Natural Humanists believe that all human beings should value all parts of nature, including their own and other people’s bodies, and that they should treat their own bodies with care and respect, as the ‘gifts’ of nature that they are, which are in their care for the duration of their lives.
This includes a belief in frequent, healthy, and ideally productive and meaningful, physical activity, as well as consuming a healthy, and ideally fully-nutritionally-balanced and phytochemical-rich vegan diet, which is the ideal ‘fuel’ for our bodies.
Natural Humanists believe it’s very important for all physical activity to be meaningful and productive, and for it to ideally be shared with other human beings, rather than it being through selfish solitary exercises that don’t produce anything worthwhile, or in any way benefit other people, other species, or the planet, in any meaningful way.
Natural Humanists recognise that ‘physical activity’ includes travelling from A to B, while walking, running, cycling, roller-skating, or scooting, and includes all movement of the body while working, gardening or performing domestic activities, or any leisure activity, like swimming, sports, dancing, and even vigorous and mutually pleasurable sex.
Sex and orgasms are both classed as healthy physical activities, and, according to the British Medical Journal[i], having two or more orgasms per week can result in men (and presumably boys too) being twice as likely not to die, of any cause, than if they have orgasms infrequently[ii]. Having sex three or more times per week has even been linked to a 50% reduction in the risk of heart attacks and strokes[iii].
Natural Humanists acknowledge that sex is, in every way, a form of meaningful physical activity, because, as well as being a beneficial form of exercise, it also gives both (or all) of the people involved wonderful physical pleasure, and it’s a superb way of socialising, sharing love and affection, and of bonding people and strengthening relationships. As Natural Humanists are polyamorous, they believe they have the maximum number of opportunities to engage in this particularly pleasurable and beneficial form of physical activity.
Any form of moderate or vigorous physical activity can improve and maintain our health, but the World Health Organisation recommends that adults should have at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week[iv]. However, the World Health Organisation found, in 2022, that 85% of adolescent girls, 78% of adolescent boys and 31% of adults, including more women than men, don’t have the recommended amount of physical activity, despite the fact that not having enough physical activity can increase our risk of dying by 20 to 30%, and that healthy physical activity can significantly improve and maintain both our physical and mental health[v].
In children and adolescents, physical activity can reduce levels of body fat, while increasing fitness, heart and metabolic health, bone health, brain function, and mental health[vi].
In adults and older people, it can reduce body fat, reduce both the overall risk of dying, and the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, and it can reduce the risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), some cancers, type-2 diabetes, and the risk of having falls, as well as improving mental health, brain function and sleep[vii].
In pregnant women, it can also reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia, and of hypertension, diabetes, excessive weight gain linked to pregnancy, and complications during childbirth, and pregnant women’s own physical activity can also improve the health of their newborn baby, while also reducing the risk that they themselves will experience post-partum depression[viii].
Getting There Under Your Own Steam
Of all the miles travelled in Great Britain in 2022, 87% were by car (or other non-ticketed transport), only 13% were by bus or train (or otherticketed transport) and only 1% were by bicycle[ix].
Indeed, in the UK, 76% of all journeys of 2 to 3 miles are by car[x], even though this would only take a healthy 30 to 45 minutes to walk, or 8 to 12 minutes to cycle, and despite the fact that such car journeys pollute the environment and add to global warming.
Natural Humanist recognise that using vehicles wastes an important opportunity to gain healthy exercise, by walking, jogging, scooting, roller-skating or cycling, which would give us an opportunity to connect with nature, or with other people in our local community, while improving or maintaining our general mobility and flexibility, and even potentially extending our life.
They also acknowledge that this exercise has the potential to improve or maintain our sexual stamina and could help us to maintain a healthy weight and physique, which could make us both more physically attractive, and more likely to give sexual pleasure, thereby increasing our sexual partner’s or polyamorous group’s arousal and happiness, something that Natural Humanists care very deeply about.
Life Gym
Natural Humanists believe in regular physical activity, but believe it’s hugely better for themselves, and for other residents of the planet, if this involves meaningful activities, not just exercise for the sake of exercising, or for vanity, and that ideally exercise should never be a way of trying to become ‘better’ than other people, for example, more ‘buff’, or stronger or faster, or more capable of dominating, or intimidating, or causing harm to others.
They don’t support the use of gyms, unless their use is necessary for medical reasons, or due to health problems or disability, as gyms always involve meaningless, unproductive physical activities, which waste human effort and are often solitary. They also believe that both attending gyms and taking part in many sports, can often promote unhealthy, even toxic, ‘macho’ traits and interests, like competitiveness, vanity and aggression, which can help to normalise this toxicity in society, even though it has no beneficial place in today’s world at all.
Instead, they believe that all human beings should obtain their physical activity through ‘Life Gym’, just as nature intended. Leopards do not maintain their fitness, strength and a healthy body-weight by swimming lengths of the local swimming pool, or lifting weights at the local gym. They walk and run and fight and do everything else that’s important to their own and their family’s existence and quality of life, and Natural Humanists believe that human beings should, quite naturally, do exactly the same.
An example of the type of ‘meaningful activities’ that Natural Humanists believe in, to increase and maintain their own and other people’s physical health and fitness, in beneficial ways, is spending time, on a regular basis, collecting and recycling plastic, and other human waste, that’s been washed-up on to beaches or onto grass-verges beside roads, or planting trees to add to land’s biodiversity, or walking door-to-door delivering (recycled paper) fliers promoting Natural Humanist values, collecting money for charity door-to-door, or collecting unwanted clothing and household items for charity resale, or helping an older person, or someone with a disability, with housework, shopping or gardening, or walking their dog, while improving the quality of life of this enslaved animal at the same time.
The possibilities for truly meaningful, but healthy, physical activity are endless, and this includes highly pleasurable social activities, like a clothed or naturist walk in the countryside, wild swimming in rivers, lakes or the sea, an adapted form of yoga which excludes the traditional spiritual elements and may also be an opportunity for social naturism, as well as dancing, and even frequent, energetic and highly mutually pleasurable sex.
Natural Humanists may choose to consult, or add to, an online record, on the naturalhumanism.co.uk website, of every activity that’s available, in each town, village or rural area in the world, which could potentially be a useful source of meaningful and productive physical activity, and which anyone could take part in.
This record could include frequent, ideally weekly social dancing, whether indoors or outdoors, and whether clothed or naked, as dancing is both an addictive and very energetic form of physical activity, and is wonderfully fun, and a superb way of socialising and sharing happiness, with all members of a community.
This online record also has the potential to allow people to find ways of helping their local community, or protecting wildlife or the planet, while improving and maintaining their physical and mental health, and also to allow people with similar interests to get together socially, to share such meaningful work or fun activities, whether it’s sponsored walks or litter-picks for charity, wild-swimming groups, or any work that’s needed in a particular area, for example, clearing illegally dumped rubbish, which is damaging the environment in a rural area, or helping specific elderly people with shopping or domestic tasks, all while meaningfully exercising, maintaining physical and mental health, making friends, and, very importantly, increasing the amount of both happiness and kindness in the world, because, who wouldn’t want to do that?
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References
[i] Davey Smith G, Frenkel S, Yarnell J. “Sex and Death: Are They Related? Findings from the Caerphilly cohort study”. BMJ. 315 (December 20, 1997): 1641–4. doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7123.1641. PMC 2128033. PMID 9448525. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2128033. Cited on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm#cite_note-118
[ii] Davey Smith G, Frenkel S, Yarnell J. “Sex and Death: Are They Related? Findings from the Caerphilly cohort study”. BMJ. 315 (December 20, 1997): 1641–4. doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7123.1641. PMC 2128033. PMID 9448525. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2128033. Cited on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm#cite_note-118
[iii] Wikipedia contributors. “Orgasm.” 20 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 May 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm
[iv] World Health Organisation. “WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour” ISBN: 9789240015128. 25 November 2020. www.who.int. 9 June 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
[v] World Health Organisation. “Physical activity”. 26 June 2024. www.who.int. 9 June 2025. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
[vi] World Health Organisation. “WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour” ISBN: 9789240015128. 25 November 2020. www.who.int. 9 June 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
[vii] World Health Organisation. “WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour” ISBN: 9789240015128. 25 November 2020. www.who.int. 9 June 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
[viii] World Health Organisation. “WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour” ISBN: 9789240015128. 25 November 2020. www.who.int. 9 June 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
[ix] Department for Transport “Accredited official statistics: Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2022 Domestic Travel”. 14 December 2023. www.gov.uk. 3 June 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2023/transport-statistics-great-britain-2022-domestic-travel
[x] RAC Foundation for Motoring. “The Car in British Society”. racfoundation.org. 27 May 2025. https://www.racfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/car_in_british_society-lucas_et_al-170409.pdf