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How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#2

Post by jmtame »

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to focus as strongly as in the morning (I usually skip breakfast or eat light).

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#4

Post by durakot »

jmtame wrote: post #2

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to foc…

You never know, Gabe, Linus and Steve might be EVEN SMARTER if they lost a few pounds.

Who knows, Half Life 3 could even arrive sooner.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#5

Post by ekianjo »

jmtame wrote: post #2

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to foc…

Steve was not fat when he was young. ANd that's when he was at his best. But hey, I agree with your comment, it's a dubious claim at best.

Is Linus obese by the way ?

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#6

Post by jmtame »

durakot wrote: post #4
jmtame wrote: post #2

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to foc…

You never know, Gabe, Linus and Steve might be EVEN SMARTER if they lost a few pounds. Who knows, Half Life 3 could even arrive sooner.

You're probably being facetious, but yeah it could all be relative and we don't really know. Wonder if there's any reason they haven't tried this experiment on humans.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#8

Post by onedev »

jmtame wrote: post #2

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to foc…

I don't think they're concluding "Fat people aren't exceptionally intelligent" or "Fat people aren't as smart as lean people".

What they found at the core of the study was that something in the fat cells was, in some way, contributing to decreased cognitive abilities.

So going along the lines of your initial thought, we can entertain the idea that "Newell, Torvalds, or Wozniak would have even higher cognitive performance than they already have if they exercised everyday and reduced their store of fat cells". That's more in line with what the article was suggesting.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#9

Post by NAFV_P »

ekianjo wrote: post #5
jmtame wrote: post #2

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to foc…

Steve was not fat when he was young. ANd that's when he was at his best. But hey, I agree with your comment, it's a dubious claim at best. Is Linus obese by the way ?

> Is Linus obese by the way ?

Are you referring to his ego?

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