Avoiding Exertion

Taken as a whole, the findings suggest that the innate urge to avoid exertion plays a greater role in how all creatures, great and small, typically behave and navigate than we might imagine.

As I lean back in my antique barcalounger in the early morning, this seems true. These findings come from a study of grizzly bears that was recently reported in the New York Times in an article with the catchy title: Born to Be Lazy? What Bears Can Teach Us About Our Exercise Habits. The article begins (online) with a weirdly captivating video loop of a grizzly walking easily on an enclosed treadmill. I don’t know whether it’s the fluid elegance of the animal, or its size or the fact that it is being fed continuously through a small opening in the Plexiglas, but the video seems both oddly normal and totally bizarre. Apparently, a continuous stream of slices of hotdog and apple from a trainer is all it takes to keep a five-hundred pound animal on the move at a pretty good clip.

The article goes on to report the astonishing finding of another research project:

In a telling 2018 neurological study, for example, brain scans indicated that volunteers were far more attracted by images of people in chairs and hammocks than of people in motion.

I wonder if the ‘volunteers’ were fed a continuous stream of Oreos and chocolate chip cookies as they viewed the images? Or was it water and dry crackers? Were they too in Plexiglas cages? On treadmills? Barcaloungers? We don’t the details, but preferring hammocks and chairs to hard work doesn’t seem like a particularly ‘telling’ or unexpected finding.

But through tracking bears in the wild and enticing bears onto a treadmill in captivity, the authors of the grizzly study found out that bears only exert themselves for food—otherwise they take their time. Again, I’m struck by the common-sense aspect of this finding. Perhaps this study with grizzlies in captivity and in the wild needs a follow-up with us humans. Maybe I should apply for a grant to study the ‘innate urge to avoid exertion’. I would, of course, begin with myself.

I’m quite qualified to do such a study because I wonder a lot about laziness. In a culture that values speed and productivity, I’ve noticed that even walking slowly, sauntering, is a suspect activity. Resting and being at ease is discouraged and even considered dangerous in public places. Not having a specific purpose is called ‘loitering’ and is often classified as a crime – though I suspect ordinances like this are mostly enforced against young people, people of color and ‘others’ whose presence might disturb our ease and our obsession with productivity.

Many years ago, I had a neighbor come across the street to ask if I was alright. I happened to be lying on my back in my front lawn. Even as I lay there, looking up through the branches to the great blue sky, I was aware that this was probably not an approved activity in this or most other neighborhoods. Lying down and taking it easy is only for private spaces. I appreciated my neighbor’s genuine concern, one doesn’t like to let a neighbor die of a heart attack on the lawn across the street, and told her I was just taking a break from my gardening (a socially approved activity) to rest and feel the earth beneath me (a socially suspect non-activity) and gaze up through the branches to the sky (only allowed for the very young). I didn’t have the confidence and generosity to invite her to join me, but she was fine with my explanation. My take-away from this adventure was that unless you have a hammock or chaise lounge, lying around in public makes people nervous.

I’m not sure who I should apply to for funds to study this urge to avoid exertion, so I’ll have to begin by granting myself permission to claim small periods of time throughout the day for lolling and being unproductive. As I gather data and expertise, I may even expand my time periods or branch out into walking slowly while eating Oreos.