Yeah, just ask Stephen Hawkings
That's really not how statistics work.
Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
81–90 of 133 posts
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#82I wonder if this would be yet another advantage of using stand-up desks, which are now quite well-known to be stellar for cardiovascular health, but if they also improve leg muscles, could be a boost to one's thinking power? After a day of standing up at a desk, my legs are super tired, so obviously there is serious muscle development going on there.
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Words have consensus meanings, and when you try to redefine them unilaterally you make it harder to communicate. Strength in this context is defined as the ability to exert physical force (as in Newton's Second Law, force = mass x acceleration). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_strength
The word isn't being redefined. Endurance is the ability to continue exerting physical force over a long duration.
Do you disagree that it's useful to distinguish between strength and endurance?
codingdave asserted, "I think legs that can carry a 50 pound pack to the top of a mountain are "stronger" than a guy who can lift twice as much as me, but can't even run a 5K."
The former is an example of great endurance (without necessarily having great strength), and the latter is an example of great strength without endurance. You can have one without the other, so they're different, and it's plainly incorrect to say that a person with high endurance/low strength is "stronger" than a person with high strength/low endurance.
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in long-term memory, reasoning, attention, and problem-solving tasks I'm pretty sure the cause/effect is reversed here. It's more likely that people who are smart and have better focus/are less impulsive are more likely to take care of their health and exercise.
Both A->B and B->A can be true without A B with complex relationships. Dr John Ratey, M.D. covers the topic of exercise and those mental attributes in his seminal 2008 book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. I can't recommend this book strongly enough particularly if there are mental health issues in your life -- and who doesn't! Dr Ratey references and describes a number of experiments a…
I met John Ratey I believe at his house-office when I was around 16 or 17 (circa 1997) for ADD counseling (my mother was determined to find the best). I remember distinctly telling him how lifting weights was one of the only things that helped me somewhat keep organized... he un-officially agreed that it was better than the medication being pushed at the time (I'm sure things have changed). He was one of the reasons I stopped taking the ADD drugs as I really really hated them (ritalin, adderal...etc).
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#85Just started to read the book "Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School". It basically starts with this "For starters, we are not used to sitting at a desk for eight hours a day. From an evolutionary perspective, our brains developed while working out, walking as many as 12 miles a day. The brain still craves that experience, especially in sedentary populations like our own. Tha…
> Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in long-term memory, reasoning, attention, and problem-solving tasks I'm pretty sure the cause/effect is reversed here. It's more likely that people who are smart and have better focus/are less impulsive are more likely to take care of their health and exercise.
Is it? Aerobic exercise increases circulation and oxygen uptake, both of which should improve brain function.
For me, the difference that exercise makes is very noticeable, to the point that I feel completely unproductive after not running for some time.
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spinach, that's interesting. Apparently, tryptophan + vitamin B6 + vitamin C converts to serotonin. https://thomasmcgregor.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/cure-depress...
Thanks for the link. I started on Spinach because my doctor suggested "leafy green vegetables". I tried kale first, but I prefer the taste of spinach. I most often eat it first thing in the morning as a shake: 90g spinach + 1 cup almond milk + half a frozen banana. According to the article, I may want to add some strawberries or oranges for more vitamin C.
You tried kale before spinach? WTF? What's the story behind that?
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#87This is actually a fairly old idea and hinges on the role of leg muscles in general circulation and brain irrigation. I don't have the other papers on hand, but I recall there being studies relating sitting time with cognitive performance, the idea being that there's a bit of hypoxia associated with immobility. Edit: An anecdote which I think will resonate with many. Very often I start getting drowsy in front of my c…
Yup, one of the premises of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-B...
Its also humorous to note that the in many schools of Chinese Yoga (Qi-Gong) and Tai Chi, the first pose given is a horse stance. Where you simply stand and relax into the bone structure of your body, then continue for hours on end, (for sometimes many years with this single pose depending on the student).
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#88I go to therapy to manage my depression. I don't have a severe case, but it's bad enough that it affects my productivity at times. Once a year or so I'll have a bout where I am almost completely unable to function. The tools I use to manage depression are (wait for it) diet, exercise and prayer (or meditation, if you want to keep it secular). Exercise is particularly useful. Depression affects the mind, so it's diffi…
You might want to check out sardines too.
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#89I go to therapy to manage my depression. I don't have a severe case, but it's bad enough that it affects my productivity at times. Once a year or so I'll have a bout where I am almost completely unable to function. The tools I use to manage depression are (wait for it) diet, exercise and prayer (or meditation, if you want to keep it secular). Exercise is particularly useful. Depression affects the mind, so it's diffi…
I suffer from extreme depression as well. I used to meditate for at least an hour a day, I also used to run five or more miles a day...
I haven't been doing either recently, and my depression is really bad right now.
I was biking a lot, until my bike was stolen recently. That added to my depression...
But I walk an average of four miles a day, and take average of 10,000 steps a day and climb an average of ten flights of stairs a day.
My legs are still incredibly strong - but I need to do more about my depression. The last few weeks have been as much as I can take.
Re: Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin Study
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not entirely convinced 'strong legs' are the causative factor in healthier brains. It is possible the researchers measured an artifact of people that do running cardio.
Particularly damning is that the research participants were all female. Anyone who's set foot in a gym knows that women do cardio disproportionately, and that the cardio they do increases thigh musculature...
I have to disagree. Sure women do more cardio, but the cardio increasing thigh musculature? Not a chance. Squatting increases thigh musculature. Doing the elliptical for an hour a day does not. Running slowly or at a medium speed does not. Nor do either lead to any gain in strength anywhere.