Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's about 1.5 marathons each way for a meeting?
Only if it’s Turing Complete.
Turing Compete?
Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
111–120 of 132 posts
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#112Personal 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.
A heavy bag nearby is almost ideal too.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#113What is the exercise to do? Jumping jacks? Pushups?
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not just anecdotal, see "Why Do Rich People Love Endurance Sports?" discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19016362 > I was just now diagnosed with ADHD as an adult in my mid twenties. My diagnosis probably took so long because I've been "self medicating" with exercise for the last ~10-15 years. Also, Jesus. It's as if ADHD is a manufactured diagnosis to pathologize a healthy response to living conditions…
Amen. Another documentary comes to mind: The Alpinist (on Amazon). It follows a Canadian climber who ‘solved’ his ADHD by becoming one of the world’s best mountain climbers. Funnily enough, his climbing style was smooth, controlled and relaxed. At a desk, he couldn’t sit still.
How often did he have to climb in order to sit still for a little while? Wondering if I need to exercise 5x a week now in order to concentrate.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#115Entirely anecdotal, but a lot of professional endurance sports athletes / ultra distance athletes are also high performing PhD candidates/professors/academics. It's kind of weird - if you watch the documentary about the Barkley Marathons, the winners are usually some kind of math/engineering PhD candidate. Another anecdote - As a kid I was "hyperactive" and struggled a lot in school until my freshman year. Coincident…
Not just anecdotal, see "Why Do Rich People Love Endurance Sports?" discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19016362 > I was just now diagnosed with ADHD as an adult in my mid twenties. My diagnosis probably took so long because I've been "self medicating" with exercise for the last ~10-15 years. Also, Jesus. It's as if ADHD is a manufactured diagnosis to pathologize a healthy response to living conditions…
> It's as if ADHD is a manufactured diagnosis to pathologize a healthy response to living conditions humans should find intolerable: sitting at a desk all day. I won't link to Born to Run, but it's easy to see that pre-industrial humans (i.e. 99% of the homo sapiens lifestyle) had lives full of physical activity. We call exercise "self-medication" when it is really a sick society that we should address.
I'd love for this to be true but all the evidence we have is that it is not true. I don't know if you're diagnosed with ADHD yourself or not, but as someone diagnosed with ADHD this sounds like a cool fantasy. I've also heard people say "well it's just cellphones and TikTok giving everyone ADHD, people just need to practice focusing". I grew up playing ~3 sports at any one time year round, with plenty of outdoor physical activity, running around the neighbourhood. I read books constantly, had very little access to computers, no access to cellphones. I also had terrible ADHD symptoms my whole life, and the only thing that helps reduce the symptoms effectively is medication. I have plenty of coping mechanisms that help but they are not preventative.
I would love not to take medication, as I'm generally averse to taking medication unnecessarily. It's the only thing that lets me choose to work on the things I want to work on, whether chores, listening to people, projects at my job or in my personal life.
The scientific evidence we have about ADHD is that it's highly heritable, that there are clear physical differences in size of certain parts of the brain in people with diagnosed ADHD, and that some children grow out of it as those parts of their brain catch up. It's one of the best examples we have of a disorder with clear physical causes, and the mechanism of the medications we have is also one of the best understood of all brain disorders. It's a dream to suggest it is just some hunter-mode human capability that modern society doesn't have a place for.
It sucks to have it and I wish I didn't, and that's because I want to be able to pay attention to the people I love when they talk to me, not because of some desire to be a perfect cog in a corporation that wouldn't exist in pre-industrial society.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Super sets of 80+ reps is definitely cardio, especially on legs day.
What's your heart rate after the first 20 or so? If it's beyond 70% max heart rate, you are likely going anaerobic, muscles and heart start switch from fat to glycogen to ATP as the demand increases. It's like a runner doing "speed work" on a track. First 800 relatively "easy". By the eight repeat, not so much.
You’re absolutely right. It surprised me the first time I wore a heart rate monitor for a near max effort deadlift. Maxed out my heart rate in a mere five reps.
On the other hand I’ve done high rep air squats and while I wasn’t wearing a monitor, it felt very much like the cardio zone.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#11730 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").
The thing I miss most about working from home for 2 years now are the bike commutes. But on the other hand I hate exercise and contrary to what most sibling comments were writing I don't believe in workouts and exercises making you feel better. People are different, and for me only cycling works - and hiking, but I guess that comes with fresh air and being away from the city, and it's not something that is doable in short spurts.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amen. Another documentary comes to mind: The Alpinist (on Amazon). It follows a Canadian climber who ‘solved’ his ADHD by becoming one of the world’s best mountain climbers. Funnily enough, his climbing style was smooth, controlled and relaxed. At a desk, he couldn’t sit still.
How often did he have to climb in order to sit still for a little while? Wondering if I need to exercise 5x a week now in order to concentrate.
The guy was living in a stairwell in a climbing town without a job, so I think "constantly" is a fair guess.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#119When 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…
ME/CFS is defined by post-exertional malaise, so by definition it wouldn’t be improved by exertion. Burnout, however, does tend to respond positively to exercise over time. Burnout and ME/CFS are very different conditions. > Making this comment because I suffered (and recovered from) ME/CFS myself. How were you able to recover from ME/CFS? It seems spontaneous recovery does happen to some, though for others it is a c…
>ME/CFS is defined by post-exertional malaise, so by definition it wouldn’t be improved by exertion.
That's not quite true, because it isn't all exertion that causes PEM. Generally it is only doing too much that triggers it.
Re: Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion
#120When 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 ?
My ME/CFS was triggered by a combination of viral infection and various other life stressors. I recovered by removing all the stressors (including quitting my job), then gradually building up my life again with positive uplifting activities and goals. Somewhat similar to Fred Friedberg's protocol.
http://www.cfsselfhelp.org/library/fred-friedberg%2525E2%252...
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/dr-friedberg-intervi...