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Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

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Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#31

Post by ethanbond »

pc86 wrote: post #29
kortex wrote: post #19

> Maximal effects were found for tasks related to executive functions, (i.e., aspects of higher cognition principally associated with the functions of prefrontal cortex). Oh good, exactly what I'm looking for. If only the executive dysfunction didn't mess with my ability to form any kind of stable exercise routine.

I don't say this to sound dismissive, which I think is all too common in discussions like this. If we're talking about aerobic exercise, you don't need to "form" anything. It's a monostructural movement. Buy a treadmill and jog on it for 20 minutes when you wake up. Buy a rower and do 5k every morning, or evening, or over lunch. Get a stationary bike and do 10 minutes on that whenever you remember to do it. This isn'…

You are describing forming a stable routine

I don't think GP meant "routine" as in an elaborate set of exercises, but rather the daily/weekly routine of doing any exercise at all.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#32

Post by sergiosgc »

decafninja wrote: post #8
lagniappe wrote: post #6

Exercise just makes me feel good. To me, that's enough. Its not about a routine, or how I look, it's eustress.

I'm the opposite - exercise makes me feel terrible both physically (exhausting) and mentally (boredom), both during and after. I've never experienced "runner's high" or the similar feeling some people describe from lifting weights. If it wasn't for the health and aesthetic benefits, I'd choose to never to exercise again.

Try different exercises. I abhor running, but love swimming, for example. Group sports are more appealing to some people. Small groups, like padel, pickleball (never played) or tennis (love it). Large groups, like indoor soccer or volleyball.

To each its own, but don't lump exercise into a single class. Try some variety!

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#33

Post by slothtrop »

decafninja wrote: post #8
lagniappe wrote: post #6

Exercise just makes me feel good. To me, that's enough. Its not about a routine, or how I look, it's eustress.

I'm the opposite - exercise makes me feel terrible both physically (exhausting) and mentally (boredom), both during and after. I've never experienced "runner's high" or the similar feeling some people describe from lifting weights. If it wasn't for the health and aesthetic benefits, I'd choose to never to exercise again.

I only experience this with high intensity and when I'm out of shape. Consistent moderate exercise makes me feel pretty good.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#34

Post by diplodinkus »

decafninja wrote: post #8
lagniappe wrote: post #6

Exercise just makes me feel good. To me, that's enough. Its not about a routine, or how I look, it's eustress.

I'm the opposite - exercise makes me feel terrible both physically (exhausting) and mentally (boredom), both during and after. I've never experienced "runner's high" or the similar feeling some people describe from lifting weights. If it wasn't for the health and aesthetic benefits, I'd choose to never to exercise again.

Agreed. Pure agony. Afterwards I am so exhausted that I often find myself at the edge of tears. Worse it seems to turn off my immune system and I often get sick.

But I do have a clearer head for a few hours after a run so I keep doing it.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#35

Post by Der_Einzige »

oldpersonintx wrote: post #5
sigmoid10 wrote: post #2

...in the elderly. And across all tasks it's only half a standard deviation, meaning the result is far from significant. There are lots of good studies on positive effects of exercise in all sorts of ages and populations, but this is not one of them. Edit: Jesus, this thread is proof than HN techies think they know math but actually have no clue about statistics. They are easy prey for this kind of journalism.

your response is proof once again, HN will go through any amount of mental gymnastics to avoid common sense on diet and exercise

I'm pretty sure that HN skews far fatter than average, which is insane to think about since the average tech bro is far LESS fat than the average person.

I imagine the average HN user to look like Richard Stallman.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#36

Post by beepbooptheory »

kortex wrote: post #19

> Maximal effects were found for tasks related to executive functions, (i.e., aspects of higher cognition principally associated with the functions of prefrontal cortex). Oh good, exactly what I'm looking for. If only the executive dysfunction didn't mess with my ability to form any kind of stable exercise routine.

I don't have executive function disorder, but I have found the best thing for me is just, simply, running. You can reduce the friction getting from A to B a lot if from the beginning you resolve to be minimalist about it. Just buy shoes (don't think too much about it, go to running store and get fitted) and shorts, and... thats it. Don't try to get any other products, and don't even worry too much about how you do it. Just run, and measure your runs by time and not distance EDIT: The thing about time vs distance is that helps in running slow, very slow, slower than you think is appropriate, and you should take walking breaks as much as needed. You should not feel uncomfortable/destroyed at the end of a run, and at most minimally uncomfortable during.

The only thing ever stopping you from going out the door and running is putting on shoes and shorts, its easy to form a habit!

Only bad part is you get depressed when you don't get to run.

EDIT: if you suffer from executive dysfunction disorder, this is not good advice, but running is awesome either way and will change your life in a small but significant way if you have the appropriate amount of neuro-typicality.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#37

Post by pc86 »

ethanbond wrote: post #31
pc86 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't say this to sound dismissive, which I think is all too common in discussions like this. If we're talking about aerobic exercise, you don't need to "form" anything. It's a monostructural movement. Buy a treadmill and jog on it for 20 minutes when you wake up. Buy a rower and do 5k every morning, or evening, or over lunch. Get a stationary bike and do 10 minutes on that whenever you remember to do it. This isn'…

You are describing forming a stable routine I don't think GP meant "routine" as in an elaborate set of exercises, but rather the daily/weekly routine of doing any exercise at all.

Maybe. I'm more describing making this important enough to you that you start looking for places to slot it into your day. Yes, a routine will likely form out of that but I think it's secondary to getting you to want to do the thing, which is harder (at least for me).

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#38

Post by sergiosgc »

yieldcrv wrote: post #28
lagniappe wrote: post #6

Exercise just makes me feel good. To me, that's enough. Its not about a routine, or how I look, it's eustress.

I want a substance that tricks my mind into feeling this way about exercise. hold up gym bros! I don't want your technique. I want a drug like Ozympic that alters my behavior towards that lifestyle change.

That substance is exercise itself. Once you get going for a couple of months, you miss it if you skip it.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#39

Post by Etheryte »

tekla wrote: post #21
decafninja wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the opposite - exercise makes me feel terrible both physically (exhausting) and mentally (boredom), both during and after. I've never experienced "runner's high" or the similar feeling some people describe from lifting weights. If it wasn't for the health and aesthetic benefits, I'd choose to never to exercise again.

It changes once you get half decent at it.

This is a silly stance and honestly condescending. Not everyone works the same way you do. I've competed at the national level and I often find the workouts strenuous and boring, not fun. Projecting your own experience onto others is a great way to demotivate, not help them.

Re: Aerobic exercise is good for the brain; easy wins for behaviour change

#40

Post by m3nu »

Been looking into this recently and one really needs 3 types of exercise:

- strength/resistance training: to build and keep muscles; one benefit of which is better stability at age and metabolic regulation.

- high intensity cardio/HIIT/zone 5/95+% max heart rate: to build VO2max, was also shown to reduce arterial plaque.

- normal cardio/zone 2/50-80% max HR: mitochondrial efficiency, fat burning?, endurance, memory (the current link)

Good frequencies seem to be 3x/week for normal cardio and strength, and 1x/week for HIIT.

A fourth could be stability/stretching/yoga-style exercises. I'm doing those on cardio days currently.

Not easy really. Though anything is better than nothing, so don't stress.

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