Life Evolved With the Help of Physical Activity

So here is an idea that I have been thinking about. It all started with my mentor, Dr. Booth, getting really excited about a paper in 2006 by Raymond and Segre appearing in Science. Although the details were difficult to understand his interpretation was clear, physical activity was key to the development of complex metabolic pathways early in life.

Here is the jest of the argument. Once photosynthesis evolved in bacteria (the process of using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make energy and oxygen) the amount of gaseous oxygen in the atmosphere increased dramatically. Back then oxygen was toxic to most organisms and there were multiple was organisms could respond to this rise in oxygen. They could 1) Hide, 2) Adapt, or 3) Perish. Well a group adapted (likely by chance since evolution is not forward thinking) by being able to use oxygen as the final electron acceptor in aerobic respiration. The consequences of this cannot be understated, oxygen with a huge electronegative potential allowed for 4 times as much energy produced from a molecule of glucose over any other currently used final electron acceptor.

All of a sudden organisms had all this extra energy without having to do anything. Naturally they starting to use this energy for a wide variety biochemical reactions that previously were too energy costly. This is what Raymond and Segre showed, adding oxygen greatly increasing the number and the complexity of biochemical reactions possible. Genomes became more complex, behaviors became more complex, and the diversity of life exploded. It is easy to visualize that being more motile (of physically active) would have allowed organisms to obtain energy easier and avoid predators easier. With their new found extra energy from aerobic respiration this likely happened. Once they became more physically active then the biochemical pathways for those actions would have further developed, meaning physical activity actually selected certain genes and behaviors to develop. Amazing.

It then does not come as much of a surprise that physical activity is important for our health today. Just think about it’s beginnings.

Laborious Labor Day

So I know that this is a little delayed, but I figured I would post it anyways.

I want to make this blog more about the challenges and daily obstacles that I had not previously thought would be a big deal when I decided to give up my car. So it is unlikely I will dwell on my everyday commute or my frequent rides down to Flat Branch. More likely I will reflect on events that in the past I likely would have driven to.

Labor Day was a day I would have normally driven around on and the Heart of America marathon was an event I would normally drive to. However, I decided that it would be fun to run part of the marathon with my friend and fellow low-car diet participant Eric Bunch. Looking at the map I saw that the course did about an 18 mile loop starting and ending at Rockbridge Elementary. It was the distance I was looking for, so I told Eric that I would ride out the school and when he ran by I would run the next 18 miles with him, after which I would ride back to downtown. The ride out only took 20 minutes at since it was at 5:45 AM I there was no competing traffic, only the rising sun to keep me company. I still felt fresh and ready to go when Eric came by, but 18 miles later was a different story. For the last 8 miles of the run we were trying to chase down first place to avail despite our ever increasing pace. Coming up the hill from the main entrance of Rockbridge State park I knew that I was physically done (and so was Eric, but he still have 5 miles to run). After recovering for a few minutes I realized that if I wanted to see the race finish downtown I had to get on my bike and go. So I did. I arrived just in time to the see the winner, who ended up running a very respectable time even though he ran an even faster time the previous DAY. Eric ended up third after a rough last few miles. I seriously recommend checking out his blog to see how he felt riding his bike home after just completing what some consider the hardest marathon in the US.

Throw in a trip to friends for brunch, a trip to the grocery store, and into work once more on Monday and by the end of the three day weekend I had accumulated close to 30 miles of running and just under 40 miles on the bike, which is more cycling than I typically do in a week. Monday was really what the low-car diet is about for me. Getting me out of my comfort zone and really testing myself to see how “normal” of a life I can live without my car. Yeah, I was exhausted, and yeah I would have driven to most of those places, but it was rewarding. In fact it was revealing, because I would have never guessed I drove that much and I am sure that is just the first of many realizations that I will come to in the coming months.

An Event For Me

One question I keep asking myself is whether or not I could complete the low-car challenge without being in my current situation. Many others still see a car as necessary, a can’t live without item, when in actuality its not. For so many people that are next to impossible roadblocks to just parking the car for a month and going without. To me, I look at my life and I realize that now is the time that I can do this, and I think do it easily without making too many adjustments. After all;

I only live 2 miles from work

I only live 1 mile from a grocery store

I have no major trips planned for September

I already bike to work

Most of my extracurricular activities do not take me outside of the downtown and campus area often.

My girlfriend can drive and therefore help with the grocery shopping and transport the dogs to the dog park (and the vet should there be an emergency).

I don’t have kids (that’s a big one), just dogs.

I’m a competitive runner and thus in good shape so that biking around town is not “too” difficult

I have a Road ID that I wear religiously, in case I was ever in an accident.

Of this list I would have to rank living close to work, close to the grocery store, and not having kids as the three most important things in my life that will make a no-car diet easier for me than the average person. Then again, I chose a more modest house in a better location in order to be able to commute in the first place. It’s all about tradeoffs.

How Did I Get Here?

Well, first off I think an introduction is necessary. Maybe a bit of background to go along. After all figuring out what type of people end up giving up their cars for an entire month is half of the fun. My bet is that most of us have had a slow progression to reach the point when a car is no longer “necessary”.

Lets see….ahhh start with the name. I’m Matthew Laye, I’m 26, and I’m a PhD student here at Mizzou. I’m grew up in Livermore, CA which is famous for really only two things, the national lab that makes big bombs and the wine country that makes big reds. My parents are retired, my dad from firefighting and my mom from special education teaching and I have one younger sister that just finished her undergraduate degree at a California State University of Chico.

Probably the single most important decision that led to me becoming a bike commuter was the choice to attend the University of California at DAVIS. Let me explain. Davis is bike friendly, and I mean really bike friendly. Probably about 4 square miles in size Davis is located in the heart of the central valley 15 minutes west of the state capital, Sacramento…and it is flat as a pancake. There are bike lanes on 90-95% of the roads, pedways that spiral out from the university, good weather year round (no snow/ice/humidity), and there are even traffic lights where at times no cars are allowed through, only bikes. Parking was a hassle, expensive, and unnecessary. So I, along with EVERYONE I know, biked for the 5 years that I lived there. Bikes ruled the city, bike circles were common and at one time my 4 roommates and I had a total of 25 bikes at the house.

When I arrived in Columbia in the summer of 2004 I was unsure how biking to class would work out. Living at Katy Place for most of my first year I was often left with the choice of a muddy trail or riding on Stadium where I feared for my life coming from a place where 25 mph was the max around town. I probably biked a little more than half my days my first year as I was adjusting to Missouri life. Since then however, I bought a house near the library, dumped the parking pass, and came oh so close to even selling my car. Now I bike everyday.

So that’s were I stand now, 8 years and counting of bike commuting.

My PedNet Low-Car Diet Blog

Well, I didn’t really like the way the blog was set up, so from now on I will be linking off of the Columbia Tribune site to this newly created blog.

The overall goal of the blog is to educate people on the importance of exercise, which the low-car diet fits in very nicely with. As a graduate student studying how exercise prevents (or at the very least stalls) the development of chronic diseases I hope to be able to articulate my frustrations and excitements about the basic science done in this field.

A secondary goal is just to improve my writing skills, which, sadly to say, did not get enough attention in high school and beyond. As naive to the world of science that I am it very clear that having the ability to write clearly and in an engaging manner is fundamental to grantsmanship and grantsmanship is fundamental to obtaining funding, and obtaining funding is fundamental to getting and keeping a good job.

Enjoy.