Exercise Pill: Would You Still Work Out? :

Don't get excited, scientists haven't invented one yet. But how many times have you heard that if they could put exercise in a pill it would be a miracle drug because of all incredible health benefits exercise provides?

It's an interesting mental exercise to pretend that it's already happened. Suppose there was now a pill that could burn the same number of calories, build the same muscles, and provide all the same health benefits as any amount of exercise you could do.

How much exercise would you get?

• Would you ever go to the gym again?
• Would you keep doing your favorite run every day? Walk it instead? Or stay inside and relax with a good book?
• Would you still stroll the neighborhood streets just to see what's going on? Or would you just wave to your neighbors from the inside of your car?
• Would you go on a pretty nature hike that was a mile long? Ten miles long? Or go to a movie instead?

When we were children, we got plenty of exercise spontaneously; we called it "playing." But as adults, we often tend to think of it as something virtuous. It feels strange to contemplate exercising without getting any "credit" for it--or remaining sedentary without feeling the least bit guilty.

To separate the two helps you realize all the things you naturally appreciate about your physical activities. But it also allows you to give yourself credit for doing a whole bunch of things consistently that you might never do again for pure pleasure.

I suspect for me, there might be an extended period of Complete Couch Potatohood, in which I'd keep reminding myself "I'm getting as much exercise as if I were running a marathon!" And then I'd giggle and decide to take another nap.

Eventually though (I hope!), I'd be out doing a fair amount of walking again. I'd want to feel the breeze and smell the flowers and notice all the things one can't see from inside a house or a car. But that treadmill and those barbells--they'd go straight to the dump!

How about you? Would you even take the pill? And if you did, what would be different?

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