How to Become a ‘Superager’
nytimes.com
How to Become a ‘Superager’
1–10 of 95 posts
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#2Summary: embrace challenges in order to "exercise" your brain. Learn a language, play an instrument, etc.
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#3"Many labs have observed that these critical brain regions increase in activity when people perform difficult tasks, whether the effort is physical or mental. You can therefore help keep these regions thick and healthy through vigorous exercise and bouts of strenuous mental effort."
Woah woah woah there. That doesn't follow at all. Even if you buy the "exercise model" - which can't possibly be tested by observing brain activity over minutes, since improvement would happen over weeks to months - that doesn't imply an ability to ward off old age over decades. In the case of literal muscle exercise, for example, playing pro sports will certainly strengthen your muscles now but likely cause long-term injuries. https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/public-healt...
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#4Good habits should feel good. Strange that we've evolved the opposite physiological response.
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#5Good habits should feel good. Strange that we've evolved the opposite physiological response.
Good habits tend to feel good afterward. Bad habits feel good now. I find that thinking of my future self as a separate person that I can do nice things for helps me feel the long term benefits more.
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#6Consider a world in which the cancer research community did nothing more than evaluate how fast cancer killed people based on their lifestyle choices, while onlookers nodded wisely and commented on the the minutiae of whether or not to use a stationary bike when faced with a cancer diagnosis.
And yet for aging? Lunacy.
Is this not an age of biotechnology? People have very, very odd attitudes towards the fatal medical condition known as aging that they do not bring out for any other medical condition.
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#7Good habits should feel good. Strange that we've evolved the opposite physiological response.
Good habits tend to feel good afterward. Bad habits feel good now. I find that thinking of my future self as a separate person that I can do nice things for helps me feel the long term benefits more.
>> I find that thinking of my future self as a separate person that I can do nice things for helps me feel the long term benefits more.
Related: check this comment on reddit: https://reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_d...
That comment inspired a new subreddit which is quite popular now: https://reddit.com/r/nonzeroday/about
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#8Good habits should feel good. Strange that we've evolved the opposite physiological response.
Good habits tend to feel good afterward. Bad habits feel good now. I find that thinking of my future self as a separate person that I can do nice things for helps me feel the long term benefits more.
Long term thinking is often the best way to improve our lives
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#9Good habits should feel good. Strange that we've evolved the opposite physiological response.
We didn't. Good habits still feel good.
I feel much better when working out than when lounging on a couch watching TV. The first feels lively and fun, the second makes me fidgety and annoyed.
Eating well gives me energy and lifts my spirits, eating crap makes me lethargic and bleurch.
The problem is that initial activation energy. It's easier to sit down than to put on workout clothes. Easier to grab a piece of chocolate than to cook a meal.
There are little tricks you can use to make the good habits easier and the bad habits hard. For instance, you'd have to go to a grocery store to get crap food if you craved it in my apartment. And TV watching happens only on a 13" laptop with bad speakers.
Little things go a long way.
Now I just gotta figure out how to make books easier than internet.
Re: How to Become a ‘Superager’
#10I'm already a super rager. According to this article, I may be a super ager as well, since trying hard at games to the point that I get frustrated and angry is what keeps me sharp!