Theres a name for what was written in this weeks reader mail:
The second part of this relates to a theory I?ve been developing lately. See if this makes sense: human beings were designed to work, and work hard. If we don?t, bad things happen. It takes hard work to build muscles, and if we don?t, they whither away. Learning is hard work as well, but if we don?t, our brains atrophy and stop working. The same principle applies to things like courage, desire, and our capacity for love. If these things are not exercised as well, we loose our ability for them.
Art de Vany once wrote a good primer on this: Power-Law. Unfortunately, I could not find the webpage anymore. Here is the closest thing that I got.
Power law training
(…) that produces the hormone drives and metabolism that raises insulin sensitivity and lowers fat producing and muscle wasting hormones. The intermittent pattern of power law training is, in reality, as ancient as life itself. Power law training is the technology consistent with the intermittent and chaotic natural dynamics that science finds in all living things; it matches the rhythm of life itself and is found in the movements of wild animals, healthy heart beats, neuronal dynamics in the brain, and the music of Bach.
Any good references would be most welcome. Thanks!