The benefits of exercise are abundant and I don't know many that would argue against that. If exercise is so beneficial to the whole being, why is it such a difficult thing for us to implement regularly on a long-term basis? Even during periods of life where I've been in a good routine with working out, there still seems to be some sort of internal resistance to going to "do the thing."
A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
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Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#112The benefits of exercise are abundant and I don't know many that would argue against that. If exercise is so beneficial to the whole being, why is it such a difficult thing for us to implement regularly on a long-term basis? Even during periods of life where I've been in a good routine with working out, there still seems to be some sort of internal resistance to going to "do the thing."
Because most exercise is both repetitive and boring, and people tend to have continued interest in new novelty
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#113I’ve had major clinical depression for the last 15 years or so. The first 4 months of this year was the lowest I’ve ever been. During that time though I was going to the gym 6 days a week doing weight lifting and then I would cycle 50km a day on top of that. All of it was on autopilot however, my depression just wouldn’t allow me to focus on anything but it. Luckily I had been building up the habit for years in advan…
Sorry to hear that. I guess you experienced major setbacks in your life this year?
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t get it. what do you mean by “ brain being carried around as a meat sack”? >> Any exercise where you think about your body as “you” what does it mean to think of my body as me? and can you provide examples of these exercises? thank you!
A lot of people feel like “they” are somewhere inside their head. They look out at the world through eyes that are windows. The world is out there, “I” am in here. In this undefined black hole of “me”, mysterious, but definitely separate from the world and what’s “out there” past one’s eyes. They feel like their bodies are just the mechanical thing that carries them around. They don’t think of the systemic impact of…
When I was a young distance runner I was in such good shape that, when not tired from a workout, moving around the world was essentially effortless. Its kind of like playing a first person shooter and very easy to feel like your body is just some abstract tool. In contrast having a minor injury causing you to limp or something is very grounding, forcing you to focus on walking carefully and not have to hurry for anyone.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like a hugely echo bubbly view of the popularity of rock climbing and the HN demographic
Indoor climbers are all software engineers in some cities. In Seattle and San Francisco in particular, nearly everyone I meet there is also a software engineer. The gyms are so expensive that they are the only ones who can afford it with FAANG subsidies. Outdoor though you're right, totally different demographic and very few of them are software engineers.
This is what turned me off from rock climbing. I couldn’t handle the monoculture version of it in the Bay.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#116I don’t know if this has changed for younger generations, but a lot of people, particularly those in intellectual pursuits, suffer to one degree or another from thinking of themselves as a brain being carried around as a meat sack. We are learning more about mind body connections and this is very not true (the ways the vagus nerve can totally fuck with your mental state is terrifying, and there are people with dysfun…
The thing that made me transition from a mindset of “I have a body” to “I am a body”, was actually Zen meditation. This was surprising to me. Before I tried it, I thought of meditation as a purely mental thing, I didn’t expect that the first really noticeable effect of regular meditation would be a changed relationship to my body, Much later I discovered contemporary dance, quit my phd in machine learning and became…
I appreciate your story and at the same time I don't agree with fully identifying with just the body.
In fact in my yogic training, we learned to apply the 'i have' vs 'i am' as much as possible - directly opposite of what you are saying.
As someone growing religiously right now, I like the framework of the body being a vehicle for the soul (or at least, the mind) resonates a lot more.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#1172.5 hours a week is insanely low for any young person in good health. I'm positive that at least 8-12 hours of determined, physically intensive training compared to a measly 2.5 hours of "exercise" per week will do a hell of a lot better for anyone's mental health than treating the usage of one's body as somehow secondary to the "knowledge based" work we're all forced to do to make a decent living in modern society.
The latest recommendation is at least 16 hours of at least moderate physical activity per day. Basically, be moving from the time you wake up to the time you sleep, like our ancient ancestors. Turns out that's what the body evolved to optimize for.
Problem?
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#118Exercise is the best drug there is. When you hurt afterwards, it's not your body saying, "do that less." It's your body saying "do that more!"
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Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#119Certainly can't speak for everyone, but the most effective form of exercise that I have found is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Couple of reasons. First: The deeper you get into it the more you learn its primarily an intellectual pursuit - its just hidden in a very physical endeavor. When I'm doing Jiu Jitsu, I have to actively think, engage my problem solving skills, I can't go on auto pilot as I do in other things - rowing m…
This seems to be all the rage right now but there is a significant risk of CTE with BJJ. Concussions are normalized to an alarming degree among all BJJ practitioners I’ve spoken with.
It all depends on how you train. WRT CTE/Concussions, I can't speak to that. No one I've trained with has had that issue, maybe that's more of an MMA thing - ie striking. If you go 100% full competition all the time and never want to tap out - then yes I would agree there is significant risk of injury. But that's true with any physical endeavor. If you instead train with the long run in mind, pick and choose your rolling partners, and tap out when you're not in a good situation then you can mitigate those risks quite successfully. Having weight trained, ran track and trained BJJ, I've had far more injuries in weight training + track despite having far more time on the mats than weight training and track by a very large margin. We're taught in my academy - you are accountable for your own safety. Just tap, come back another day. Fully understand and admit not all schools are the same.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#120I don’t know if this has changed for younger generations, but a lot of people, particularly those in intellectual pursuits, suffer to one degree or another from thinking of themselves as a brain being carried around as a meat sack. We are learning more about mind body connections and this is very not true (the ways the vagus nerve can totally fuck with your mental state is terrifying, and there are people with dysfun…
Reminds me of a quote
“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.” — Thucydides