We are still animals. Sure we are incredibly unique animals and there’s a lot that separates us from the average ape but we have not evolved beyond our more primal needs.
Chances are that you do have to worry about some things that our ancestors rarely had to deal with. Chronic anxiety and depression, pollution of the land, water, and air, poverty and crime, loneliness and isolation, obesity, nihilism or a lack or purpose in life just to name a few.
In our haste to solve all of the old problems we have created new ones. So the solution seems obvious, we must re-integrate our ancestors way of life back into our own modern way of life. Of course this is much easier said than done and we are not going to go back to living like hunter-gatherers, nor would we want to. At the same time we can’t ignore our very biology. Our bodies need sunlight, we need to walk around and work with our hands, we need a purpose and a community to belong to, we need variability in life and a wide range of problems to solve. Just like a tree needs the proper soil and water conditions to thrive, we need these things to reach our full potential.
We believe that many of the problems we are seeing today are symptoms of our recent disconnection with nature. Our bodies have not had time to evolve to this new lifestyle of living in concrete boxes, sitting most of the time, doing roughly the same work every day and being under a constant low grade of stress. The human body has basically been doing the opposite of this for 99% of its existence.
The mission
The Methodology
Amy and Alex will be taking eight blood draws each (for determining serum cortisol levels), three physical fitness test batteries (e.g., body assessment measurements, muscular endurance tests, flexibility tests and maximal treadmill tests), as well as provide data from our electronic recording and tracking devices, such as a sports watch and GPS tracker (for determining hiking metrics and estimate caloric expenditure). All blood draws will be completed at professional medical labs. In addition, the electronic data collected from our personal tracking and recording devices will be used for characterizing the physiological demands of daily hiking.
Blood draw procedures
Each blood draw day will have two separate blood draws; the first draw will be at 8am while the second draw will be at 5pm. All tests will be administered at a medical lab. A small amount of blood (four milliliters) will be taken for each draw. There will be a total of eight blood draws throughout the course of the study. Blood will be taken before the hike, in the middle of the hike, immediately after completing the hike and three months after completing the hike. The blood will be taken from the pit of the elbow (antecubital space of the arm). The total amount of blood taken for the study will be 32 milliliters, or 6.5 teaspoons, over the course of 9-10 months. Blood samples will be collected on a separate day prior to the fitness test battery.
For the best results on blood draw days, it is very important that we commit to the following protocol for the accuracy of the sample collections:
- Avoid consumption of alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and prescription/over-the-counter medications for 12 hours prior to your appointments.
- Avoid consumption of the above substances by 8pm the evening prior to the first 8am blood draw.
- Continue to avoid the above substances until after the 5pm blood draw is complete on the same blood draw day.
- Avoid vigorous physical activity on the day of blood sample collections.
- Do not eat a major meal within 2 hours of any blood sample collection.
- Do not eat a major meal after 6am prior to the 8am blood sample collection.
- Do not eat a major meal after 3pm prior to the 5pm blood sample collection.
Exercise testing procedures
Two successive days of testing are needed for each of the three bouts (PRE, POST, and 3-month POST) of physical fitness testing. Due to lack of accessibility on the CDT, fitness testing will not be performed at the MID-sample collection period. The first day of fitness testing day will include body measurements and upper and lower body muscular endurance tests. The second day of fitness testing will only include a maximal treadmill test to measure our aerobic fitness (also known as VO2MAX). All POST and 3-month POST fitness testing measurements will be compared to your initial fitness testing measurements within this study.
- Body Assessment and Composition Measurements
- The following noninvasive measurements taken: (1) Body height; (2) Body weight; (3) Bone Mass; (4) Body fat; (5) Body Mass Index, or BMI; (6) Body water; (7) Visceral Fat; (8) Muscle mass; (9) Basal metabolic rate, or BMR; (10) Upper arm, thigh, and lower leg circumferences; and (11) Waist and hip circumference measurements.
- Body height is measured using a height rod.
- A Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) scale will measure the following components: body weight, bone mass, body fat, BMI, BMR, body water, visceral fat, and muscle mass.
- The circumferences of the following areas measured with a body measurement tape; upper arms, waist, hip, thighs, and calves.
- Muscular Endurance Testing
- Muscular endurance is the ability to perform repetitive muscular contractions until improper technique is performed or until exhaustion is reached.
- Upper body muscular endurance will be assessed with a ‘Push-up Test’. Complete as many push-ups as possible without compromising form or until we experience exhaustion.
- Lower body muscular endurance will be assessed with a ‘Squat Test’. Complete as many bodyweight squats as possible without compromising form or until we experience exhaustion.
- Flexibility Tests
- There will be three different flexibility tests used to assess the lower body for this study: (1) hip flexor flexibility test; (2) hamstring flexibility test; and (3) calf flexibility test. Stretch our bodies to the best of our ability to measure the range of motion for each of the respective areas listed above.
Maximal Treadmill Testing (Vo2 max)
We will work to exhaustion on a treadmill to assess our aerobic fitness level. This test will require us to walk or jog on the treadmill until we are physically exhausted. The treadmill testing protocol begins with a paced walk, and gradually becomes more difficult every three minutes with increases in speed and incline. The goal for this test is to last as long as possible before having to stop. The test is completed when we feel we cannot continue OR if the supervising health professional determines that: (1) We have reached our maximal exercise capacity; (2) determines that the test is unsafe to continue; or (3) the testing or measurement equipment malfunctions. A typical test will last between 8-12 minutes, depending on our aerobic fitness level. During the test, we will breathe into fitted face mask that lays over the nose and mouth with a tube attached. The air we inhale will be normal room air. The air we exhale will go through the tubing. The tubing is connected to a device that analyzes the volume and concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide we exhale. Our blood pressure will be taken before and five minutes after the test is completed. Our heart rate will be monitored throughout the test.
Electronic Recording and Tracking Device Procedures
We will share all electronic measurements and informational tracking data from our personal recording and tracking devices such as GPS watches, fitness apps, food tracking apps, and the INEVIFIT scale app. All data collected will be used for observational data analysis purposes.
