Caffeine could encourage sedentary people to exercise
Experts in sports medicine suggest that caffeine could encourage sedentary people to exercise by reducing perception of effort.
The researchers said that physical exertion and lack of time are the main perceived barriers to exercise. And this is not surprising, because humans evolved to be lazy in order to conserve energy.
Dr. Samuele Marcora, director of research at the University of Kent’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences in UK, suggests that reducing perception of effort during exercise using caffeine or other psychoactive drugs (eg methylphenidate and modafinil) could help many people stick to their fitness plans.
Watching TV is zero effort while even moderate-intensity physical activities like walking require considerable effort. Dr. Marcora said that finding a way that makes people with very low motivation to do even moderate exercise, like walking, could be useful. It will help save lives and improve longevity.
Similarly, a reduction in perception of effort would be very helpful to the many people who find exercise difficult because they are overweight and/or exercise after work in a state of mental fatigue.
Dr. Marcora also said that while there is no strong ethical opposition to the use of psychoactive drugs to help quit smoking (nicotine) or treat obesity (appetite suppressants), the negative perception of doping in sport may prevent the use of stimulants and other psychoactive drugs to treat physical inactivity.
Given that physical inactivity is responsible for twice as many deaths as obesity, Dr. Marcora hopes that treatment by medicines for physical inactivity will be considered fairly rather than rejected on the basis of ethical considerations about doping in sport.
The study was published in the journal Sports Medicine.
