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What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

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Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#11

Post by tryitnow »

krrrh wrote: post #5

The book Spark by John Ratey is a decent read for anyone who wants to go more in-depth on this topic. The big idea that Ratey tries to get across is a reframing of exercise as something that is essential to mental health, with positive physical side-effects. There's been a lot of work recently tying exercise to increased neuroplatisity that's covered as well.

I like this reframing. I've used it as my primary motivator for engaging in aerobic exercise.

I used to struggle to jog a mile at a slow pace, now I'm training for a marathon.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#12

Post by dlo »

mbesto wrote: post #7

A year and a half ago I started doing triathlons and moved all the way up to doing a full Ironman this year. Due to the amount of training involved it's an awesome motivator to get you in shape and control your daily plan. Highly recommend it (even if just doing sprint/olympic/half distance) to anyone looking for a structured approach to staying healthy. I also think it's a great way for entrepreneurs to exercise the…

I wholeheartedly agree that exercise increases the ability to focus at work. I would even go as far to say that people who are not doing it are leaving some latent ability at the table. This is also true of sleep and nutrition, not just exercise.

I do want to remark briefly on what is admittedly a minor point that you made, namely that triathlons are highly recommended "... even if just doing sprint/olympic/half distance." It is a common misconception that the longer the distance, the more difficult or meritorious it is to complete. However, this is not true: It is not the case that one races an Ironman at the same intensity that s/he would for, say, a sprint-distance triathlon; rather, in order to last the entire duration of the longer distance, s/he is racing less intensely. (A person who performs a sprint-distance triathlon at the intensity s/he can hold for an entire Ironman is not racing the distance.)

Let's go to running for a concrete example. A topnotch overall pace in the marathon is 4:50/mile. But a miler will run a single mile in 3:50, a whole minute faster than marathon pace. (Note that these are typical competitive times rather than world-record times.)

With all this said, I would be remiss not to say that I agree with the overall sentiment that one should take baby steps rather than brashly pursuing unreasonable goals.

In response to your final question, I haven't done triathlons since college. At the moment, I am working on getting into shape to finally break 5:00 for the mile run. Next up is breaking 1:00 in the 100-meter swim. I'm still figuring out what a reasonable goal is for cycling... maybe 5 miles in 10 min.?

After I have all the pieces, I'll put them together and start doing triathlons again :-).

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#13

Post by wtvanhest »

tryitnow wrote: post #10
mbesto wrote: post #7

A year and a half ago I started doing triathlons and moved all the way up to doing a full Ironman this year. Due to the amount of training involved it's an awesome motivator to get you in shape and control your daily plan. Highly recommend it (even if just doing sprint/olympic/half distance) to anyone looking for a structured approach to staying healthy. I also think it's a great way for entrepreneurs to exercise the…

I don't do triathlons because of the time commitment involved. I'm training for a marathon and that's a big enough commitment. I still think the best way to learn to be an entrepreneur is to be an entrepreneur. If you enjoy a specific sport or activity, enjoy it for it's own merits. Rarely do things like marathons or Ironman or sports make sense just as ways to keep in shape - unless that's the only thing that will m…

I do sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. A marathon takes far more time to get ready for than an equivalent time length triathlon because you just need to be pretty good at 3 sports rather than really well trained at 1.

The downside of triathlons is the expense, bike, gear, shoes, wetsuit (in most areas), etc.

I agree with your point about it getting you ready to be an entrepreneur. The plus side is that staying in shape makes me better at everything.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#14

Post by trafficlight »

enraged_camel wrote: post #9
ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #8

Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts. I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it's because I am not a "I'm going to start working out and dieting" type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don't "diet", I just try to eat healthy in general. I don't have a "work…

I use the Fitocracy iPhone app to keep track of the weight and number of reps for each exercise. It helps me push myself to get better. For example, if I deadlifted 300lbs for 5 reps last week, then this week I shoot for 305 x 5. I find that this type of tracking is the only reliable way to make progress. Plus, it's great motivation.

My wife is obsessed with Fitocracy. She hates missing a workout, and, because of her, I consistently go to the gym, too.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#15

Post by dorkrawk »

ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #8

Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts. I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it's because I am not a "I'm going to start working out and dieting" type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don't "diet", I just try to eat healthy in general. I don't have a "work…

I use Fitocracy mainly to track my running, but also for some other workouts here and there. I just like having the historical data of how far and how fast I'm going each run (in fact I wrote a simple API to get at my run info out of Fitocracy: https://github.com/dorkrawk/unofficial-fitocracy-runs-api ). When I'm training for a race I have an idea of what I need to be doing each week so it's nice to have that data in one place. I also appreciate seeing what my friends are doing because it acts as a motivator for me to not slack off.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#16

Post by brown9-2 »

ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #8

Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts. I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it's because I am not a "I'm going to start working out and dieting" type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don't "diet", I just try to eat healthy in general. I don't have a "work…

People that keeps logs tend to be those that want to focus on increasing the difficulty of their workout over time - progress in how much weight you can lift in a certain exercise, etc.

It's no surprise that if progression is not your goal then logging is not for you.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#17

Post by bazzargh »

Endorphins? Where's the link to the science?

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--1102-...

quote:

  "I believe this endorphin in runners is a total fantasy 
  in the pop culture," said psychobiologist Huda Akil, Ph.D.,
  from the University of Michigan.

  The endorphin theory had several problems, the most serious
  being that endorphins are too large to pass through the
  blood-brain barrier that border-patrols your gray matter.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#18

Post by dlo »

tryitnow wrote: post #10
mbesto wrote: post #7

A year and a half ago I started doing triathlons and moved all the way up to doing a full Ironman this year. Due to the amount of training involved it's an awesome motivator to get you in shape and control your daily plan. Highly recommend it (even if just doing sprint/olympic/half distance) to anyone looking for a structured approach to staying healthy. I also think it's a great way for entrepreneurs to exercise the…

I don't do triathlons because of the time commitment involved. I'm training for a marathon and that's a big enough commitment. I still think the best way to learn to be an entrepreneur is to be an entrepreneur. If you enjoy a specific sport or activity, enjoy it for it's own merits. Rarely do things like marathons or Ironman or sports make sense just as ways to keep in shape - unless that's the only thing that will m…

Triathlon training really isn't just tacking together the training you would do for all three sports; this would be impossible. Instead, it is doing the same amount of training as you would do if you were doing one of the three sports exclusively. But in the same amount of training, you are training to perform three sports rather than one.

This necessarily means that a triathlete is not performing to his/her ability in any single sport. For example, a good time for the marathon portion of an Ironman is 2:40-2:50, but a competitive marathon time is 2:05 or faster. Just to add additional perspective, a good marathon time for an amateur runner is 2:30, faster than what a topnotch triathlete would be expected to pull off.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#19

Post by jpxxx »

aezell wrote: post #2

The anecdotal evidence in my personal case which supports the ideas in this blog post is overwhelming. Having started an exercise and diet regimen a few months ago, I have noticed a vast improvement not just in physical health but in mental health. I feel brighter (not in the intelligence sense but in the photonic sense). That is, I feel like I'm pushing positive energy out into the world instead of negative energy.…

I like how you put this, I feel the same way. It's like having the sludge drained out of your head.

Re: What happens to our brains when we exercise and how it makes us happier

#20

Post by foldingstock »

ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #8

Good post, but I think there is too much emphasis in general on tracking and logging workouts. I find the whole tracking and logging weights, reps and feelings while working out to be daunting and pointless. Maybe it's because I am not a "I'm going to start working out and dieting" type person, rather I just live a healthy lifestyle by design. I don't "diet", I just try to eat healthy in general. I don't have a "work…

"That which gets measured, gets done."

I find that by logging workouts and measuring progress, I am much more likely to improve and know by how much I improved. Logging workouts can also save time. By logging my workouts, I know exactly what my target goals are for my next workout, so I can get in and get it over with instead of wasting time doing what "feels right" at the time. This works great for me, but YMMV.

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