Live data from Hacker News

Born to Rest

harvardmagazine.com

141–150 of 156 posts

Re: Born to Rest

#141
The part of making exercise more fun is interesting. I remember growing up and being shocked that adults did not play team sports in such a team-sport obsessed country.

Also, probably could to have some sort of multiple-person activity in ones schedule that isn't work (c.f. church attendance dropping faster than religiosity).

Re: Born to Rest

#142
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercise is maintenance of the body. Maintenance of any machine is productive.

No it's not. Some machines are too far lost to put worthwhile effort into.

That's why we upgrade machines (either through pharmaceuticals, and soon, I suspect, gene therapy. Introduce the caloric restriction gene and suddenly the urge to eat uncontrollably goes away.)

Hell, most legal stimulants are appetite suppressants anyway. There are always options. Comparing humans to machines is probably one of the most bizarre expressions of materialism/physicalism I have ever seen on here. The analogy is also quite poor, the human body is far more complex than even our greatest machines.

Re: Born to Rest

#143
post #67

Let me die in peace. For some reason, it is always assumed that everyone wants to live as long as possible. If you don't have a cola each day, you can dribble into a towel for another 3 years when you are older.... No thanks, Ill take the coke. put it on the reapers tab.

I can't blame you for thinking this way at all. However the reality is that it's not so much a clean subtraction where you lose X amount of time at the end of the tally,but rather a gradual decline where bad habits end up harming the quality of your prime "temporal real estate" even if the actual last gasp comes much later.

That's why to me a Coke is also a poor investment in the present, all things considered. Not to mention that the craving for one is quite situational.

Re: Born to Rest

#144

If we have always been lazy, why is there now an obesity epidemic? It seems to me that means the cause of obesity lies elsewhere.

For having lived in several Asian and European countries, I can claim on the basis of anecdotal life experience that it has a lot to do with the local culture. When I first came to America I was (and still am) shocked by the way people related to food and the ease with which you could fall in a sedentary lifestyle.

Re: Born to Rest

#145
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of a university having mandatory PE. Sounds ridiculous to me. University students are adults, they can decide for themselves if they want to exercise.

Hmm, Soldiers are adults, but they usually have mandatory PE. But I suppose they are volunteers. If only our students weren't conscripted into their educations.

Obviously, the requirements of being a soldier are comparable to the requirements of being a student, so it makes perfect sense if both have mandatory PE. Or not.

Re: Born to Rest

#146
post #142
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. Some machines are too far lost to put worthwhile effort into.

That's why we upgrade machines (either through pharmaceuticals, and soon, I suspect, gene therapy. Introduce the caloric restriction gene and suddenly the urge to eat uncontrollably goes away.) Hell, most legal stimulants are appetite suppressants anyway. There are always options. Comparing humans to machines is probably one of the most bizarre expressions of materialism/physicalism I have ever seen on here. The anal…

> The analogy is also quite poor, the human body is far more complex than even our greatest machines.

For now at least. Progress is slow, but we work on making more complex machines all the time. Also, I have a nagging feeling that we tend to underestimate the quality/complexity of machines and overestimate that of our bodies, probably due to some "we must respect nature/evolution/god/.." beliefs. Human bodies are very lacking in some respects, and it shows.

Re: Born to Rest

#147

Harvard "needs to reopen a discussion about…a physical-education requirement." It's been said that "love is a better master than duty," and requiring college students to take a physical education course sounds like a duty. If you want people to exercise without coercion for the rest of their lives, I think you have to tap into intrinsic motivation, i.e., the unique things that get you excited. Depending on your perso…

> Forcing college students to exercise will backfire, leading many of them to stop as soon as the course is over.

Much of what we do started out by being forced to do it. We keep doing it out of habit, social pressure, and in many cases the belief that it is a good thing (brushing our teeth, eating healthy, etc.), but it's often force, habit, and social pressure ('ew, you don't shower regularly?') that got us there in the first place. Most of it is not default behavior.

Similarly, I think mandatory exercise could be very effective in normalizing exercise, which is a very important step in getting more people do do so.

Of course, the exact implementation matters a great deal. But stating that it will backfire strikes me as a unwarranted conclusion.

EDIT: also, exercise, unlike many other healthy things and unlike many things that we are forced to do, is actually fun and even addictive.

Re: Born to Rest

#148

Harvard "needs to reopen a discussion about…a physical-education requirement." It's been said that "love is a better master than duty," and requiring college students to take a physical education course sounds like a duty. If you want people to exercise without coercion for the rest of their lives, I think you have to tap into intrinsic motivation, i.e., the unique things that get you excited. Depending on your perso…

I don't think this is true, or at least not always true.

A good example is the armed forces, where recruits are forced into a very regimented routine.

My father was in the marines, and by his description they turned him from someone who lacked discipline and was not fit into the exact opposite.

When he retired, he kept up his routines: rising early, keeping fit. He's tried to instill the same discipline in his daughters - it's not as effective when it's not mandatory however.

Re: Born to Rest

#149
post #67

Let me die in peace. For some reason, it is always assumed that everyone wants to live as long as possible. If you don't have a cola each day, you can dribble into a towel for another 3 years when you are older.... No thanks, Ill take the coke. put it on the reapers tab.

> If you don't have a cola each day, you can dribble into a towel for another 3 years when you are older.... No thanks, Ill take the coke. put it on the reapers tab.

But fit people have better quality of life.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3567315/

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22249758

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051110215438.h...

If anything, an unfit person is slowly dribbling in a towel throughout his relatively shorter life.

You live a shorter, low quality life. I don't see how you see that a positive over living a longer, healthier life with may be a bit of suffering at the end compared to suffering throughout your life(out of breath, joint pains, clogged arteries...)

Re: Born to Rest

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>…that might be novelty, socializing, recognition, or competition Your comment made me realize why I never liked sports. I don't really care for any of those things.

How about improved mental and emotional well being?

That would be nice, of course. I feel fine, but I guess you could always feel better. And get better sleep.

I never did enough sports or with enough regularity to get the famous serotonin/dopamine kick though.

Last time I tried running it was only pain, sweatiness and unachievement

Got to try it again, but it's hard to find motivation to do something that feels like torture.

Post reply on HN