Would this support the idea of exercising at the end of day vs early morning ? ( if you have to choose one )
Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
31–40 of 132 posts
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#32Just browsed through the Abstract. Some unrelated thoughts:
I think the issue that most people won't gather up the will to do aerobic exercise after they are mentally exhausted -- even that they know it works to some extent.
Following this, I believe, without scientific proof, that genius (or others who can contribute significantly more than other people) have their mind wired completely different from other people. For example, I know people who are super smart, super energetic, and (in the context of OP article) can switch between tasks efficiently. They don't seem to need cooldown, they always have the will to do something as long as they know it's good for them. In one sentence, they are more like machines.
I wonder if there is a way for ordinary people to achieve that "machine-like" mentality. I'm curious to learn from your experience if you are able to grow from a "weak-minded" people to a "strong-will" one, however painfully. So far I haven't seen one example.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#33If I understand the paper correctly, I have been doing the right thing with biking to the office every day :-). My bike ride takes about 24 minutes one way. I have always looked for jobs at a biking distance from my home.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#34I often think the the imbalance between mental effort and physical effort in modern office jobs causes a lot of problems. Some of my happiest days were when I trained boxing and weights 2 hours six times a week. It's hard to be depressed or anxious when you are physically exhausted and the feeling of physical strength just makes you feel better. Working out to the point of exhaustion feels like a "reset" for body and…
My experience working on movies was lots of time on the road (cumulatively, months of the year) and lots of standing around. This might be different if you were working exclusively in a studio; some roles are certainly more physical than others, of course.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#35When the article talks about "mental exhaustion", it is talking about short-term mental fatigue from the likes of working too long on a mental task. It is not talking about chronic fatigue or burnout due to chronic stress, or ME/CFS, for which exercise may cause worsening of symptoms. In that case stress reduction is likely the better solution, and exercise managed so you are not doing too little or too much. Making…
can you explain what is ME/CFS and how you recovered ?
ME/CFS is a chronic condition characterized by debilitating fatigue and, specifically, post-exertional malaise. Patients who suffer from ME/CFS will have very debilitating negative reactions to any exertion past a certain threshold. The negative reaction can be delayed by 24 hours in some and it can be severe enough to make jobs or daily activities anywhere from difficult to nearly impossible.
Importantly, the delayed worsening can clearly be measured by light exercise testing. It isn’t the same as normal post-exercise recovery or soreness. It’s far worse and can even be triggered by strenuous mental activity (perhaps energy expenditure in general).
For many, it has a distinct viral trigger. They can be fine and healthy one week, then become chronic CFS sufferers after an infection with a number of notable viruses (EBV is common).
Sound familiar? It has a lot of parallels to “Long COVID”, but it just never got the same attention because it’s not attached to a global pandemic in the 24/7 news cycle.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#36One of the single biggest errors I’ve had to unlearn being taught in my life is that “exercise is for the body and mainly for athletes” instead of (or perhaps along with) “exercise is also for the mind if you’re a nerd” ;) (Naturally, the mind is part of the body, but the mental benefits are drastically under-emphasized!) Morning exercise a few times a week (at Orangetheory, in my case) lead to fairly large productiv…
As the Roman poet Juvenal once wrote: "Mens sana in corpore sano"
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#37Personal Anecdote: when I was in an office (before current WFH) and I was mentally exhausted I would go down to the gym, slam slam balls into the floor for 2 minutes without stopping, maybe take a 30 second cold shower, then return to work. Super refreshing and I was gone from my desk a grand total of like 8 minutes.
[deleted]
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#38Just browsed through the Abstract. Some unrelated thoughts: I think the issue that most people won't gather up the will to do aerobic exercise after they are mentally exhausted -- even that they know it works to some extent. Following this, I believe, without scientific proof, that genius (or others who can contribute significantly more than other people) have their mind wired completely different from other people.…
Routines do wonders. It's only hard the first few times, afterwards it becomes second nature to go and workout after work. It also helps that I've never, ever regretted doing a workout - you always feel amazing.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#3930 minutes of aerobic exercise for 1 hour of mental work is what was assessed. Does it have the same benefits if we have 8 hours of mental work instead?
Anecdotal of course, but when I used to commute daily by bike, the 30 minute ride in the evening would dissipate the brain fog enough to let me work on side projects almost every day until 2am or so, and the morning ride would wake me up from the slight sleep deprivation. So 1 hour bike (both ways) per 12 or so hours of work (including the "night shift").
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#40My most effective method for relieving brain fog is doing a few songs in beat saber @ PSVR, works surprisingly well and hasn't failed me so far.
If I feel sluggish and in a generally negative mood on a day when we're having friends or family over for dinner or whatever, my wife makes me play beat saber and it really does help a lot!
My ADHD can make it hard for me to just boot up the playstation, even if I need it and I know it will help, so having a loving wife is great too :)