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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

#221

I walk to the store when it's reasonable. I wasn't top tier at it, but the most exercise I could tolerate was playing DDR, because there was a game to it that isn't just physical activity. These kinds of articles are always annoying because it invites a certain kind of person who will gush unendingly about how great exerting yourself is. For me, exerting myself sucks, it is only something I want to do when it's attac…

I agree that it's very annoying when people give you advice that you have no intention of following, and them being "right" only makes it more annoying.

For me, past age 40, it was transformative finding a neurodivergent personal trainer and getting into weightlifting (yes, this is a cliche, everyone is doing it). Having an appointment and working with somebody makes me actually do it.

It's not always euphoric. I would like to make the too-obvious point that exercise is often really tiring. But the feeling of power and capability can be really valuable at times, even if it's fragile and physically contingent.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#222
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One really cool question for people is, where do you feel 'you' are - where the core of you are physically. For many people 'you' is like a tension point in your head just behind the eyes. For me it is more in the middle of my chest. This is considered odd in the western world but it is not unheard of. I am not my mind, I am not my ego, I am but a wave in the universe, it comes - it goes it will pass - enjoy it for a…

That question doesn't even make sense, and I don't understand your reference to the western world. All points in my body are equally part of 'me'.

> All points in my body are equally part of 'me'.

That's a reasonable belief, but some people do not feel that way.

If I had my foot amputated am i still me? If i had my mind transplanted into a different body am I still me? etc. I doubt there are any good answers that are more logical than "I feel this to be true".

> I don't understand your reference to the western world

Some religions believe that people have a soul that is separate from the body, which contains a person's essence (And say, goes up to heaven when they die or otherwise continues on after death). Even among people who don't buy that, it sets the stage (even perhaps just subconciously) for other dualist beliefs where the body is separate from your "essence" (however you want to define that)

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#223

I walk to the store when it's reasonable. I wasn't top tier at it, but the most exercise I could tolerate was playing DDR, because there was a game to it that isn't just physical activity. These kinds of articles are always annoying because it invites a certain kind of person who will gush unendingly about how great exerting yourself is. For me, exerting myself sucks, it is only something I want to do when it's attac…

> For me, exerting myself sucks

Changing your tires and doing an oil change also sucks, not doing it will suck way more in the long run.

I exercise, not because I like it but because it's the right thing to do. Whatever misery you feel while doing it will be a fraction of the misery you'll feel when your body will give up on you if you don't do it.

It's an investment in the future, probably the single most beneficial investment you can make actually

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#224
post #2

I 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 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.

The prevalence of psychotherapy perpetuates this approach with promotes talking over countless problems with some pseudo-science witch doctor while having a horrible lifestyle that will cause endless ones to appear.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#225
post #2

I 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…

There are even studies about how gut bacteria can affect brain. Mind-Body distinction is a dead end philosophycel cope.

Not exactly. Try to meditate out diarrhea.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#227

I walk to the store when it's reasonable. I wasn't top tier at it, but the most exercise I could tolerate was playing DDR, because there was a game to it that isn't just physical activity. These kinds of articles are always annoying because it invites a certain kind of person who will gush unendingly about how great exerting yourself is. For me, exerting myself sucks, it is only something I want to do when it's attac…

> For me, exerting myself sucks Changing your tires and doing an oil change also sucks, not doing it will suck way more in the long run. I exercise, not because I like it but because it's the right thing to do. Whatever misery you feel while doing it will be a fraction of the misery you'll feel when your body will give up on you if you don't do it. It's an investment in the future, probably the single most beneficial…

> Changing your tires and doing an oil change also sucks, not doing it will suck way more in the long run.

Even for those people who feel the "meat-mecha" disconnection, the mecha benefits from maintenance.

"For Case, who’d lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall. In the bars he’d frequented as a cowboy hotshot, the elite stance involved a certain relaxed contempt for the flesh. The body was meat. Case fell into the prison of his own flesh." -- Neuromancer, 1984 https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/293994/neuromancer-b...

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#228
post #37
post #2

I 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 would like to combine both in a holistic way.

I don't feel I can achieve this in my flat therefore instead of switching my whole career as you did, I'm trying to move to a big peace of land we're I can be / have to be more active.

I do think so that IT is growing more in a less super nerdy (I don't move) area.

Plenty of my friends got more active over the years

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#229
post #2

I 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…

This is why I think all the "meatbags" and "hardware running on software" analogies are actually really primitive and silly, even though I know some find them funny.

If we reduce ourselves to a bunch of "computers" there's not much left for the stuff that actually matters, like the actual awesomeness that is having a body, which is highly sensitive and able to experience amazing things.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#230

For anyone looking to start exercising, try a rowing machine. It’s practically a shortcut to getting in shape and building muscle (when done with proper form and pushing yourself). Even 5 minutes of HARD rowing a day and you’ll see amazing results.

Exactly! The best purchase of 2020 was the Concept2 after I was certain I'm will not go back to the gym for another winter due to covid.

It's very convenient, weather independent, joint-stress free, measurable with an app and multitasking-friendly! I just attach an iPad there, get the noise-cancelling headphones and row for an hour with my YouTube playlist that I fill regularly.

For Concept2, be sure to add additional cushions, my a.. hurts after 30 minutes without them, and after 1.5h with...

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