Certainly 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 machine for instance. Second: Anyone can do it, at nearly any age with any body type. If you're older and not super athletic, your Jiu Jitsu will be different than say a 20yo who is very athletic. But that in no way means your Jiu Jitsu or experience will be any less effective. First time posting on HN. Hope this helps someone.
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
#22I 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…
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!
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#23It’s a bit cliche at this point thanks to people like Joe Rogan, but Jiu Jitsu is, imo, the best possible form of exercise.
It’s not only physically exhausting, it’s also mentally very difficult. And not just because it requires deep levels of knowledge to be good, but it also resets any preconceived notions of strength. It’s not uncommon for a new white belt male that weighs 200lbs to get absolutely waxed by a 100lbs brown belt female. I see it happen all the time. Of course, as you belt up, and gain more understanding of the sport, there are ways to utilize a size and strength advantages. But that’s secondary to knowledge.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#24The article does not answer the question. (I don't believe there is a straightforward best answer but the article does not so much as make a conjecture beyond the most obvious prerequisites.)
It's burried in the article, but it's there: exact type doesn't matter, higher intensity / making you breath harder is better, dimminishing returns above 2.5 hours per week.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#25[deleted]
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#26I like mountain biking on very technical tracks, I can't really think of anything other than the track, it requires full attention. I like that. Put me on a speed cycle (not sure what the English word is), it gets boring, my mind starts to wander, I don't even remember what route I took.
Exactly, there’s something about the forced attention. I’ve upgraded my flat-bottom touring kayak to a faster one that’s kind of narrow and tippy and it forces me to think about my technique and movement a lot. Compared to my older boat, the trips have gotten much less sightsee-y but at the same time more relaxing.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#27Nobody mentioning rock climbing? Come on, I bet half of Hacker News partakes in it
Sounds like a hugely echo bubbly view of the popularity of rock climbing and the HN demographic
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#28I 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…
> suffer to one degree or another from thinking of themselves as a brain being carried around as a meat sack
This was me for most of my life.
Yoga has been life changing. Cultivating full body awareness and presence opened my eyes to states of being that I didn’t know I was capable of experiencing.
I can feel the subtle changes in strength each day, or a touch of soreness, or the exact spot that anxiety has settled into in my gut.
Gaining the level of focus needed brought with it a deeper and broader awareness of my emotional states, and the realization that I have some separation from them, i.e. they != me. This in turn helped me unwind some big things I’d been dealing with in therapy.
In retrospect, it makes so much sense to think of my body as an integral part of who I am and how I feel.
But that’s a mode of thinking that I was certainly never introduced to as a kid, and never experienced by default.
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#29I’d never seen “an overview of systematic reviews” before — I would have thought this was already common sense, but it should be now more than ever. I was a little confused about the “less is better” part of the article. I think it just meant diminishing returns with more exercise, but it says that less is actually better.
Well, aside from diminishing returns, there are also injuries, physical stress, and other issues with going too much...
Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression
#30I’d never seen “an overview of systematic reviews” before — I would have thought this was already common sense, but it should be now more than ever. I was a little confused about the “less is better” part of the article. I think it just meant diminishing returns with more exercise, but it says that less is actually better.
WHO recommends at least an hour of moderate+ activity per day which virtually nobody with an office job in the 1st world manages to do. The notion that you could accidentally do too much exercise is ridiculous unless you go all-in-gym-bro.
>virtually nobody with an office job in the 1st world manages to do
An hour or more of moderate activity per day? Dunno about that impossibility of one hour. Perhaps you're talking about some hectic Amazon-style working environmen,t or people that just had babies, or commute for 1 hours each way?