Learning to reconsider one’s body: A touch of philosophy to aid the fight against sedentary lifestyles.

Sedentary lifestyle is a collateral damage of our societies, a blind spot of office work, a result of the automobile-centric lifestyle, mechanized life, over-reliance on aids, public transportation, escalators, and the comfort of couches combined with the omnipresence of screens. Overall, it can be seen as a direct outcome of the philosophy of comfort, dear to anthropologist Stefano Boni.

In 2022, sedentariness has become the norm and has turned into a global menace. Moreover, as physical activity has decreased over the decades, there has been an inflation of calories consumed and an increase in processed food consumption, the hidden dangers of which have been known since the 1970s. Governments and health-related bodies can promote movement and “sport,” which is commendable, but the trend doesn’t seem to be changing direction. Multiple exhortations are not yielding the expected results, and just to speak of France, we can’t assume that the Olympics will reverse the trend. At best, they might influence a minority that was already attracted to sports long before the summer of 2024.

Thus, we must try to imagine ways to convince a majority of people, here, in the United States, or in those countries where obesity is on the rise, to reclaim their bodies, for that’s what it’s all about.

There’s undoubtedly no magic recipe, but a series of solutions each targeting different audiences. The rise of fitness has shown that some people value their bodies outside the framework of institutional sports (football, tennis, martial arts, or others). The increase in yoga practice also proves that another audience seeks balance, slowness, non-performance, and self-awareness as significant goals. The relationship with the body seems crucial.

In this context, the idea raised by Marie Robert, a literature and philosophy teacher, author of books introducing philosophy through everyday situations, and interviewed by the website A Block, which discusses women in sport, appears worth delving into. She essentially says, “Physical activity isn’t just a stepping stone to the best times; it’s also a space where we communicate with our outer shell… Through sports, we understand how to move our body, how to train it, how to preserve it, how to ensure its longevity.” She adds, “I wonder how much time we spend scrutinizing our bodies over the decades. How many minutes are devoted to analyzing it? Commenting on it? Taming it? Hating it? Trying to grasp its messages? Finding it too bloated, too thin, too wrinkled?… Through all these changes and variations, what our anatomy offers us is an ode to movement. Isn’t it wondrous to think we have a body capable of movement, a body that isn’t stagnant?”

It’s a beautiful, optimistic, somewhat utopian idea, but we need it. A source of motivation. A meaning. – If obesity is on the rise and affecting so many young people, it’s because the word “sport,” as inspiring as it may be, doesn’t resonate with a broad audience. We expect competitive sports to attract new enthusiasts. This trickle-down theory doesn’t work any better than its economic counterpart. What matters now, it seems, is to reinvent our relationship with our bodies. Sports play a significant role, but the discourse and imagination of the why and how must evolve. Change the philosophy and the words. Our relationship with our body, our “vehicle,” must evolve, and all good ideas are worth considering. Movement and body awareness underpin the work of new sports profiles emerging on platforms like Instagram, far from the usual universe of this part of sport that institutions see as the cornerstone of all action, which has confined us to a very limited view of sports’ utility.

Furthermore, Antonio Damasio (professor of neurology, neuroscience, and psychology) says, “I defend the idea that the body is an essential actor in everything related to the mind.” On this topic, consider reading: ‘Should we promote sport as a sixth sense?’. Let’s then talk about dance, yoga, fitness, balance, slowness, or simply the ability to act, body-mind relationship, anatomy – since that’s the crux – self-awareness (a less binding term than the controversial personal development) and even self-maintenance since the transhumanist horizon isn’t just around the corner.