Can Doping be a Good Thing? Using Psychoactive Drugs to Facilitate Physical Activity Behaviour
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EDITORIAL
Can Doping be a Good Thing? Using Psychoactive Drugs to Facilitate Physical Activity Behaviour Samuele Marcora1
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
1 A Psychobiological Approach to Facilitate Physical Activity Behaviour A physically active lifestyle has so many health benefits that the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges in the UK has recently defined exercise as the ‘‘miracle cure’’ [1]. Unfortunately, however, most people do not meet current guidelines for physical activity. Therefore, effective interventions to facilitate physical activity behaviour can have a great impact on public health worldwide [2]. At present, recommended interventions to reduce physical inactivity are based on (1) campaigns and informational approaches, (2) behavioural and social approaches, and (3) environmental and policy approaches [3]. Examples of such interventions include mass media campaigns, social support, and creation of places for physical activity. These interventions are necessary to promote physical activity, and should be widely implemented. However, despite all the efforts, maintenance of physical activity behaviour change is still a major issue [4], and we urgently need to develop and implement new interventions. As suggested by Bauman et al. [5], innovative interventions may come from a better understanding of how the brain regulates physical activity behaviour, i.e. a psychobiological approach. Physical activity is a very complex behaviour, and only a combination of different interventions that target behaviour at all levels is likely to succeed [6].
& Samuele Marcora [email protected] 1
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Kent, Chatham, UK
2 Humans are Inherently ‘‘Lazy’’ In my opinion, we have not paid enough attention to the core psychobiological reason for why most people do not regularly engage in physical activity: humans do not like to exert effort [7]. This is not surprising because, when humans evolved, energy was not readily available and wasting it via unnecessary physical activity could have reduced survival. In other words, famine, infectious disease, the energy needs of a large brain, or other evolutionary pressures may have led to the selection of a ‘‘sloth gene’’ in early humans [8]. Our inherent ‘‘laziness’’ was not a problem then because the need to hunt, farm, go to places, and fight against other humans provided strong motivation for physical activity. However, aversion to effort motivated us to progressively build the current hypokinetic environment. I also argue that perception of effort is the main reason why most people choose sedentary activities for their leisure time. Compared to watching television (zero effort), even moderate-intensity physical activities like walking require considerable effort. These considerations are supported by early surveys showing that ‘‘physical exertion/effort’’ is one of the main barriers to regular physical activity [9, 10]. More recently, laboratory and prospective studies of affect during and after exercise [
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