For the next installment of answering reader questions, we have: Is "move it or lose it" true? Is it always true?
I would say that yes, if there’s any universal absolute, any physical law that I hold to be true, it is that. There may be exceptions, and perhaps I’ll uncover some of them as I meander through this point today, but "use it or lose it" is about as true as anything I can imagine.
Muscle: Bed rest studies show that muscle disappears incredibly quickly when you’re not using it.
Bone: Bone is a metabolic tissue—living, growing, adapting. If it is never stressed, if it is never subjected to compression, it will wither and grow fragile and crumble.
Cars: They'll fall into disrepair if they aren’t driven. Driving a car is better than not driving it at all. Putting miles on it is better than letting it sit.
Relationships: If you don't cultivate a relationship—if you never use it by talking to the other party, calling them, asking their opinion about things, or asking for favors (and vice versa)—the relationship dies. You lose it.
And the relationship one is an interesting example because literally, you have to use it, as in use it for your own benefit, in order for it to work, in order for it to survive. If it’s totally one-sided—if you are the party who’s always helping them, giving in to their demands, and you’re never asking anything of them—the relationship will die. The relationship ceases to be a relationship unless it’s goes both ways and serves both parties.
