@DavidRaichlen

Professor of Human And Evolutionary Biology @USC, human evolution, exercise physiology, neuroscience, #PhysicalActivity

 Los Angeles, California
raichlenlab.com
Joined August 2012
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  • Following584
  • Followers961
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David Raichlen retweeted
Daniel Aslan@DanielAslan521 Nov 2025
Cognitive correlates of human endurance | PNAS pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.25… Our new study in @PNASNews shows that adding cognitive demands to endurance walking increased perceived physical effort, but people with stronger cognitive abilities felt the impact less.

Cognitive correlates of human endurance | PNAS

Recent work suggests combining physical activity with cognitive tasks may have been critical to human evolution and may be beneficial to human brai...

pnas.org
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Always fun talking with the incomparable @alanalda !
Clear+Vivid@alda4 Sep 2025
Did you listen to this week's episode of Clear+Vivid? @AlanAlda speaks with @HermanPontzer. We are supremely adaptable, and that adaptability has led to our diversity – not only in our biology but also in our cultures. 👉 bit.ly/3JCheDj
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What are the relative impact of diet vs physical activity on the global obesity crisis? New paper out @pnas uses the DLW Database with 4000+ participants across 34 populations to investigate Obesity & Energy Expenditure Across the Economic Spectrum. Open access link below!🧵1/
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This study is really fascinating wapo.st/4eN2IDX

What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom.

Many people assume obesity is caused by inactivity and burning fewer calories. But our diets — and excess calorie intake — may actually be the cause.

washingtonpost.com
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David Raichlen retweeted
Michael Gurven@MGurven18 Jun 2025
Thrilled to announce my new book on shelves soon: SEVEN DECADES: HOW WE EVOLVED TO LIVE LONGER Our longevity is shaped by our evolutionary past—imagine aging as opportunity rather than burden. Out Sept 16, preorder w/ code PUP30 30% discount: press.princeton.edu/books/ha…...
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David Raichlen retweeted
Susan Glasser
@sbg14 Jun 2025
Slashing research on Alzheimer's, cancer, and substance abuse... the MAGA war on health, charted: nytimes.com/interactive/2025…

The Gutting of America’s Medical Research: Here Is Every Canceled or Delayed N.I.H. Grant (Publis...

Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.

nytimes.com
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Had a blast talking with Dax and Monica on @ArmchairExpPod ! We talked human evolution, metabolism, and of course - ADAPTABLE. Enjoy! armchairexpertpod.com/pods/h…

Herman Pontzer — Armchair Expert

Herman Pontzer (Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us) is an evolutionary anthropologist, author, and associate professor at Duke University. Herman joins the Armchair...

armchairexpertpod.com
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ADAPTABLE publication day!! So excited to have it out in the wild. Can't wait to hear what people think. And what better way to launch than being featured in @NewYorker by one of my favorite writers @mnvrsngh ! Check it out! links for the article and the book below
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Small doses of physical activity (when quantified using #wearables) are potent for health & should be considered in next #PhysicalActivity guidelines & promoted by clinicians. Commentaty in current issue of @NatureMedicine by I-Min Lee et al. nature.com/articles/s41591-0… Three key contributions of wearables to future guidelines: 1. Light intensity #PhysicalActivity 2. Physical activity #micropatterns, e.g. #VILPA (vigorous intermitent lifestyle physical activity) 3. Stepping-based targets [noting that none of the 3 involve going to the gym :)] "Small doses of activity should be added to future guidelines, but while waiting for that to happen, clinicians can take advantage of the new knowledge now." @ma_hamer @Matthew_Ahmadi_ @NKoemel @JasonGill74 @fiona_bull @AdrianBauman @gibalam @MarieHMurphy @aiden1doherty @victormatsudo @AngeloSabag
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"....humans evolved to engage in lifelong habitual #PhysicalActivity, but never evolved to exercise which is a modern behaviour ...in industrialised economies." Excellent (very thought-provoking!) review in @BJSM_BMJ on why ppl struggle to stick to exercise & possible solutions. We have completely neglected this evolutionary perspective - could it be one of the reasons adherence is so poor? bjsm.bmj.com/content/59/2/11… Way forward: expore ways to support communities to increase their #IncidentalPhysicalActivity + invest more on exercise adherence. "To make #PhysicalActivity necessary and rewarding, environments and cultural norms that encourage PA are essential to counteract the strong evolutionary instinct to avoid discretionary movement." @DavidRaichlen @Matthew_Ahmadi_ @NKoemel #VILPA @CPC_usyd @syd_health @eatlikeanimals
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A picture paints a thousand words! 👉The biggest public health benefit of physical activity comes from getting those least activity doing a bit more. 👉More is better to a certain point with a clear levelling off & a trend for a U-shaped curve. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam…
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(major) Sex differences in dose-response of VILPA (vigorous intermitent l/style #PhysicalActivity) with CVD events New @uk_biobank study in @BJSM_BMJ bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2… 🙏@Matthew_Ahmadi_ @BiswasRaaj @ma_hamer @JasonGill74 @AngeloSabag @ecthogersen @BorjadelPozoCr1
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Join my lab @DukeU @EvAnthDuke ! TWO postdoc positions: NIH projects in energy balance, physical activity, health outcomes & more. One with the Daasanach community in northern Kenya. One working with @AmboseliBaboons . Please share R/T! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/j…
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New paper: towards an empirical definition of VILPA (vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity): journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/f… During activities of daily living, VILPA elicited a physiological response (%V̇O2max & %HRmax) at 77-83 sec, and 45 sec for perceived exertion.
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David Raichlen retweeted
Natan Feter@natanfeter11 Nov 2024
🚨New paper alert🚨 authors.elsevier.com/a/1k4FY… Key findings 🏃Increasing 1 MET in eCRF was associated with a 20% reduction in the risk of cognitive impairment 🛌Decreasing 14 min/day in leisure time MVPA was associated with a 16% increased risk of cognitive impairment 1/2
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2024 honoree Dr. Stacey Tecot is an associate professor in the School of Anthropology and the director of the Laboratory for the Evolutionary Endocrinology of Primates (LEEP). At LEEP, she works with others to develop new assays to measure noninvasively collected samples and train researchers to analyze their samples and conduct their own hormonal assays. She also co-directs the Ranomafana Red-Bellied Lemur Project in Madagascar where she works with local research technicians and students to understand infant caregiving strategies and how the environment affects behavior and physiology. research.arizona.edu/women#2…
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Excited to announce my new book ADAPTABLE coming this Spring!
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Can short bursts of daily movement offset cardiovascular risk from prolonged sitting? A new study in @ESC_Journals finds that just 4 minutes a day of brief bursts of vigorous activity 🏃🏼can offset risks linked to sedentary behaviour (>11 hr/day) 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwae3…
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Can incidental physical activity offset the deleterious associations of sedentary behaviour with major adverse cardiovascular events? New @uk_biobank paper by our great post-doc @NKoemel academic.oup.com/eurjpc/adva… @Matthew_Ahmadi_ @AnnemarieKo @AngeloSabag #VILPA
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🚨 We're Hiring a post-doc! 🚨 Join our team at École Normale Supérieure de Rennes to work international for the Youth Health From a Holistic Perspective (YEAH!) project funded by HORIZON. 🌍 🗓️ Start: January 2025 for more information : [email protected]
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