Hacker News Reader

The book "Exercised" by the Harvard anthropologist Daniel Lieberman mentions exactly this claim - that in hunter gatherer societies, people actually rest for most of the day. Still their average lifespan is about 70 years.

View on HN

Just to clarify, their average life span if they didn't die young of sickness or injury was 70 years.

Wow, no kidding

> we see that on average 57 percent, 64 percent, and 67 percent of children born survive to age 15 years among hunter-gatherers, forager-horticulturalists, and acculturated hunter-gatherers.

https://gurven.anth.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.anth...

Being a hunter-gatherer is tough in the beginnings, but has a dividend lifestyle as an adult.

In his book Oxygen, Nick Lane argues that most age related diseases are a function of cumulative oxidative stress, particularly in the mitochodria. He suggests that vigorous exercise is actually more stressful than lower intensity exercise, as well as the effects of calorie restriction etc on how the body handles the longevity vs reproduction balance. I think this may have a part to play in hunter gatherer societies, which were calorie restricted, and also relaxing most of the day :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com