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Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

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Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#51

My work provides a gym, and I go there for at least an hour every weekday. I'd rather do poorly at work then skip exercising to be honest. I see some of the older employees coming in trying to reverse the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and I do not envy that position. It's crazy how people will deprioritze their health. It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible. Of course, diet is also…

The only problem I see with this kind of pitch is these days hospitals, docs and the pharma industry keep physically inactive people alive decades past their expiry date.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible." Living as well and as beneficently as possible might be higher priorities. The older folks with the desk jobs are often quite literally sacrificing their own well-being for their family's, "deprioritizing their health" for another priority. "You could not do more with your money than get professional help in steering your body" You could donate…

Your first priority should be taking care of yourself. Remember the plane safety demonstration? You always put your own mask on first, even if it seems selfish. You're in the best position to help others and make good decisions when you feel stability in your own life. Making sure you'll be around a long time also makes you last longer as a resource to society, and to your family. You can't do any of those things you…

Ya right. I work with politicians day to day. You have no idea how much society would benefit if they all died in their 60s.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#53
post #10

Put bluntly, exercising creates new mitochondria in your cells. Since disease is often due to low cell energy (making cells underperform or malfunction), it makes sense that adding mitochondria (=adding ability to convert cellular energy) is very beneficial. Here is a quite technical paper on exercise and mitochondrial biogenesis: http://m.jbc.org/content/282/1/194.full

I wonder if we can have a pill to maintain high level of mitochondria in all our cells in background.

It seems that modern humans have a lot of power-saving traits which are active deterrent as of now when food is abundant, since they lead to obesity, muscle loss and mitochondria problems here. Other mammals don't seem to have such problems en masse.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#54
post #30
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll warn that that advice is like "get a therapist". They're weakly regulated/certified titles, and there are many people calling themselves as such offering terrible advice and plans. I don't think they're worthless by any means, good ones are great. However, you need to carefully vet them rather than trusting their advice by default to the degree you might (or should be able) to trust a doctor or the like.

The primary function of a personal trainer / nutritionist is not the advice they give, but that they force you to show up at the gym and keep track of what you're eating. It's 90% outsourcing of willpower and 10% knowledge.

I worked as a GMAT/GRE tutor for a while. The same was true in that field.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#55

My work provides a gym, and I go there for at least an hour every weekday. I'd rather do poorly at work then skip exercising to be honest. I see some of the older employees coming in trying to reverse the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and I do not envy that position. It's crazy how people will deprioritze their health. It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible. Of course, diet is also…

> It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible.

Then a career change may be one of the most effective ways towards that goal. An environment where your employer provides a gym may be a bit too stressful...

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#56
post #27
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible. I think your number one priority should be to avoid suffering.

Then one could just die and be done with everything.

it’s always on the table.

often we stay alive because dying would cause others suffering.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#57

My work provides a gym, and I go there for at least an hour every weekday. I'd rather do poorly at work then skip exercising to be honest. I see some of the older employees coming in trying to reverse the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and I do not envy that position. It's crazy how people will deprioritze their health. It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible. Of course, diet is also…

OP: article linking a study suggesting a strong correlation between exercise and mortality

Top reply: I really really like to go to the gym, and I fast because I think it's really, really good. Get a personal trainer

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#58
Not exercising could be caused by some other underlying health condition.

I have not yet seen a study which can say with good confidence "Exercise makes people healthier".

Sure you can say "People who exercise are healthier", but establishing cause and effect requires an intervention experiment.

I suspect the commonly held belief that exercise is good for health is true, but it still seems to be bad to publish it as advice so widely without the cause/effect established.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#59

Not exercising could be caused by some other underlying health condition. I have not yet seen a study which can say with good confidence "Exercise makes people healthier". Sure you can say "People who exercise are healthier", but establishing cause and effect requires an intervention experiment. I suspect the commonly held belief that exercise is good for health is true, but it still seems to be bad to publish it as…

[deleted]

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible." Living as well and as beneficently as possible might be higher priorities. The older folks with the desk jobs are often quite literally sacrificing their own well-being for their family's, "deprioritizing their health" for another priority. "You could not do more with your money than get professional help in steering your body" You could donate…

Your first priority should be taking care of yourself. Remember the plane safety demonstration? You always put your own mask on first, even if it seems selfish. You're in the best position to help others and make good decisions when you feel stability in your own life. Making sure you'll be around a long time also makes you last longer as a resource to society, and to your family. You can't do any of those things you…

This also applies to eg. rescue workers. Rescuing the rescuers is not just embarrassing, it also uses up so many resources!
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