Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds • Hacker News Board

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#31

Post by imesh » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:16 AM UTC

2845197541 wrote: post #20

On one side of my family retirement for my grandparents meant long days vegetating in front of the television with little dogs to pet. Church on Sundays were really their only time out. This brought dementia by age 80 and a host of other issues and they are on their way out. On the other side my grandfather plays basketball, golfs, runs, reads a book every few days, even drinks at a bar. No dementia. Sharp as a tack.…

Both my grandfathers where professors who kept working up until their irrespective colleges forced them retire due to their alzheimers. One ran marathons up until his 70s and the other one did moderate exercise. Both did everything you are supposed to do, both got alzheimers. 80 isn't going to be a party no matter how healthy you are, it's 80.

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#32

Post by pizza234 » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:17 AM UTC

eyan wrote: post #11

tomjen3 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody credible. The real question is how do you get people of their ass and start exercising? This includes me, I feel much better on days I make it to the gym.

> The real question is how do you get people of their ass and start exercising? You don't. You wait for them until they decide and act on their decision.

That is not an effective strategy.

Decisions are backed by the environment (in a broad sense), so it's important to understand (for the sake of effectiveness) which changes can be done to the environment, to stimulate taking such decision[s].

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#33

Post by clumsysmurf » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:27 AM UTC

Somewhat related, today I read

"Researchers found that the foot's impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424141340.h...

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#34

Post by sooheon » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:29 AM UTC

mike_ivanov wrote: post #22

Or - there is a confounding factor that makes people both sharp and willing to exercise.

This is the most common one line reply to any study, and it's a pet peeve of mine. If you actually read past the headline, you'd see this was not a population study, but a review of experimental ones, where your "confounding factor" is literally the fact that experimenters asked people to exercise.

Please, be skeptical of studies, but don't be so arrogant to presume authors aren't capable of the most elementary scientific reasoning.

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#35

Post by acchow » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:29 AM UTC

clumsysmurf wrote: post #33

Somewhat related, today I read "Researchers found that the foot's impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain." https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424141340.h...

What is the evolutionary explanation for this?

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#36

Post by aaron-lebo » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:32 AM UTC

sooheon wrote: post #34

mike_ivanov wrote: post #22

Or - there is a confounding factor that makes people both sharp and willing to exercise.

This is the most common one line reply to any study, and it's a pet peeve of mine. If you actually read past the headline, you'd see this was not a population study, but a review of experimental ones, where your "confounding factor" is literally the fact that experimenters asked people to exercise. Please, be skeptical of studies, but don't be so arrogant to presume authors aren't capable of the most elementary scien…

That's not arrogance, only good science. You'd be surprised how many "obvious" things get through peer review.

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#37

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:38 AM UTC

imesh wrote: post #31

2845197541 wrote: post #20

On one side of my family retirement for my grandparents meant long days vegetating in front of the television with little dogs to pet. Church on Sundays were really their only time out. This brought dementia by age 80 and a host of other issues and they are on their way out. On the other side my grandfather plays basketball, golfs, runs, reads a book every few days, even drinks at a bar. No dementia. Sharp as a tack.…

Both my grandfathers where professors who kept working up until their irrespective colleges forced them retire due to their alzheimers. One ran marathons up until his 70s and the other one did moderate exercise. Both did everything you are supposed to do, both got alzheimers. 80 isn't going to be a party no matter how healthy you are, it's 80.

[deleted]

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#38

Post by acchow » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:38 AM UTC

sooheon wrote: post #34

mike_ivanov wrote: post #22

Or - there is a confounding factor that makes people both sharp and willing to exercise.

This is the most common one line reply to any study, and it's a pet peeve of mine. If you actually read past the headline, you'd see this was not a population study, but a review of experimental ones, where your "confounding factor" is literally the fact that experimenters asked people to exercise. Please, be skeptical of studies, but don't be so arrogant to presume authors aren't capable of the most elementary scien…

  that experimenters asked people to exercise.

Where are you reading this? The article is about the meta review here http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2017/03/30/bjsports-2016-0...

Even if you're right, it still doesn't remove the confounding factors. Let's assume you're right and each study has a control group that doesn't exercise (for.... x years...? seems ridiculous) and an experimental group which exercises regularly. But then...unhealthy people wouldn't be able to be in the latter group because they can't exercise regularly.

I humbly submit "healthiness" as a possible confounding factor contributing to both "sharp mind" and "ability to exercise" (and thus be in the experimental group). Not sure where healthiness would come from - genetics? Diet? Less stress?

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#39

Post by krrrh » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:39 AM UTC

tajen wrote: post #17

stdbrouw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real question: is there anyone out there that really debates that exercising constantly = better, longer life? The real question is: how much better, how much longer? A priori any real-valued metric has a 50% chance of being net positive, but that doesn't mean the effect will be large enough to matter.

Compound studies find that 1hr of sports = 7hrs of additional life (up to 7hrs a week).

Do you have a link for that?

Re: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds

#40

Post by remline » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 8:40 AM UTC

acchow wrote: post #35

clumsysmurf wrote: post #33

Somewhat related, today I read "Researchers found that the foot's impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain." https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424141340.h...

What is the evolutionary explanation for this?

Navigation is thought to be central to the evolution of our cognition as it is both complex and essential for survival and propagation, hence the "the method of loci" as a memory tactic. Walking was the primary or possibly only time when navigation was important for most early people..