Does good health cause exercise?

People who exercise more are supposedly healthier, and "everyone knows" that exercise causes better health.

But I've always wondered if the opposite was the case, that good health causes people to enjoy exercising more.

Greg Mankiw expresses the same thoughts, demonstrating that he's one of the few bloggers in the blogosphere who is as deep a thinker as I am.

Comments

[michael vassar]

Casual observation of the personal consequences of exercising a moderate amount for a few months and then not at all for a few months should disabuse you of this hypothesis, but failing that we have good data on short term consequences of exercise to blood glucose level and other metrics of health.

[Peter]

Well I certainly believe the theory's correct. Although I'm an almost everyday gym-goer, I've been struggling with a summer cold for the past few days and have absolutely no desire whatsoever for anything remotely approaching exercise :)

[Austrian]

"as deep a thinker as I am"

You are one of the funniest bloggers I visit, I will give you that.

[Kathleen]

I think I understand what you mean and that scares me but I think exercise can be addicting, just like chocolate or alcohol or cigarettes. The more you do/eat/smoke/drink them, the more you want.

[michael vassar]

I will also point out that we have lots of easily controlled animal data which suggests large benefits from exercize. (and from Hormesis, which is grossly underutilized)