With health experts advising that an hour a day is needed to maintain weight loss, many people who are already short on sleep (and, yes, that makes you fat too), are excited that researchers have discovered how to deliver exercise benefits in a pill.

Upon reflection, though, the idea that modern people find it difficult to spend an hour a day moving is somewhat startling. Do we really want a chemical that permits us to become more chair-bound and more plugged into electronics? How long before we become "pod people" living in Matrix-like cocoons?

I'm not saying I definitely wouldn't use the exercise pill, should it become available on the mass market. The idea is undeniably attractive. However, taking a pill won't duplicate walking the dog, riding a bike along a scenic path, hiking in the woods, swimming a few laps in the pool, or working up a sweat on the tennis court. Or any of the many other enjoyable physical activities that we, as a society, seem too willing to give up.

When people lose a physical capability through accident or disease, it's normal to experience a profound sense of grief. It takes a period of adjustment to accept one's new limitations. Why, then, are we so quick to applaud a drug that lets us "enjoy" a more physically restricted lifestyle?

What's better? An hour a day getting the blood circulating -- or spending that same hour immobile, watching beautiful people on some TV program and wondering why we don't look like them?

It's time to make time for exercise.

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