I am in the somewhat uncommon position of being required by my body (due to a lack of naturally stable joints) to maintain a certain level of muscular strength (and good posture) or be rewarded with ongoing pain. But the more I’ve thought about this situation, the less uncommon it has seemed. The human body is a fearsomely efficient biological entity by design. Our ancestors could not waste calories on anything less, evolutionarily speaking. 24 hours of bed rest? Well, guess you’re not using those muscles, better convert them into something else we can use. But it goes further.

Bodies crave use. Muscles strengthen through use, certainly, and this includes more than biceps – as everyone who chooses to do cardiovascular-improving aerobic workouts recognizes. Then there are things less obvious, like the way that breastfeeding reduces your risk of breast cancer, or allergies and autoimmune diseases are linked to cleanliness. (People who have exposure to intestinal parasites don’t get inflammatory bowel diseases.) When you don’t challenge your immune system from without, it starts looking for something else to do with its free time… Something you will not enjoy.  All of this points to a certain “use it or face the consequences” attitude on the part of our bodies.

Thinking of all this suggests to me that people of less sedentary lifestyles and earlier ages than mine probably did not suffer my particular problem, my particular way. They were required by other factors in their lives to maintain the strength that I build by stretching rubber bands and lifting weights. Washing laundry without a washing machine. Kneading bread every day. Sowing, reaping, walking (even more than I like to). Muscles lazy enough to let those joints slip were not an option.

I guess the take-home message is one of resolution; I’ll do what I can, as much as I can, because this is what it means to be human in a human body. Use it or regret it, in one way or another.

…and now, a photo of a Northampton cornfield. Just because. 🙂

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