. even when you’re young. If you have a long-hours office job you’ve absolutely got to be active the rest of the time.

Thank you Daniel, and Steven, for a thoroughly enjoyable podcast. I was struck not just by Daniel's knowledge and his ability to explain things in ways a layman can follow, but by his humility, a quality quite rare among talking heads on YouTube. He was at ease in saying he didn't know the answers of questions, and when his remarks were merely a hypothesis. And I had a good laugh too when he admitted to also being someone who decontaminated himself after a gym session.

I love to listen to y’all . I really learn a lot from it, so much knowledge . Thank you for your time to sit and explained with questions and answers. Thank you🙏

So many think old age is a time to take it easy. For me I walk and even jog even more than before. Really push myself physically. Handwash my clothes, gardening and building repairs. I meditated for 50years......thank God.