Why do some people love to do sports and to exercise, while others don’t? Is it talent, passion—or something deeper in our biology? In this episode we dive into the fascinating science behind why we exercise (or don’t), and what our bodies have to say about it. Our guest, prof. dr. Eco de Geus, professor of Biological Psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has spent years studying twins to untangle the roles of genetics, physiology, and stress in shaping our relationship with exercise. How much of our athletic ability is inherited? What does the complex relationship between stress and exercise entail?  And what can ambulatory stress assessment (data derived from wearables) tell us about our physiological stress response in daily life? Listen to the episode to dive deeper into this complex and interesting topic. We hope you enjoy it.

Stress is complex and multifaceted and we all experience it in our daily lives. In this podcast we talk to various experts about stress. We talk about the latest developments in stress research and approach stress from various angles: physiology, emotion, cognition, behaviour and context. Stress Navigation is part of the 10-year research project Stress in Action. Marcos Ross is a PhD candidate at Amsterdam UMC and interviews our guests in the English episodes.