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Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

derekthompson.org

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Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#181

Post by moltar »

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…

Yeah, I realized this one time while watching a documentary on some tribes hunting methods. They were hunting by running after the animal until it basically dropped from exertion. Hunters didn’t sprint. They paced but continuously and simply followed animals foot prints and droppings. They said these hunters would run for many hours each time. And sometimes they’d even be unsuccessful.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#182

Post by Etheryte »

jonathaneunice wrote: post #133
socalgal2 wrote: post #12

I find it interesting that the article is about exercise and the title picture is yoga. In fact near the top > To a best approximation, aerobic fitness and weight-training seem to increase our metabolism, improve mitochondrial function, fortify our immune system, reduce inflammation, improve tissue-specific adaptations, and protect against disease. Yoga is neither aerobic fitness nor weight training note: I do yoga p…

I do several styles of yoga. Most provide substantial strength training via moving and suspending body weight. All feel like they have exactly the increased heart rate of aerobic exercise. Flowing e.g. from standing to high plank to low plank to cobra to downward dog and back to standing N times in a row is quite the workout. Maybe there are gentle, stretching-only forms that would not, but I haven't found them. Slow…

I think you might've misunderstood the parent comment. Yoga is exercise, no one doubts that, but it specifically is not aerobic exercise (like running) and it is not weight lifting (like gym).

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#183

Post by PsylentKnight »

throwaway078315 wrote: post #177
sharkweek wrote: post #20

I can directly tie my mood to how much exercise I’ve had in a given week. It’s also easy, given how busy life feels, to let the proverbial frog boil in water when it comes to this. My partner often comments when I’ve been a little grumpier than usual by saying, “you should go on a bike ride.” It really works wonders on the soul (and the more physical heart and lungs) getting out for a spin in the fresh air.

i keep up exercise for health reasons and because i do have a higher energy level if i'm in better shape. however, both during and for two or three hours after exercising, the emotional effect is very negative. i feel much more anxious, prone to negative thoughts, self-critical, pessimistic, sometimes angry. the benefits are definitely real but I feel like I am paying a very large cost to get them. i've tried lots of…

Have you tried eating a snack after? Maybe you're hangry

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#184

Post by Etheryte »

to11mtm wrote: post #158
siva7 wrote: post #23

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. 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 th…

Not that you asked, but physios have some great exercises for ulnar nerve issues, it might be worth seeing one if you haven't already.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#185

Post by [deleted] »

maccard wrote: post #179
retrac wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do work that way. Lots of studies show gains in muscle mass even with no excercise when people are on steroids. Consider average men who never excercise vs average women who never excercise. The men will have more muscle. That's what testosterone does, among other things. That's part of why steroids were and sometimes still are used medically for people with cancer and other wasting diseases. It makes them eat m…

Steroids are usually given to reduce inflammation and as immunosuppressants to stop the body from fighting back against whatever treatment is being given. The main method of weight gain with prednisone (the most common steroid) is water retention. Anabolic steroids are not commonly prescribed to cancer patients. Cortico steroids usually result in muscle mass loss.

[deleted]

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#186

Post by PsylentKnight »

fsiefken wrote: post #51
endoblast wrote: post #24

I go for a decent walk most days and it doesn't require effort or get boring. It goes well with listening to headphones and relaxing the eyes on the horizon plus seeing a bit of nature and humanity in action. This does me a lot of good however the only upper body exercise I get is playing the piano! I can't see myself joining a gym or doing press-ups reliably in the long-term. I need to find a suitable hobby which ha…

VR boxing, sword fights or tennis. Synthriders is very nice

In this vein, Ring Fit Adventure is pretty cool if you have a Switch

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#187

Post by majewsky »

david-gpu wrote: post #149
kccqzy wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Riding a bike lifts my mood certainly but it doesn't let me experience my neighborhood. I zoom past the neighborhood and at 15mph you can hardly experience it. You might have some vague ideas about architectural styles in the neighborhood but that's it. If the neighborhood has shops, you can't easily visit them without first parking the bike. You need to walk to really experience a neighborhood.

Nothing is forcing you to ride at 15mph. Walking doesn't let you go very far in a reasonable amount of time, either, and I'm one of those 10K steps a day sort of people.

> Walking doesn't let you go very far in a reasonable amount of time, either

Earlier today, I walked across several neighborhoods and through an entire large park to get to the city center for some shopping, all in the span of 40 minutes. If you feel like walking is ineffective at getting you places, you may want to consider advocating for walkable cities.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#188

Post by wredcoll »

pmarreck wrote: post #30
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…

> Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level My flat feet (and those of my mom, and those of one of her parents, ad infinitum) would beg to differ lol Also, most of the energy our bodies burn to run just turns into heat, it's all very inefficient... even if sweating itself works pretty well, and even if our heat tolerance is high assuming we have a source of fresh water

We're optimized for walking, not sprinting.

And if you think our moving->sweating is bad, check out horses and dogs.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#189

Post by terribleperson »

PsylentKnight wrote: post #183
throwaway078315 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i keep up exercise for health reasons and because i do have a higher energy level if i'm in better shape. however, both during and for two or three hours after exercising, the emotional effect is very negative. i feel much more anxious, prone to negative thoughts, self-critical, pessimistic, sometimes angry. the benefits are definitely real but I feel like I am paying a very large cost to get them. i've tried lots of…

Have you tried eating a snack after? Maybe you're hangry

This is actually good advice. Some people respond very, very poorly to being hungry and I've noticed some of them aren't aware of it.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#190

Post by terribleperson »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #83
kstrauser wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife's a podiatrist. I can conjure what I've heard her tell a thousand people over the years: invest in arch supports. Shoot for the ones that run about $50 and are rigid. Don't start with the $500 custom ones, and skip the $10 soft ones you see at the pharmacy. Go to REI or a running shop or a sporting goods store and get those instead. My knees freaking killed me when I was running. I started using the supports…

AND YOU DON'T NEED TO RUN to start with. And if you are overweight and sedentary DON'T RUN TO GET INTO SHAPE. Walking, hiking, swimming, biking, and weight training. Mix all of it so you get cross training effects and distribute stress across many domains. Running is, by the standards of the statistical hole America is in terms of obesity, an "advanced" activity. We're talking about something that involves a stress i…

It can be really hard to get cardio without running. I still agree despite that.
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