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Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

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Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#51

This seems like one of the things that VR/AR might fix. Speaking as someone who tried VR for the first time at the mall yesterday (HTC Vive). Reminds me of Bret Victor's Seeing Spaces http://worrydream.com/SeeingSpaces/ .

Agreed, reading the reviews for popular VR games like Fruit Ninja [1] and Holopoint [2], lots of people are reporting getting a pretty substantial workout from just playing the game. The hypothetical future of gamers being some of the fittest members of society, instead of least active, might not be so implausible. You can also imagine gyms might replace some of their cardio equipment with VR setups, should VR prove…

I hate to be too cynical but I recall people saying similar things about the Wii when it first came out. While Wii can give you a work out, I don't think it ever really caught on.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#52
post #7

I'm reluctant to be this commenter, but this honestly reads like "sky is blue" kind of thinking. Worse: it is likely that nobody knows the "best" formula for physical-activity-unto-staying-young. Think about how difficult a problem this is. And even if there were a plausible, scientifically defensible answer in terms of the effect of specific routines on a sample population, it's still very difficult to generally app…

Keep in mind that there is a significant enough portion of the population who are overweight, get absolutely no exercise, eat mostly take-out and junk food, drink too much, and/or smoke cigarettes. You don't need a study to spell out the result. You don't need scientific evidence to compare an individual with a healthy lifestyle vs. someone who matches the criteria above. It's not about what "makes you feel good", it…

You're absolutely right: the basic outline is not a difficult problem.

The "difficult problem" I was referring to is taking a sample population and drawing conclusions about how much sitting is OK, what kind of exercise is OK, and whether the above are casually related to factors we otherwise describe as "aging."

For a substantial segment of the population, sitting all day, even with 30 minutes of intense exercise somewhere in the middle, probably does contribute to unfavorable health outcomes.

For others, that might not be so.

For many people, there may be underlying causes of both unhealthy habits and unfavorable health outcomes.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#53

This seems like one of the things that VR/AR might fix. Speaking as someone who tried VR for the first time at the mall yesterday (HTC Vive). Reminds me of Bret Victor's Seeing Spaces http://worrydream.com/SeeingSpaces/ .

Is VR going to help at work though?

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#54

My view might be classified as 'odd', but this is how I look at this problem, and this is what I ended up doing: I do not mind living a decade shorter than those ones who are more active than me. I have tried to be active, but could not fit it into my mentality. Note that I did not say my lifestyle, I said my mentality. I am unable to be active. I was not an active person a a kid, and I am not one as an adult. If I a…

Have you considered trying out activities that you might enjoy for themselves, rather than mainly for "exercise" or because you "should", and try to optimize for enjoyment (not for exercise). Especially, gentle exercise can be a lot more pleasant.

e.g. many thinkers enjoy thinking on slow walks, especially through a park, countryside or bush/woods.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#55
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your definition of "feel worse". Is it bad to feel out of breath? I quite enjoy it in certain contexts.

It's not just definitions, it's also that a lot of people experience actual adverse reactions to exercise [1]. The typical social script is to condescendingly explain to them how they must be doing it wrong, and doctors often have trouble finding a medical explanation (even when it actually is caused by a medical condition), so people often blame themselves for having problems. This is, to put it mildly, not an optim…

Oh my, that sounds horrible. Maybe worse than not liking spicy food.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, reading the reviews for popular VR games like Fruit Ninja [1] and Holopoint [2], lots of people are reporting getting a pretty substantial workout from just playing the game. The hypothetical future of gamers being some of the fittest members of society, instead of least active, might not be so implausible. You can also imagine gyms might replace some of their cardio equipment with VR setups, should VR prove…

I hate to be too cynical but I recall people saying similar things about the Wii when it first came out. While Wii can give you a work out, I don't think it ever really caught on.

Th difference that I see between the two is that the Wii offers an extremely limited number of physical activity variations, whereas VR is effectively open-ended, especially when room-scale setups are considered. Paired with adaptive gameplay and on-body monitors, its orders of magnitudes more useful.

Time will tell, but I don't see this as being the same type of misguided hype.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#57

My view might be classified as 'odd', but this is how I look at this problem, and this is what I ended up doing: I do not mind living a decade shorter than those ones who are more active than me. I have tried to be active, but could not fit it into my mentality. Note that I did not say my lifestyle, I said my mentality. I am unable to be active. I was not an active person a a kid, and I am not one as an adult. If I a…

Except on top of living a decade less, you'll also be riddled with health problems your entire life.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#58
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just definitions, it's also that a lot of people experience actual adverse reactions to exercise [1]. The typical social script is to condescendingly explain to them how they must be doing it wrong, and doctors often have trouble finding a medical explanation (even when it actually is caused by a medical condition), so people often blame themselves for having problems. This is, to put it mildly, not an optim…

Now I'm wondering if I have some degree of that. I've just commented on a sibling comment that while I love exercising, I just feel terrible right after it. I also have this funny thing where I can't build endurance. I've been doing push ups on every work out and I can't for the life of me do more than 20. But I have no trouble increasing difficulty (putting hands closer, elevating feet, etc.) or weight (for things w…

How old are you? Some people don't develop endurance until their 30s, 40s, or even later! (see Diana Nyad)

I had pretty good endurance in my 20s, but noticed a huge boost in my early 30s.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#59

My view might be classified as 'odd', but this is how I look at this problem, and this is what I ended up doing: I do not mind living a decade shorter than those ones who are more active than me. I have tried to be active, but could not fit it into my mentality. Note that I did not say my lifestyle, I said my mentality. I am unable to be active. I was not an active person a a kid, and I am not one as an adult. If I a…

It is not just 10 years less, it is a worse lifestyle as well. I am guessing you are overweight? You still have to do things outside, so you still do suffer.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#60
post #58
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I'm wondering if I have some degree of that. I've just commented on a sibling comment that while I love exercising, I just feel terrible right after it. I also have this funny thing where I can't build endurance. I've been doing push ups on every work out and I can't for the life of me do more than 20. But I have no trouble increasing difficulty (putting hands closer, elevating feet, etc.) or weight (for things w…

How old are you? Some people don't develop endurance until their 30s, 40s, or even later! (see Diana Nyad) I had pretty good endurance in my 20s, but noticed a huge boost in my early 30s.

Interesting! I'm 29. Looking forward to my 30s :)
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