On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

I think this is quite the wrong way of looking at Walking. It is the relaxed, ruminative, mind-wandering state that the mind and body get into while Walking that is so essential for Creativity. By providing it with more attention grabbing stimulus you are actually distracting it.

Police doesn't care. It's also illegal to discriminate and you can technically call the police when people do it, but they either don't come or will question you instead. "What did you do that they would do this".

And don't let anyone fool you into thinking that this is an eastern Germany problem. I grew up in one of the largest cities in the West, don't come from africa and have been told to go back where I came from plenty of times(which is actually amusing considering my background), have been assaulted by security people, peppersprayed by elderly men, etc.

There are also some EU laws that actually make the random checks somewhat legal.

Don't forget that Germany is the place that happily called for solidarity with BLM movement by the same people that would call Chinese "ching chang chung" on national television. Sure they don't shoot you, but they will make sure you have as little upward mobility as possible.

A lot of Africans that I know, take the University education from Germany and then move the US or Canada when they get the chance. You will rarely see any people of colour in leadership positions in Germany, heck there are hardly even eastern Germans in leadership positions in publicly listed German companies.

As much as I dislike a lot of things about the US at least in the professional sense you are treated with respect if you're good at what you do.

EDIT: oh and if you want to see what Bavarian police thinks of immigrants maybe took a look at some of the drawings in the police calendar.

https://taz.de/picture/224461/948/gdp_kalender2.jpg

https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/img/incoming/crop190229...

It might. But the problem is not only the temp of the water.

If it is overcast, windy and not too warm, it takes a lot of mental strength to engage in the activity.

I am a bit disappointed by the entrace fee of the indoor pools : about € 5. These are municipal pools.

I get up at 5-5:30AM, every day, and walk two miles. I put some effort into the walk. My usual speed is 16 minutes a mile. It used to be less than 15, but I’ve slowed a bit, as I’ve gotten older. Nothing spectacular, but it gets my heart rate up, and I usually break a bit of a sweat.

I wouldn’t call myself a “great thinker,” but I find it useful to do these daily walks.

The walk helps me to clear my mind, and organize the day’s tasks. I generally code every day, so I often use the time to work out a tactical plan for the day’s work. Sometimes, I work out a strategy for a longer term, but it’s usually just a daily plan. I often come up with big pivots, or solve pernicious bugs, during my walk. I work in a very dynamic fashion, with frequent direction changes, during a given project, and tend to be ambitious, in my goals, so I always have problems to solve.

I frequently fix big bugs, right after getting home from a walk. I’ll walk up to the desk, log in, fire up Xcode, and apply the fix. After that, I’ll hit the shower. A standing desk helps a lot, here. Sometimes, I’m at the computer for an hour, before I take my shower.

Yeah, I can be a bit obsessive…

I tried running, a few years ago, but I tended to injure myself, which would result in gaps of up to a month at a go; so walking, it is.

The last couple of days, I’ve had to stay in, because it’s been raining buckets in the morning. I also sometimes need to have breaks in the winter, because snow makes the route downright dangerous.

Otherwise, it’s two miles, at 5:15-6AM, every day. Takes just about a half hour. I don headphones, and play rather mindless techno music (it’s usually the only time during the day, when I listen to music. I don’t listen while working). I also wear what I call my “clown suit,” or bright, reflective clothing, as it tends to be dark, and people drive like crap, in the morning. I suspect a lot of texting and emailing, while driving. Stop signs and lane markers are really just “suggestions.”

I also think personal Discipline is critical to my work and lifestyle. I find that these walks help to reinforce that. I’ve been doing it for years, and have never really come to enjoy them. I feel that it’s good for me to do at least two things, every day, that I don’t want to do. I usually have that covered before 7.

There are other cases / studies that point to similar cognitive improvements through exercise.

There was a case study I read in the book linked below and it indicated that test scores improved dramatically when they had kids exercise before learning. It states that the improvements occurred regardless of physical ability as long as participants aimed to achieve their personal best during exercise.

I can't speak to the quality of the research but it is interesting and does not surprise me.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-...