Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 132 posts

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#81

Post by aphroz »

eitland wrote: post #7

> While widespread strategies to recover from mental exhaustion (i.e., watching TV) are non-effective, I worked for a startup from 2015 to 2017. During that time I'd sometimes work 10-14 hours for 2-3 days in a row. When I was tired after lunch I'd just tell my colleagues I was tired and would take a gaming break and then go play 1 or 2 maps of CS:GO in casual mode before working 5-7 hours more after the brain fog ha…

The idea that "breakfast was the most important meal" was created by cereals manufacturers: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/breakfa...

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#82

Post by herodoturtle »

babyshake wrote: post #78
Grambo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of the fact that Alan Turing was a world class distance runner. He would sometimes run commute 40 miles for meetings.

That's about 1.5 marathons each way for a meeting?

Only if it’s Turing Complete.

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#83

Post by akeck »

sputknick wrote: post #2

Personal 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.

I'm on the top floor so my version is to casually walk up and down 4 flights of stairs 3-4 times and then shower. The entire process takes 15-20 minutes. I feel so much better afterwards.

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#84

Post by arpanet86 »

eitland wrote: post #7

> While widespread strategies to recover from mental exhaustion (i.e., watching TV) are non-effective, I worked for a startup from 2015 to 2017. During that time I'd sometimes work 10-14 hours for 2-3 days in a row. When I was tired after lunch I'd just tell my colleagues I was tired and would take a gaming break and then go play 1 or 2 maps of CS:GO in casual mode before working 5-7 hours more after the brain fog ha…

Sam Blankman-Fried of FTX had a Twitter thread about playing League of Legends during work hours to let his brain reset without dumping all of its context: https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1357123542999916544

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#85

Post by herodoturtle »

sputknick wrote: post #2

Personal 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.

> slam slam balls

At first I didn’t realise this was a verb followed by a noun, and thought to myself “damn, these slam slam balls sound like fun!”

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#86

Post by Someone »

babyshake wrote: post #78
Grambo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of the fact that Alan Turing was a world class distance runner. He would sometimes run commute 40 miles for meetings.

That's about 1.5 marathons each way for a meeting?

Apparently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Cryptanalysis:

While working at Bletchley, Turing, who was a talented long-distance runner, occasionally ran the 40 miles (64 km) to London when he was needed for meetings, and he was capable of world-class marathon standards. Turing tried out for the 1948 British Olympic team, but he was hampered by an injury. His tryout time for the marathon was only 11 minutes slower than British silver medallist Thomas Richards' Olympic race time of 2 hours 35 minutes. He was Walton Athletic Club's best runner, a fact discovered when he passed the group while running alone. When asked why he ran so hard in training he replied:

I have such a stressful job that the only way I can get it out of my mind is by running hard; it’s the only way I can get some release.

That doesn’t say he ran back, to, though. Maybe call that a half-commute?

https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Extras/Turing_running:

Alan Turing ran a little while he was at Sherbourne school, usually when football was cancelled because of bad weather. He did not run while an undergraduate at Cambridge, preferring to row, but once he had won his fellowship to King's College he began to run more seriously, his frequent route being from Cambridge to Ely and back, a distance of around 50 km. He did a little running while at Bletchley but only when he moved to the National Physical Laboratory did he take up running more seriously

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#88

Post by 0xffff2 »

VadimPR wrote: post #38
hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #32

Just 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.

I wish this was a universal truth. I've had various degrees of success maintaining a steady workout routine during various periods of my life, but I universally hate exercising, even during periods where I'm doing it very consistently. After a good workout, I feel exactly the same as I did aside from being a bit more tired.

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#89

Post by hashimotonomora »

hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #32

Just 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.…

Discipline is developed and matured. Religion and stoicism are beneficial.

Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion

#90

Post by fartcannon »

VadimPR wrote: post #38
hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #32

Just 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.

That's not true for everyone. I find the routine of exercise unbearable. It's the primary reason I give up and take months long breaks.

Additionally, do you have kids? Have you ever tried working out and then immediately chasing around a toddler? I regret it every time. The exercise, not the toddler.

Post reply on HN