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Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

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Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#151

Post by OskarS »

begueradj wrote: post #59
bob1029 wrote: post #19

> The author Daniel Lieberman has put it well: Exercise is healthy and rewarding even though it’s something we never evolved to do. We have ostensibly spent much of our evolutionary budget on the ability to run ~indefinitely no matter what. Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. We have c…

> Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. I'm not sure from where you got this because any documentary/book/article and simply real life experiences related to this subject states the opposite (take a common animal such as a dog as an example)

This is not an obscure theory, it's called the "Endurance running hypothesis" [1], and it does seem that humans are one of very few species exceptionally well-adapted to very long-distance running (though dogs and wolves are another one). The idea is that ancient hominids in Africa practiced "persistence hunting"[2], where they would hunt e.g. antelopes and similar species by repeatedly chasing them down. The prey would sprint off when humans got close, but doing this repeatedly causes the animal to exhaust their energy or die of heat stroke, humans being much better adapted to running for many hours on end (this kind of hunting is known to happen to this day). It's plausible that persistence hunting also contributed to evolving our other super-powers, as it requires good spatial awareness, tool-use and communication.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_running_hypothesis

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#152

Post by jcynix »

dusanh wrote: post #69
jcynix wrote: post #61

>Like someone already said: what if you get an injury going to hard at it? There's no need to go hard, even steady walking for 20 minutes a day is healthy. And recent studies show that you don't need to jog or run, walking is almost as efficient and less stressful for your joints. One of the best ways to exercise as long as you aren't a brain in a jar is to use an indoor rowing machine. Rowing will engage about 80% o…

Any recommendations on a rowing machine?

The C2 machine is fine, I use it regularly in a nearby studio besides other training and it's perfect for training. If the studio wouldn't be easily available I would buy a C2. And, by the way, my wife too started to be an avid rower after giving the machine a try.

I was rowing on real boats during my school and university days, but sadly never found the time afterwards to get join a club and row in teams.

Rowing machines with a water container are en vogue, but they are heavier (if filled with water) need regular water maintenance and the training effect isn't better.

Edit: here's a good intro to using such a machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHHy0KpFKvE

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#153

Post by mgaunard »

bad_username wrote: post #76

> That I was born in the capital of the world’s richest country is one of the greatest strokes of luck in my life—a pure accident of timing and gametes. There is no way to pay back this good fortune, and wallowing in guilt over it would do nothing, either. Why in the world does the author have to feel so bad about beibg lucky in some way? How does luck deserve the feeling of guilt? This has to be as unhealthy as exer…

The USA being the richest country is also somewhat debatable, especially when you consider the access to health services for the average citizen.

If we're talking about good fortune, you'd probably be better off being born in Norway or something like that.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#154

Post by _se »

chickenzzzzu wrote: post #77
maccard wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercising wrong is more likely to cause you injury than either of those things. Do a bit, and do it carefully

Such platitudes are legitimately useless as nearly everyone who injured themselves while exercising immediately sees the error in their ways, but that doesn't help them undo the permanent damage they've done

Most people who injure themselves exercising go to PT and then go straight back to exercising because they know how important it is and how good it feels.

You're physically lazy and unmotivated, we get it. Hiding behind "but maybe I can get hurt" is not going to make you better or improve your health. Go do something hard and stop being afraid of living life.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#155

Post by garden_hermit »

begueradj wrote: post #59
bob1029 wrote: post #19

> The author Daniel Lieberman has put it well: Exercise is healthy and rewarding even though it’s something we never evolved to do. We have ostensibly spent much of our evolutionary budget on the ability to run ~indefinitely no matter what. Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. We have c…

> Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. I'm not sure from where you got this because any documentary/book/article and simply real life experiences related to this subject states the opposite (take a common animal such as a dog as an example)

Have you ever went running with a dog? Dogs can go fast over a short distance but they overheat quickly. People just keep on running way past the time the dog has collapsed.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#156

Post by busymom0 »

kccqzy wrote: post #145
busymom0 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best way to make a happy, healthy person into an unhappy, unhealthy person is to keep them lonely and keep them still. That's pretty much what was done during the pandemic unfortunately.

There were no restrictions on running or biking in the pandemic. Quite the opposite. Because indoor entertainment venues like bars weren't available, I saw way more people embracing the outdoors.

I am Canadian. Running, biking etc outdoor activities is impossible in our winters for 5-6 months of the year. Since gyms were closed, we also didn't have access to weight training which is also very essential.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#157

Post by neilv »

bad_username wrote: post #76

> That I was born in the capital of the world’s richest country is one of the greatest strokes of luck in my life—a pure accident of timing and gametes. There is no way to pay back this good fortune, and wallowing in guilt over it would do nothing, either. Why in the world does the author have to feel so bad about beibg lucky in some way? How does luck deserve the feeling of guilt? This has to be as unhealthy as exer…

The writer didn't actually say they feel "guilty" about it, nor that they should feel "guilty" about it.

But that term triggers libertarian sociopaths. Any idea of care for others as a priority threatens their desire to be allowed to take whatever they can.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#158

Post by to11mtm »

siva7 wrote: post #23
LeftHandPath wrote: post #10

The best way to make a happy, healthy person into an unhappy, unhealthy person is to keep them lonely and keep them still. It should come as no surprise that the inverse also tends to hold true. On a tangent, I think that's part of why volunteering can be so rewarding.

> The best way to make a happy, healthy person into an unhappy, unhealthy person is to keep them lonely and keep them still. So becoming a software developer?

This is an interesting comment because I've lived a lot of sides of this.

At my first job (where I kinda 'weaseled' my way into doing software vs my job title) it was an incredibly collaborative experience. It started with finding ways to make tools that helped my colleagues do monotonous tasks faster. Which then evolved into fun dialogue. "Hey can you make a button to do X" and we'd get to talk about it, I'd hack the feature together, hit publish and wait for the team to give feedback. "Oh I got this error" I'd get up and walk over. It wasn't perfect but I was never lonely and only as still as I wanted to be.

At my second gig, It started a little lonely but thankfully the culture was just laid back enough I got to socialize (thankfully it was a shop full of fun and interesting people!).

Third gig, Uggh it was very 'heads down' for most of my time there, nobody liked small talk except the conspiracy theory guy. I learned a lot about what I did and didn't like in company culture there. It did get a little better before I left...

Fourth gig was a dream. It was the second place where I didn't just get to collaborate with my team, but the first place where it was a lot of software engineers. We even had a teams room for nothing but sharing music and it was always heartwarming to see a reply to some obscure tune and someone would reply with something that yes you would absolutely appreciate given what you originally posted. And it was hectic enough that I did get a reputation for being a 'floor runner'.

Fifth Gig... well it was 100% remote. And in fact one day I was so focused on a problem I sat in the wrong position too long and permanently fucked up my left ulnar nerve... But that was such a good group, and Ironically I was able to -take- the lessons from #4 and #2 and turned them into traditions that stuck around even after I left (hell even after they fired everyone, we kept doing the 'game night' for a while...)

Won't say anything about my current place, that's all still a work in progress <_<

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#159

Post by CooCooCaCha »

andrepd wrote: post #114
bad_username wrote: post #76

> That I was born in the capital of the world’s richest country is one of the greatest strokes of luck in my life—a pure accident of timing and gametes. There is no way to pay back this good fortune, and wallowing in guilt over it would do nothing, either. Why in the world does the author have to feel so bad about beibg lucky in some way? How does luck deserve the feeling of guilt? This has to be as unhealthy as exer…

What on earth are you talking about? The text you quote says literally "wallowing in guilt over it would do nothing" and you're asking "How does luck deserve the feeling of guilt?"??? Surely I'm missing something.

Most communication isn’t a legal contract, and a lot of meaning is implicit, not just what is explicitly said.

I’m not saying I agree or disagree with the statements you mentioned, but "wallowing in guilt over it would do nothing" implies wallowing in guilt is a natural or even expected feeling. The person you’re replying to is questioning why someone would wallow in guilt in the first place.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#160

Post by [deleted] »

deadbabe wrote: post #117
tomalaci wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steroids. You will be growing muscle while sitting on a couch, even better than someone that naturally trains. However, you very likely will develop asymetries or other weird complications because you didnt properly work out. My point is that, even though we might find even more ways to improve/modify our bodies, they will come with slew of risks that are just not worth it if you can achieve it naturally. On another…

That's not how steroids work. Muscles need stimulus to grow even with steroids. What steroids do is make your body recover faster so you can train more often and build muscle right away.

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